As cheap Chinese-made motorbikes flood Pakistan’s roads, fans of vintage Vespa scooters are scrambling to find spare parts and preserve models that hark back to a bygone era. Piaggio’s Italian two-wheeler was the ultimate status symbol for Pakistani bike aficionados in the 1960s and 70s, when bicycles outstripped motorbikes on the roads and only a handful of people could afford to import luxury items from Europe. Over the past two decades, motorbike ownership rates have skyrocketed in Pakistan, with locally assembled Chinese and Japanese bikes clogging up the roads in a country where much of the population is below the age of 30. Here: Members of a Vespa rider's club gather at sunrise for a ride in Lahore, Pakistan March 11, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Scooters are parked near Delhi Gate as members of a Vespa rider's club gather at sunrise for a ride in Lahore, Pakistan March 11, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





Disassembled Vespa scooters rest on shelves in different states of restoration, at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan March 6, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





A shopkeeper and Vespa enthusiast holds his collection of mini memorabilia, at his auto parts shop in Karachi, Pakistan February 28, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





A broken speed meter is seen on an abandoned Vespa scooter, in a street corner in Karachi, Pakistan, March 6, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





A mechanic puts a headlight on a Vespa scooter, after repairing it at a workshop in Karachi, Pakistan March 1, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Journalist Nazeer Udding Siddiqui, 58, poses for a photograph with his 1979 model Vespa scooter in Karachi, Pakistan March 6, 2018. “My father used to work for Khwaja Auto as a manager and they were the only distributers of Vespa scooters. For me, people who own Vespas are very honourable people who still keep this tradition alive”, Siddiqui said. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





An old Vespa scooter is chained at the premises of a house in low-income neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan, February 26, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Amin, who paints repaired Vespa scooter parts, reads a newspaper outside his workshop in Karachi, Pakistan February 28, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Engine parts and tools cover the engine restoration table at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan February 27, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





An emblem for a scooter is shown, in the parts store of a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan February 27, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





A worker sprays a restored mudguard for a scooter at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan February 27, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





Journalist Arif Balouch, 48, poses for a photograph with his 1980 model Vespa scooter in Karachi, Pakistan, March 2, 2018. “For me, a Vespa scooter is like a family tradition. My father used to ride this and I myself find this very good as it has two separate comfortable seats which is uncommon, it has a compartment to keep things which is also uncommon and for safety it guards your knees during accidents. I would say it's the BMW of scooters”, Balouch said. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





A restored Vespa scooter painted in Pakistani truck art style, is parked alongside traditionally-coloured scooters at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan February 27, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





A worker restores the handlebar and light assembly of a scooter, at a Vespa restoration and repair workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 4, 2018. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)





A Vespa scooter stands near a workshop, where old Vespa parts are painted, on a street in Karachi, Pakistan, February 28, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Akram (C) applies coating on Vespa scooter parts, as he chats with owners of Vespa scooters Farrukh Shahbaz (L) and Matiur Rehman outside his workshop in Karachi, Pakistan February 24, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Parts of Vespa scooters are seen outside a workshop in Karachi, Pakistan February 24, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





A man rides a Vespa scooter on a busy street, in a low-income neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)





Shahzad stands with his abandoned Vespa scooter in Karachi, Pakistan March 6, 2018. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)