I hear this question a lot. It's not easy to answer. It can be especially difficult when dealing with someone who is selling their scooter, invariably for more than it's worth.

In my opinion—and it has taken me a while to get to it—unless the scooter was previously owned by Marlon Brando or Audrey Hepburn, it recently appeared in a movie with Jude Law, or it has some other similar claim to fame beyond the simple fact of its vintage (it was the getaway vehicle in a notorious bank heist, for example), a CV80 is generally not worth much more than a few hundred dollars. If everything is there, the scooter has been in dry storage for a while, its body panels are in good shape, the scooter has low mileage on it and it at least starts, it is probably worth a bit more. I think the most I would like to pay is CAD$450, although I would be tempted to go higher for one that's in truly excellent condition only because I seem to be collecting CV80s. For a running or non-running project, which covers everything else, I've paid as little as $1 and as much as $250—and the latter should have gone for no more than half the asking price. But then I was too eager that day.

Every used scooter will have "issues," but the ones that seem to attend CV80s significantly affect their value—again, in my view. The one issue that is most relevant is the availability of parts. Yamaha has done a poor job of supporting its older scooters. In Canada, the CV80 was recently declared "obsolete," which means that parts are no longer stocked or distributed. You might have better luck in the United States and so far it seems that parts are still available overseas, but they are expensive and the cost of shipping from Europe in particular is absurd.

There are other sources than Yamaha. But so far no one has stepped up to offer a comprehensive selection of aftermarket parts for the CV80. You can find "new old stock" (NOS) and suitable parts from other manufacturers, but you have to look hard and hope the supplier has whatever you need.

So unlike an older Vespa or even the battered and seized but largely intact 1961 Sears Allstate Compact Scooter I purchased a while ago, it seems to me that the CV80's resale value is significantly compromised by the lack of replacement parts that are available for it. It's only real worth—unless you're part of that bank heist I mentioned earlier and you manage to pull it off successfully—is if your CV80 continues to run and run well. A scooter is, after all, a mode of transportation—is it not? If the scooter breaks down (uh, what kind of scooter doesn't?), you will have to fix it—and then you simply can't get past the parts issue.

Even a scooter that starts and runs when you first look at it should be suspect. Seals will have deteriorated if the scooter hasn't been run regularly, various rubber parts will have broken down, and there could be a ridge in the cylinder where the piston rings have sat. The scooter might look like it's in showroom condition or close enough to it, but major problems appear after driving it for a few hundred kilometres—or less. Gas stars pouring out of the exhaust when you try to start the scooter, for example. That can be an indication (or proof) that the float or float valve is stuck, likely because parts have been "glued" in place by old gasoline that has turned to varnish. Your fuel petcock might be similarly affected. Those bad seals might have failed after renewed use. Eventually you will find yourself stripping down a CV80 to get at the source of any number of problems. You will have to be both lucky and inventive to assemble it again. It's sad, but true.

Honda has done a better job of supporting its product lines and because of that I suspect many of their older large-displacement scooters would command even better prices if they weren't so butt-ugly. If you buy a Vespa or Lambretta, you will have little difficulty finding parts at prices that will embolden even a newbie to confidently embark on just about any restoration project. Even the Allstate Compact—a somewhat rare bird—had a lot more appeal to me after I discovered that it's a re-badged 60cc Puch and so parts are readily available for it, too.

For all that, I still admire the CV80 and regard it as a fun scooter. I would also say it is a worthwhile investment—provided the price is right. Both buyers and sellers should understand that even a CV80 that's been expertly restored will almost always sell for considerably less than the effort and expenses put into it. It's only a matter of time before something wears out or breaks.

So if your next-door neighbour has one sitting in his garage and will let it go for lunch money, grab it. If nothing else, you can part it out on eBay at the expense of hapless fools like me. But if someone wants to sell you one for several hundred dollars, you should think carefully about it. Then ask yourself: how much would you pay for a piece of garden art or something to take up valuable space in your garage?

It can easily come to that with a CV80. It's best to be sensible about it all.