Mid-Carolina Cushman scooter club members check out the vintage scooters their friends brought Saturday for a ride in Cherokee County. The ride was organized by Gaffney resident Ray Hyatt and attracted scooter riders from four states. Earl Piegler never got a chance to enjoy the motor scooter a friend brought Saturday to ride in Cherokee County.

Piegler died in a motorcycle wreck last year. His death occurred two months after he helped Columbia resident Glenn Snyder restore a vintage 1958 Cushman motor scooter.

Snyder was among 30 members of the Mid-Carolina Cushman scooter riding club in Gaffney on Saturday. They traveled from Tennessee, Georgia, North and South Carolina for a ride to Forest City in Piegler's memory.

"I was going to ride the scooter last year in tribute to him, but it wouldn't start," Snyder said. "We called it Earl's Revenge."

There were no problems with the scooter during Saturday's ride organized by Gaffney resident Ray Hyatt.

Hyatt, 69, has worked as a Gaffney Ledger paper carrier for the past five years and has spent much of the past two decades restoring and riding scooters.

The Cushman Motor Scooters were manufactured from 1936 until 1965 by Cushman Motor Works in Lincoln, Neb.

The Cushman scooters remain in high demand by people interested in buying parts and restoring the vintage 2-wheeled vehicles. The Cushman Club of America has approximately 5,200 active members.

Over the past two decades, Hyatt has rebuilt several of the Cushman scooters and occasionally organizes a ride locally for his club. He finished his last major restoration project three years ago when he completed a yellow 1963 Cushman scooter.

"My son's into it, too. We have been in a scooter club for 15 years together, We take a ride once a month and go to national events," Hyatt said. "I'm having this ride for Earl. He was one of the original members of the club. He was a great friend and rode with us for many years."