Fireball Stella, business end

But for some reason - and we're glad it happened - a couple years ago the marketing gurus at the Chicago-based Genuine Scooter Company and the Chicago based candy company got together to produce the special-edition Stella scooter, the Atomic Fireball edition, of which only 150 were produced. The bike came with loud and proud yellow flame graphics over fire-engine red paint, flame-embossed handgrips, a striped mudflap and a whole bag of the cinnamon-flavored jawbreaker candy to fill the bike's coin tray with. Maybe it's the audacity of the bike itself, or maybe it's just candy nostalgia, but we think the Fireball is the best special edition Genuine ever made.

It should be pointed out that we've got another bias, namely that two of our members own a Fireball Stella. In fact, it's the one given away at this year's Amerivespa.

But this blurb is about the scooter and the candy.

First, in the heat of trying to find a five-pound bag of fireballs for this year's Spokane Scoot, we came across some interesting (to us, anyway) trivia about the candy itself on the Ferrara Pan website - namely, that each and every jawbreaker starts as a single grain of sugar that is "grown" to the grape-sized finished product inside a rotating drum. Check out the GIF animations on the process at the link below (no one has to know you're a candy geek!) Want some of those red-hot candies, or a bag of another Ferrara Pan favorite, Lemonheads? You can order vast quantities right from the factory.

Second, we noticed that Genuine still has a couple of pages up about the Fireball Stella. Kinda surprising, given the fact that these were last available in 2005, but kinda cool, given the fact that one features several shots of the bike, and the other contains a special registry and photo gallery for Fireball owners - though there are far fewer than 150 such owners listed so far. Hint, hint, Paul and Marla?

Finally, we're looking forward to seeing some of the new Genuine Scooters - including the long-rumored return of the Stella, in a special pea-green color - at the home of our new friends at RPM Motorsports, Spokane's only Genuine™ dealership. When they come in, we'll be sure to post an update.

Fireball Candy Tour (Ferrara Pan website)
Fireball Stella registry (Genuine Scooter website)
Fireball Stella info (Genuine Scooter website)
"Candy Store" Ad (Image file)