Marketwatch: Vespa "BBQ" Backrest Accessory

There is a significant subset of scooter people who collect accessories.  Now, there were a lot of companies that made ornamental accessories for the Vespa and Lambrettas back in the day.  Most of it was pretty cheap junk, and therefore the bits did not last.  At this point, a lot of the bits have become very rare, and thus very expensive to those who want them.  I've seen some accessories sell for as much as a scooter would cost.  That is pretty strange to me, but hey, who am I to judge?

The subject of this post is an accessory which is not all that rare... or was not all that rare up until a few years ago.  It may be hard to believe, but in the 70's Piaggio was selling enough scooters just in the US to justify having a special accessory line just for the US market.  One of the most popular of those accessories was the rear rack and backrest combination.  These were added to many of the P-series scooters sold in the US.  After seeing a lot of accessories, I will say without hesitation that this rack is the best quality accessory I have seen for the Vespa.  After having used them on several Vespas I have owned, I will also say without equivocation that they are the most useful accessory ever for the Vespa as well. 

I have sold all of the racks I collected over the years.  The last racks were sold for around $40, and the backrests were around $30.  There are two types of the racks.  One has a spare tire mount, and bowed support bars.  The other does not mount a tire, and has straight support bars.  They also came with two different top mounts.  One has a small mounting bracket which fits under the rear seat post.  That one was sold with the pre-P scooters.  The later type has a longer top mounting bracket which fits under the seat post and the two rear fuel tank bolts as well. 

Right now there are two of these racks on ebay.  One here, and another one here.  I wonder how much they will get to!