A man who was reminiscing about the days of his youth, with his mates in a pub at the weekend, remembered someone he knew who was a Mod, and of how people would refer to this person's scooter as a 'Puff Chariot'.
Moys Kenwood, then 17, was an ardent follower of the Punk scene, and habitually associated with other people of that ilk. One lad he and his friends knew, however, was Jimmy Walton, who was a Mod.
Walton dressed in a fishtail parka, jeans, and a pair of black Doc Martens that were too big for him. He listened to music by The Jam, The Lambrettas, Secret Affair, and The Chords. He rode a Vespa scooter, adorned with many mirrors. His attire was the fashion, his music was tolerable, but his scooter was not.
Kenwood:
"Apart from having a fat face full of zits, and a tendency to shower spittle over those people he was talking to, his scooter looked like something that might 'hover' above the ground. It made a whirring sound, a bit like a child's battery-operated toy - a Barbie hairdryer, perhaps. Or a desktop fan."
Indeed, many Punks and also Rockers would refer to Walton's scooter as 'The Hairdryer', 'The Fan', or, as was mentioned up above, 'The Puff Chariot'.
Scooters are still ridden today, but, in the gender-correct world we now live in, the use of the term 'Puff Chariot' is considered 'exceedingly bad form'.
