A superb and rare photo of the Vespa scooter in
the 1950s.
A truly great photograph for any Vespa scooter enthusiast!
The Vespa scooter
has a very interesting history that started -with the American made Cushman
scooter!! Post World War II Italy, in
light of its agreement to cessation of war activities with The Allies, had its
aircraft industry severely restricted in both capability and capacity. Piaggio
emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera fighter plane plant completely
demolished by bombing. Italy's
crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the
re-development of the automobile markets. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio's
founder Rinaldo Piaggio, decided to leave the aeronautical field in order to
address Italy's
urgent need for a modern and affordable mode of transportation for the masses.
The inspiration for the design of the Vespa dates back to Pre-WWII Cushman
scooters made in Nebraska, USA. These
olive green scooters were in Italy in
large numbers, ordered originally by Washington as
field transport for the Paratroops and Marines. The US
military had used them to get around Nazi defence tactics of destroying roads
and bridges in the Dolomites (a section of the Alps) and
the Austrian border areas. Pre-war Piaggio employee Aeronautical engineer
General Corradino D'Ascanio, responsible for the design and construction of the
first modern helicopter by Agusta, was given the job of designing a simple,
robust and affordable vehicle for Ferdinando Innocenti, whose pre-war time
focused metal tubing business Innocenti had suffered the same fate as Piaggio
post-war. Innocenti defined a post-war vehicle to D'Ascanio that had to be easy
to drive for both men and women, be able to carry a passenger, and not get its
driver's clothes dirty. D'Ascanio, who hated motorbikes, designed a
revolutionary vehicle. It was built on a spar-frame with a handlebar gear
change, and the engine mounted directly on to the rear wheel. The front
protection "shield" kept the rider dry and clean in comparison to the
open front end on motorcycles. The pass-through leg area design was geared
towards all user groups, including women, as wearing dresses or skirts made
riding a motorcycle a challenge. The front fork, like an aircraft's landing
gear, allowed for easy wheel changing. The internal mesh transmission
eliminated the standard motorcycle chain, a source of oil, dirt, and aesthetic
misery. This basic design allowed a series of features to be deployed on the
frame, which would later allow quick development of new models. However,
D'Ascanio fell out with Innocenti, who rather than a moulded and beaten
spar-frame wanted to produce his Innocenti frame from rolled tubing, thereby
allowing him to revive both parts of his pre-War company. D'Ascanio
disassociated himself with Innocenti, and took his design to Enrico Piaggio to
produce the spar-framed Vespa from 1946. Innocenti, after overcoming design
difficulties and later production difficulties through his choice of a tubular
frame, went on to produce the more costly Lambretta line of motorscooters. On 23 April 1946, at 12 o'clock in the central office for
inventions, models and makes of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Florence,
Piaggio e C. S.p.A. took out a patent for a "motorcycle of a rational
complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards and a
casing covering the whole mechanical part". The basic patented design
allowed a series of features to be deployed on the spar-frame which would later
allow quick development of new models. The original Vespa featured a rear
pillion seat for a passenger, or optionally a storage compartment. The original
front protection "shield" was a flat piece of aero metal; later this
developed in to a twin skin to allow additional storage behind the front
shield, similar to the glove compartment in a car. The fuel cap was located
underneath the (hinged) seat, which saved the cost of an additional lock on the
fuel cap or need for additional metal work on the smooth skin. The scooter had
rigid rear suspension and small 8-inch (200 mm) wheels that allowed a
compact design and plenty of room for the rider's legs. The Vespa's enclosed,
horizontally-mounted two-stroke 98 cc engine acted directly on the rear drive
wheel through a three-speed transmission. The twistgrip-controlled gear change
involved a system of rods. The early engine had no cooling, but fan blades were
soon attached to the flywheel (otherwise known as the magneto, which houses the
points and generates electricity for the bike and for the engine's spark) to
push air over the cylinder's cooling fins. The modern Vespa engine is still
cooled this way. The mixture of two-stroke oil in the fuel produced high amounts
of smoke, and the engine made a high buzzing sound like a wasp. The first
prototype was given the initials MP5 and baptized "Paperino," the
Italian name for Donald Duck, a nick-name given to it by the workers because of
the strange shape it had. Enrico Piaggio did not like the design and asked
D'Ascanio to redesign it - which he did with a more aeronautical-derived
aerodynamic look. When the second prototype called MP6, was shown to Enrico
Piaggio and he heard the buzzing sound of the engine he exclaimed: "Sembra
una vespa!" ("It resembles a wasp!") The name stuck. Vespa is
both Latin and Italian for wasp—derived from both the high-pitched noise of the
two-stroke engine, and adopted as a name for the vehicle in reference to its
body shape: the thicker rear part connected to the front part by a narrow
waist, and the steering rod resembled antennae. Ape (pronounced Ah-pay), is
Italian for bee. This was the three-wheeled variant used for commercial
purposes, including the popular auto rickshaw. Piaggio filed a patent for the
Vespa scooter design in April 1946. The application documents referred to a
"model of a practical nature" for a "motorcycle with rationally
placed parts and elements with a frame combining with mudguards and
engine-cowling covering all working parts", of which "the whole
constitutes a rational, comfortable motorcycle offering protection from mud and
dust without jeopardizing requirements of appearance and elegance". The
patent was approved the following December. The first 13 examples appeared in
spring 1946, and reveal their aeronautical background. In the first examples,
one can recognize the typical aircraft technology. Attention to aerodynamics is
evident in all the design, in particular on the tail. It was also one of the
first vehicles to use monocoque construction (where the body is an integral
part of the chassis). The company was aiming to manufacture the new Vespa in
large numbers, and their longstanding industrial experience led to an efficient
Ford-style volume production line. The scooter was presented to the press at
Rome Golf Club, where journalists were apparently mystified by the strange,
pastel coloured, toy-like object on display. But the road tests were
encouraging, and even with no rear suspension the machine was more manoeuvrable
and comfortable to ride than a traditional motorcycle. Following its public
debut at the 1946 Milan Fair, the first fifty sold slowly—then with the
introduction of payment by installments, sales took off. Piaggio sold some
2,500 Vespas in 1947, over 10,000 in 1948, 20,000 in 1949, and over 60,000 in
1950. The biggest sales promo ever was Hollywood. In
1952, Audrey Hepburn side-saddled Gregory Peck's Vespa in the film Roman
Holiday for a ride through Rome,
resulting in over 100,000 sales. In 1956, John Wayne dismounted his horse in
favor of the two-wheeler to originally get between takes on sets. By the end of
the fifties, Lucia Bosé and her husband, the matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, as
well as Marlon Brando, Dean Martin, and the entertainer Abbe Lane had
become Vespa owners. William Wyler filmed Ben Hur in Rome in
1959, allowing Charlton Heston to abandon horse and chariot between takes to
take a spin on the Vespa. Vespa clubs popped up throughout Europe, and by
1952, worldwide Vespa Club membership had surpassed 50,000. By the mid-1950s,
Vespas were being manufactured under licence in Germany, the United
Kingdom, France, Belgium and Spain; in the
1960s, production was started in India, Brazil and Indonesia. By
1956, one million had been sold, then two million by 1960. By the 1960s, the
Vespa—originally conceived as a utility vehicle—had come to symbolize freedom
and imagination, and resulted in further sales boosts: four million by 1970,
and ten million by the late 1980s. Between 1957 and 1961 a reverse-engineered
and partially redesigned version of the Vespa was made in USSR under
the name Vjatka-VP150. Improvements were made to the original design and new
models were introduced. The 1948 Vespa 125 had rear suspension and a bigger
engine. The headlamp was moved up to the handlebars in 1953, and had more
engine power and a restyled rear fairing. A cheaper spartan version was also
available. One of the best-loved models was the Vespa 150 GS introduced in 1955
with a 150 cc engine, a long saddle, and the faired handlebar-headlamp unit.
Then came the 50 cc of 1963, and in 1968 Vespa 125 Primavera became one of the
most durable of all. Vespas came in two sizes, referred to as
"largeframe" and "smallframe". The smallframe scooters came
in 50cc, 90cc, 100 cc, and 125 cc versions, all using an engine derived from
the 50 cc model of 1963, and the largeframe scooters in 125cc,150cc,160cc,180cc
and 200 cc displacements using engines derived from the redesigned 125 cc
engine from the late 50's. The largeframe Vespa evolved into the PX range
(produced in 125 and 150 cc versions until July 2007) in the late 70's. The
smallframe evolved into the PK range in the early 80's, although some
vintage-styled smallframes were produced for the Japanese market as late as the
mid 1990's. By the early 1990s, Vespa was in crisis. Its models were selling
slowly; two-strokes were being withdrawn around the world due to environmental
concerns; new Asian manufacturers were stealing market share with
cheaper/lighter bikes; and cars were very cheap. As a result, sales had fallen
and production in Europe had been pulled back to Italy. Vespa needed a
miracle—and a new model, beyond the PX. The ET model range stuck true to the
wasp/aero design principles. It was lighter, more aerodynamic, had an automatic
gearbox and could take a series of engines from a 50 cc in either two-stroke or
four-stroke, up to a 150 cc four stroke. Plus, it was launched when traffic
congestion in major European cities was on the increase, so the smaller wheel
size didn't matter. It was a complete success, and allowed Vespa to re-enter
the North American market in 2001 with a new, more modern style. When Vespa
celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996, more than 15 million of the scooters
had been sold worldwide, making it the most successful scooter of all time.
Other companies vied with Piaggio for market share, but none came close to
emulating the success—or romance—of Vespa.
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that
reflects a wonderful era of Vespa ‘s rich motorcycle history in a wonderful
way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed
in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10" (ca. 20 x 28 cm). It
makes it perfectly suitable for framing!
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