Vespa: The Scooter That Rebuilt Italy | AQUILA
Discover how Ronaldo Piaggio’s Vespa was transformed into a game-changing mode and what we learned from around the world. The “Vespa,” designed at the request of aircraft manufacturer Enrico Piaggio, proved revolutionary.
Piaggo wanted to recreate the small, simple American Cushman scooter that had become popular in Italy during World War II. After finding it in the wrecks of war, Piaggio used it as the basis for a practical, inexpensive scooter built with existing aircraft equipment.
Today, the average price of a redesigned Vespa scooter sold at Sears in the 1950s and 1960s is $500 to $1,000 at most, but a few hundred can still be a bargain. If you don’t get the quality of Italian scooters, you still have a good chance that your good run will last you a while and be very cheap to operate and maintain.
When the Vespa is mentioned, it is hard not to think of Audrey Hepburn cruising the streets of Rome. American sensation who became a household name after riding the iconic Italian scooter in the 1953 film Roman Holiday, in which she cruised around Rome on the back of an iconic modern version of the original. Even if you are not used to riding a scooter around, you will remember a ride on the Vespa.
Although the scooter initially flourished in the 20th century, Costagliola believes that “Italians will continue to go back to their roots and refuse to let the Vespa die. Since the Dolce Vita years, when “Vespa” became synonymous with “scooter,” foreign reporters have described Italy as “the land of scooters,” which can be seen in hundreds of films.
Here you can learn everything about the entire range of scooters, including the history of the company, from its origins to its current state. At the EICMA 2011 motorcycle show, Piaggio presented the retro-futuristic concept of the Vespa Quarantasei, based on the prototype “Vespa MP6” from 1945. In this section, the works of Giuseppe Giorgia, a young designer who designed several Vespa ET4 scooters for the VespArte competition organized by Piaggio in 2001, are also presented.
In 1946 Piaggio launched 2,484 scooters, and sales quadrupled the following year, doubling again in 1948 to nearly 20,000 scooters. The miracle of the Vespa became a reality: production grew steadily and in 1949, in response to the demand for a more powerful version of the “Vespa MP6,” a larger 125 cc model was introduced. Last year, they built their 125 cc prototype for speed races and set the world record for flying kilometres with an average speed of 171.102 km.
Until Enrico Piaggio’s death, 3,350,000 Vespas were produced, of which more than 1.5 million have been produced in thirteen countries and sold worldwide.
Cushman Scooter was founded in 1903 and has produced a variety of vehicles from scooters to truckers. In 2004, the company introduced a new version of the four-wheel-drive Vespas, which is the best thing you can ever drive with the Cushmans.
The cruiser was equipped with a two-stroke engine, and this at a time when the scooter manufacturers used two-stroke engines. The Vespa 50 disappeared from Italy after the law, but Piaggio introduced a new generation of 125 ccs that became popular in 1948. In 1999, the parent brand presented its MT3–300 concepts in India as a four-wheel drive based on the trike mechanism from Ape. After the sale, they tried in vain to market the Ves Paisas as cars and were renamed as Vespas.
Even in Italy, moped sales were falling, and the number of mopeds used in Europe and the United States rose enormously. It may be that the Vespa was an easy target for Bucci, but there is no doubt that it is one of the most successful, if not the best scooters of all time.
In autumn 2005 Piaggio offered the largest Vespa scooter ever sold, the 250 cc GTS250. The Italian brand is known for its two-wheeled models, including motorcycles, mopeds, and even a small number of motorcycles with one engine. As such, I have found evidence for the first time that they built cars as well as scooters. Excuse me if I’m excusing you if you’re not very frequent with Vespa 400s, but I am. Although a 2.0 centrifuge Cushman scooter motor was posted by ih2444, I do not believe OMC motors were ever used in the factory of Cushingman Motor Scooter, nor do I believe they were ever used in any of the factories for the Cushingman motor vehicles at the time.
The scooter is in a very nice condition, beautifully restored and in good condition with all original parts. The engine, engine cover, front and rear fenders, seat, and seat cover are to be auctioned off. It is a beautiful, clean, and beautifully restored 250cc GTS250 with a 2.0 centrifuge Cushman engine and a 1.5-litre engine.
Originally published at https://webaquila.tech on August 27, 2020.
