August 2009 Archives

Sometimes you come across an ad on Craigslist or Ebay where someone really knows how to capture the spirit of the object they are selling.  Here we have a great one for a Vespa Rally...

This particular scooter had custom artwork done by the artist Chris Achewood.

Here is the text of the ad:

Viva Vespa dealer sticker still visible, 1976 community college parking sticker. Original paint, with patina of UV exposure and weathering. Seat is perfectly crazed and cracked. Unlike pics, it comes with the original California Blue Plate.

If you have no appreciation of original surfaces, I do not wish to hear of it.

The ride: It is so fast that Jeremy Clarkson maintains a running dialog as you drive. Mostly yelling "Oh my god, I'm going to die". The engine is overpowered for the brakes and handling.

Please conduct yourself accordingly. It is loud, it vibrates, and your neighbors will hate you.

There is one enemy of all vintage vehicles, its name is rust.  Vespas are fairly succeptable to rust, especially as their paint gets old and thin.  Some rust can be repaired, or rusty parts replaced.  One place you really can't do anything with is if the central tunnel gets eaten by the rust monster.  Doctor, this one here, is terminal...

 

Yowza!  That's rust!  Yes, it appears that you can see the concrete between the gaps at the back of the floor runners.  I'm not sure what is actually holding that whole area of the floorboards together...

 This is the first in what I intend to be an ongoing series.  I'll post up pictures and information about scooters that I see for sale that are noteworthy in some respect - whether it be rarity, condition, price, etc.

Here we have an example of the very first group of Vespas officially imported into the US.  Sears had a deal with Piaggio to sell the Vespa under license in their stores.  At the time, and up until the late 1960's, Sears sold just about anything under the sun, including motorcycles and scooters.  Previously, the scooters had all been Cushmans.  With the new Vespas, they had a scooter that was far superior in performance and quality to anything Cushman had to offer. 

There is an article up on the BBC with an interview with John Haynes, he of the ubiquitous repair manuals. 

It was not long after I got my first scooter that I purchased the Haynes manual for the Vespa.  There are two for the classic Vespas; one for the P-series, and one for all the other non-P rotary valve Vespas.

Neither of those manuals are perfect.  However, they are a good start... and back in the days when there was no internet and virtually no technical information on Vespas available in the US, they were all there was.  They are both useful to have on your shop bookshelf, no doubt.  Thank you Mr. Haynes.

As we begin this blog, I'm going to introduce some recurring features.  One of them is "From the Archives".  When I find a great picture from the past, I'll post it up here for all to enjoy.  So here is the first.  It is a picture of a few Vespa racers from the 1950's. 

These guys appear to be trading off riders on a works-prepared Vespa race scooter.  I'll have to do a bit more research on this scooter.  It looks like an amalgam of GS and handlebar scooters.  Note the 10" four lug wheels and handlebar controls.  The front fender looks to be a GS item, but with the addition of a strange headlight housing.  The headlight housing is not stock, note the small size and lumpy shape at the back.  One other cool item is the extended range fuel tank - that thing is huge!  The tank would necessitate a small saddle seat over a more comfortable bench seat.

Thanks to racing retro for finding this picture.