Piaggio/Vespa Museum

[MadRiver]

Howdy all:

Just had to share something cool I did last week. We were in Italy last week with my folks, and while my fiancee took a cooking class, my dad, my boys and I and one of my dad's pals headed to the Piaggio museum. The museum was in the middle of the Piaggio/Vespa factory complex and while small, it was pretty darn nifty. Kinda makes me want to pick up an old Vespa and do it up Mod/Quadrophenia style and ride around my neighborhood.

Photos to follow.

Best,

B.

 

[BabaKahawa]

MadRiver:
Sounds like a great museum, But I think the best part is that you are in Italy...

 

[tony barnhill]

A neighbor of mine tossed one out on the side of the road for the trash men to pick up.....I put it in my trick, tod it home & cleaned it up & got the engine to turn over....went to a web site exclusively for them & was talking about it asking some questions when a guy PM'ed me & offered me $500 for it - naturally, it went home with him!

 

[Hedgehog]

My wife and I love our Vespas. Although they are only 2 years old and not the vintage ones. They get almost as much $$ for the old ones as the new ones. Mine is the 250 GT (liquid cooled and fuel injected) and does 80mph. It's a blast to buzz around town with it.

 

[Gliderman8]

Over the years I have had a real fond affection for Italian scooters. At one point I had five of them; all restored to better than original.
Pictured below is three of the five. I sold three and I'm now just have the '59 and '63 Lammy's.
The red Lambretta I have owned for 39 years and have had much fun with all of them.
Memo to Doc.... While I was at UT, I used to ride my Lammy out to POK for flying lessons.

 

[tony barnhill]

Blue one looks like the one I found on the side of the road in somebody's throwaway junk.

 

[Gliderman8]

Ouch... your killing me Tony. By the way, I sold the blue one about a year and a half ago for $3,500. It only had 1,700 original miles on it and was mint.

 

[PAUL161]

I was stationed at Gitmo bay for 26 months and while there I had a Vespa for about half the time. It was a very good scooter and never broke down. It's probably still there, as anything shipped there hardly ever comes back. I even had a 1937 Chevy 4 door, all original and a 1929 Chevy rumble seat coupe. Wish I had them now.

 

[BabaKahawa]

A whole fleet of them parked by my favorite pub this Sunday.

 

[angelfj1]

Over the years I have had a real fond affection for Italian scooters. At one point I had five of them; all restored to better than original.
Pictured below is three of the five. I sold three and I'm now just have the '59 and '63 Lammy's.
The red Lambretta I have owned for 39 years and have had much fun with all of them.
Memo to Doc.... While I was at UT, I used to ride my Lammy out to POK for flying lessons.

Elliot, what a coincidence. Here's my next project.
The guy who has been helping with the 3A gave it to me.
I may need to talk to you about how to get started.
I never realized these were sold by Sears.

Frank

 

[Gliderman8]

Frank- Back in the 60's Piaggio marketed some of their Vespa's through Sears. If you look at the Blue one in my pics above you will see the Sears emblem on the legshield of the scooter. They are fun to drive, in fact I had my red Lambretta out for a drive yesterday.

Edit: most parts are still easy to get.

 

[tao724]

I sold my Italjet 125 last summer, it has a Piaggio motor, and larger wheels than the Vespa's. It was a great machine, but I didnt have the time to use it, averaging about 100 miles/year for 4 years. One day, if in the right kind of town, and can use more, I'll have another scooter.