So another Blog and a first post.
Next to my hobby of collecting, painting and sculpting miniatures (https://evillittlebuggers.blogspot.com/) I also am a huge Vespa enthusiast. Recently I embarked on a quest for my personal Vespa Holy Grail. This blog is dedicated to that quest.
Ever since I was infected with the Vespa Virus back in October 2007, while on my honeymoon in Rome, I have been buying, restoring and driving old Vespa's. I started with a 1971 50cc Vespa 50n (which I still own), then a 125cc Vespa VNB from I believe 1961 (which I sold), then a 1981 55cc Vespa special (which I sold), then a 1991 150cc Bajaj (which I sold), then another 1983 Vespa special (which I sold) and then a 1958 125cc Motovespa (which I still own).
So that's a nice selection of small, large and wideframe Vespa's I have had to pleasure to play around with (this site answers all your frame size questions: https://www.scooterhelp.com/).
Starting from the first restoration project I have always done these project with a long time personal friend and many of the projects listed above we embarked on together. He is also part of this saga for the holy grail.
My Vespa addiction was on a hold for 7 years while I was away for work living in Abu Dhabi, so when I returned this October I had to get my fix, and why not do it properly.
The mother of all Vespa's is the 1946 98cc Faro Basso (Low Lamp), this was the first production Vespa ever made (started with the Paperino prototype). But (yes there is a but) the first properly updated and road worthy Vespa came out in 1952, this was the VM1T. This model was almost identical to the 98 (different side engine cowl, no ridge in the frame and some other optical differences) but with one huge difference, a 2 channel engine block, significantly improving the performance of the machine!
This is my holy grail!
I came close with my 125cc Motovespa which has all the same features, except the lamp is attached to the steer instead of the front fender, and some other small details.
Now living in the Netherlands this Vespa is elusive. Here we drive 50cc scooters, because back in the day for anything above 50cc you needed an expensive driving licence while 50cc you could drive without. Hence, almost all old Vespa's here are 50cc. However for some reason Germany is a different story.
By chance I stumbled upon the German ebay site and there I found a treasure-trove of available Faro Basso's as opposed to the zero you will find in the Netherlands. Many of these were fully restored but that is not what i wanted, I wanted a doable resto project, which I found (for a decent price) in Schollbrunn. So of we went (me and my long time Vespa buddy). Well, went... not quite yet...
It was a Scheisse long drive from the Netherlands, 5 to 6 hours. So we needed to make preparations, find transportation, accommodation, financing (the 'decent price' part is relative), etc. And then, off we went!
We departed on a cold Saturday morning in an emptied out VW Passat station wagon (confident it would fit a scooter, since we managed to transport a Vespa special in a Focus hatchback once!) and headed for a hotel in the German Mountains!
This is me, on the way, freezing my balls off during a smoking brake.
I had a little surprise for my mate, an unannounced stopover in another small village in Germany, just over the border. So after about three hours of driving we arrived at a location, in the middle of an Industrial area, where I had arranged to pick up a spare engine block. Now driving there, in that deserted industrial area, I was having doubts; are we even going to get out alive or will we be killed, mugged and our bodies dumped, in any order of preference with absolutely no witnesses...
Luckily it all turned out alright. We found the fellow selling a 1954 ACMA engine (ACMA was a licensed France Vespa producer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACMA), comparable to the original VM1T engine (2 ports!). But we found a lot more, this guy had a whole warehouse dedicated to anything motorized, it was amazing, this wasn't a man-cave it was a man-mountain! Unfortunately he wouldn't let me take any pictures, which I understand seeing the value of the things there. We had a great (much longer than anticipated) time there chatting with this amazing fellow about oilcans, motorized tandems, scooters, cars and for some reasons also shoes...
We packed up the engine block and went our way to the hotel, or better yet: Gasthoff. We arrived much later than planned but were welcomed at the Gasthoff Zum Ross. We were glad to see the room indeed had two separate beds. We had a quick dinner and a pint and went of to bed, ready for an early morning the next day.
After a pleasant night of us keeping each other awake with our snoring, we had breakfast and went the last yard! But this last yard was an uphill battle, but then literally, the location we needed to be was on top of a freaking mountain.
But we (the Passat actually) made it up the mountain and we started looking for the address, which turned out to be a really nice, cosy Gasthoff. So we could have basically slept at the place that had the Vespa for sale!
We met the seller, again another great and interesting guy (but aren't all Vespa enthusiasts like that). Had a look around his shed, which housed some other nice Vespa gems, and sealed the deal (he even threw in a free swing arm!). I parted with a significant wad of cash (ouch) and we started to load up the old Granny (the Italians call the wideframe Vespa's 'Nonna's', because... old, big butt and slow, subtle amiright)...
As expected she fit perfectly!
And off we went, back to the Dutch mountains! The view driving down the mountain was amazing, one moment you're in a forest the next you're driving past a huge industrial site. And the Germans have great number plates!
So that's the end of part one, me and my mate brought the old lady home and she is now patiently waiting in a shed to be stripped!
Hmmm, if someone reads that last line without context.....
Next to my hobby of collecting, painting and sculpting miniatures (https://evillittlebuggers.blogspot.com/) I also am a huge Vespa enthusiast. Recently I embarked on a quest for my personal Vespa Holy Grail. This blog is dedicated to that quest.
Ever since I was infected with the Vespa Virus back in October 2007, while on my honeymoon in Rome, I have been buying, restoring and driving old Vespa's. I started with a 1971 50cc Vespa 50n (which I still own), then a 125cc Vespa VNB from I believe 1961 (which I sold), then a 1981 55cc Vespa special (which I sold), then a 1991 150cc Bajaj (which I sold), then another 1983 Vespa special (which I sold) and then a 1958 125cc Motovespa (which I still own).
So that's a nice selection of small, large and wideframe Vespa's I have had to pleasure to play around with (this site answers all your frame size questions: https://www.scooterhelp.com/).
Starting from the first restoration project I have always done these project with a long time personal friend and many of the projects listed above we embarked on together. He is also part of this saga for the holy grail.
My Vespa addiction was on a hold for 7 years while I was away for work living in Abu Dhabi, so when I returned this October I had to get my fix, and why not do it properly.
The mother of all Vespa's is the 1946 98cc Faro Basso (Low Lamp), this was the first production Vespa ever made (started with the Paperino prototype). But (yes there is a but) the first properly updated and road worthy Vespa came out in 1952, this was the VM1T. This model was almost identical to the 98 (different side engine cowl, no ridge in the frame and some other optical differences) but with one huge difference, a 2 channel engine block, significantly improving the performance of the machine!
This is my holy grail!
I came close with my 125cc Motovespa which has all the same features, except the lamp is attached to the steer instead of the front fender, and some other small details.
Now living in the Netherlands this Vespa is elusive. Here we drive 50cc scooters, because back in the day for anything above 50cc you needed an expensive driving licence while 50cc you could drive without. Hence, almost all old Vespa's here are 50cc. However for some reason Germany is a different story.
By chance I stumbled upon the German ebay site and there I found a treasure-trove of available Faro Basso's as opposed to the zero you will find in the Netherlands. Many of these were fully restored but that is not what i wanted, I wanted a doable resto project, which I found (for a decent price) in Schollbrunn. So of we went (me and my long time Vespa buddy). Well, went... not quite yet...
It was a Scheisse long drive from the Netherlands, 5 to 6 hours. So we needed to make preparations, find transportation, accommodation, financing (the 'decent price' part is relative), etc. And then, off we went!
We departed on a cold Saturday morning in an emptied out VW Passat station wagon (confident it would fit a scooter, since we managed to transport a Vespa special in a Focus hatchback once!) and headed for a hotel in the German Mountains!
This is me, on the way, freezing my balls off during a smoking brake.
Luckily it all turned out alright. We found the fellow selling a 1954 ACMA engine (ACMA was a licensed France Vespa producer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACMA), comparable to the original VM1T engine (2 ports!). But we found a lot more, this guy had a whole warehouse dedicated to anything motorized, it was amazing, this wasn't a man-cave it was a man-mountain! Unfortunately he wouldn't let me take any pictures, which I understand seeing the value of the things there. We had a great (much longer than anticipated) time there chatting with this amazing fellow about oilcans, motorized tandems, scooters, cars and for some reasons also shoes...
We packed up the engine block and went our way to the hotel, or better yet: Gasthoff. We arrived much later than planned but were welcomed at the Gasthoff Zum Ross. We were glad to see the room indeed had two separate beds. We had a quick dinner and a pint and went of to bed, ready for an early morning the next day.
But we (the Passat actually) made it up the mountain and we started looking for the address, which turned out to be a really nice, cosy Gasthoff. So we could have basically slept at the place that had the Vespa for sale!
We met the seller, again another great and interesting guy (but aren't all Vespa enthusiasts like that). Had a look around his shed, which housed some other nice Vespa gems, and sealed the deal (he even threw in a free swing arm!). I parted with a significant wad of cash (ouch) and we started to load up the old Granny (the Italians call the wideframe Vespa's 'Nonna's', because... old, big butt and slow, subtle amiright)...
As expected she fit perfectly!
Hmmm, if someone reads that last line without context.....
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