January 2010 Archives

I'm not exactly sure where this photo came from.  I think it is from a catalogue for Vespa accessories made by the company Vigano.  From the scooter, I'm guessing this was done around 1967-68.  You know, those Italians have had, and will always have, the same plan for selling anything.  Here's how I imagine the ad men's conversation goes... 

"Hey Carlo, we have to come up with an ad program for this new product!"

"Ok Mario, here's the plan - find us an amazingly beautiful young model, put her in a very skimpy outfit, and pose her in/on/around the new product.  If possible, we should have her pose topless"

"Wow Carlo!  That's a great idea, let's do it!"

This seems to have been the ad plan for just about every Italian product I can think of from around 1945 until the present day (last link NSFW).  Who am I to argue with success?

Yes, this is actually a Vespa.  One thing that I like about scooters is the fact that people just go crazy customizing them.  It can be as mild as a sticker, or some pinstripes, or you can go the whole way.  This photo was taken in Bangkok, where you see a lot of scooters, but not a lot of Vespas.  When I was there, I saw some Vespa Sprints, but they seemed to be mainly used as freight haulers by shops.  Most of the nice vintage Vespas I saw in Thailand were up north in Chiang Mai (a very wonderful city, by the way).  So anyhow, I'm not sure exactly what theme the owner was going for with this one, but it sure does catch your eye!

Photo from here, with a hat tip.

This silly ad was recently on Ebay.  I have no idea what all the hats have to do with the scooter.  My guess was that the ad company just had some left over hat clip art pictures from another ad from a hat store, and it was easier to cut and paste them into this one than to come up with some actual art.  Who knows.  At least the got the fez right.  There is nothing that goes better than a scooter and a fez.  Just ask these guys, and these guys, and these guys!

One of the common maintenence tasks on a vintage Vespa is brake replacement.  The rear brakes are more prone to issues due to their proximity to the axle, oil, exhaust, etc.  So let's see how it is done!

First, remove the battery side cowl, and then the spare tire.  This will allow easier access to the rear hub.

Did you know that Moto Guzzi, the famed Italian motorcycle manufacturer made a scooter?  Indeed they did, and it was a fairly successful scooter at that.  The Guzzi Galletto (or rooster) was a very interesting scooter design.  It can be fairly described as a scooter/motorcycle hybrid.  It had large 17" wheels and a large 160-200cc motor.  In many ways, it was an early version of the large wheeled scooters which are very popular today.  In the 50's, when it was first produced, the large wheels would have been very nice, given the sad state of the roads in Italy at that time.  The motor was centrally mounted, and it had a single sided rear swingarm, much like today's motorcycles.  Though the model pictured above does not have it, most of the Gallettos had a spare tire mounted in front of the legshields (click here for photos with the spare).  All in all, it is a neat scooter.  I have only rarely seen one for sale here in the US, but I believe they were sold here.  Click here (page 1) and here (page 2) for a vintage Galletto road test.

You just have to love this photo which recently turned up on ebay. This is a Vespa 400.  Not everyone is aware that Piaggio tried its hand at making a car, but they did.  They built the cars in France, so as not to come into direct competition with the Italian car-makers of the day.  The Vespa had a 400cc two stroke, two cylinder engine mounted in the rear.  It had some innovative features, such as a hand crank two-stroke oil mixer for the fuel, and four wheel independent suspension.  With the two stroke motor, I'm sure it compared well with the four stroke Fiat 500... which is probably what doomed the car.  The story goes that Fiat threatened to begin production of a scooter if Piaggio didn't cease car manufacturing.  And thus the short production run of the Vespa 400 came to an end. 

It is surprising to think that some of these little cars actually came to the US, but they were actually sold here.  I have seen quite a few of them, considering their low production numbers.  I don't know the story behind this photo, but one can imagine that this tiny car stuck out like a sore thumb in the suburbs of the 1960's where huge American behemoths ruled the roads.

This is just an amazing picture.  We here at Scooterlounge are big jazz fans.  You can't be a jazz fan and not love Louis Armstrong, one of the world's true great artists of all time.  Here we have him across from the Coliseum in Rome, astride what is probably either a '49 or '50 Vespa.  The main, most obvious, difference between the two years is a small ridge going down either side of the rear frame.  The '49 had it, and the '50 didn't.  It is hard to tell in this photo.  Of note in the background is the Fiat car, which is also from the late '40's.  Also note the lack of traffic and background.  Neat picture!