A visit at Vittorio's!

The museums first room, only for Lambretta's!

On the way home to Sweden after our Italian holiday, a stop in Rodano outside Milano came about. I just had to take a look at Vittorio Tessera's new museum. The story is that he has bought a building in the industrial area of Rodano. Here he can accomodate museum, ware house and workshop in the same building.
The new museum is divided in three larger rooms and one small.
The biggest - of course - displaying all kinds of Lambrettas. Among them the weird Argentinian Siambretta.
The second room is devoted to scooters from other countries. Japanese, German, Belgian, French, Austrian and British makes are on display. Sadly no Swedish...
The third room, or the first if yoy use the right entrance, have Vespa's and other Italian model's. And som of the oldest scoot's, from the 20's and so on (not my cup of tea). The smallest room contains some racing Lambrettas and the two-cylinder factory prototype.
- Now it's enough. I have 160 or so scooters. It has to be a very special scooter from now on if I'll buy another one, Vittorio told me when he showed me the museum.
All the 160 scooters aren't displayed in the musuem, some are stored.
So, here is a first look at the "Museo Scooter & Lambretta".
There will be more in the future!

Lambretta Vega 75 cc.

A ice-cream vendor's dream machine!

Vittorio has enlarged old photos, for that lovely nostalgic feel!

A yellow B, the colour ordered by the Innocenti family.

Lambretta 150 D from 1955.

Bastert Einspurauto, the german luxury scooter.

An Austrian KTM Mecky from 1958. With a Sachs 50 cc.

Belgian and strange, a Phenix 175 cc from 1954.

Fuji Rabbit S12 from 1947, the first japanese scooter.

Strange, an American Powell C 47 from 1947.

The Soviet copy, Wjatka. A crude Vespa GS 1955...

Faro basso 1956 and the front of the magazine

Motociclismo presenting the Vespa's debut.

The new premises of both the museum and Casa Lambretta.  Very close to the old place.

Rare Ape Calessino

Quite a surprise! Upon leaving Cortona I stumbled on a rare vehicle from Piaggio parked on the Piazza Garibaldi. An Ape Calessino, only 999 of the threewheelers were built in 2006 to celebrate 60 years of Vespa. Hrm, it's powered by a 422 cc big diesel engine which hurls it up to 56 km/h.
This very example was the nr 667 built. A one hour and 20 minutes tour will cost you 50 euro.
New but nice!

Ancora una volta; Vespe

Some more Vespas from my walkabouts in the town of Camucia.
The white PX sits in a garage and looks like it's ready to go.
The guy on the yellow 50R is Andrea. He told me it's a 1973 model, just like my son's 50R. But the tail-lights differ, the one the Swedish model is bigger.
The last white is a Primavera 125, nice condition. Prepared to carry a heavy load.

The Montepulciano experience

This seat seems to be in fashion in the hill town of Montepulciano in the Siena region. We went there to "mangiare". The town is situated on a mountain ridge and you enter through a medieval gate. The you walk and walk uphill until you reach the piazza. Very nice!
The blue Vespa seems to be a 50 Special. The green should be a PK, vero?
I can't read the make of the saddle. Photos by telephone so the quality is not at it best. The photo of the green Vespa was taken at 21.30.

Under the Tuscan sun

It's very hot here in the surroundings of Cortona. One local uomo that I spoke with said that these temperatures are more normal for August, it's over 30 degrees C in the shadow. After my youngest son got an italian haircut, I managed to capture some Vespas in Camucia, the "new town" below Cortona.
The first is a PX sitting in a window of à clothes shop.
Next one is a PK 50 XL.
The Ape is relatively old, I like how the Piaggo emblem is glowing.
The green Vespa is a 70's Vespa 50 special, I think. I didn't catch the name of the driver. À nice restoration.
Last, another PK 50 XL.

Ho sbagliato, my mistake!

The Vespa in the former post is not a VBB. Always check the wheel size first...
The walking encyklopedia Patrik suggests that it's a late VNB, 125 cc, 8-inch wheels.
I blame the fact that the blogpost was conceived under the influence of Limoncello. And that I'm not so good at recognizing the modern Vespas of the sixties...

La prima Vespa in Cortona

At last! A Vespa in Cortona. Earlier I have seen som small frames from a distance, no chance to take any photos. Last night we went out for dinner. On the way to the trattoria my youngest son pointed down an very, very narrow alley.
It was a Vespa GL 150, 1962-1965. I think this one, nicely restored, is missing a list on the front fender.
The second pic is of a poster for the opera L'Elisir D'Amore by Gaetano Donizetti. The premiere was in 1832, so I wonder what's with the Vespa on the poster. Allora, Vespa sono un elisir per me. The opera will be performed in Teatro Signorelli in Cortona on the 29th of June to 2th of July.

The third picture is of an old statue. Well, not etruscan by any means. It's the mascot of the 1990 World Cup of soccer in Italy. The approx 3 meter high statue of metal is rusting a bit. I would love to have it in my garden!

No Vespa, but italian...

No Vespa yet here in Cortona. But we're just resting around the rented house. On the parking lot of the grocery store there was this Fiat 500 Nuova. The model appeared in 1957 with an 479 cc "big" engine producing 13 hp. I think a lot of scooterists would choose this as a subsitute. Unfortunately this one had a dent on the right front wing.
Yeah, that's me posing.

Una sera in Italia

Sono in Italia. Ho mangiato prosciutto, formaggio, pomodori, salate, ulivi e pane. Ho bevuto vino rosso e limoncello. Il bicchere e' molto bellissima:

Mail, delivered by Vespa's

I don't really remember how I found this pictures. They're from The Sydney Bus Museum in Australia. A fine part of Australia's postal history.
On the seat inside the Ape you can see a sign with the letters PMG, which stands for Postmaster-General's Departement. It was founded in 1901.
The Piaggio products, the VBB (?) Vespa and the Ape was used in the beginning of the sixties. Sydney Bus Museum credits the firm Ansair in Melbourne for the box behind the cabin of the Ape, which were used in inner-urban areas.
The Vespa's were more common in Adelaide, from the sixties until the late 70's.
Look how the Vespa has been reinforced to hold heavy loads of letters up front.
Let's hope the postman had a saddle at least!

(Pictures published with authorization from The Sydney Bus Museum)

Cosa, more beautiful now?

Cosa from Piaggio, not a Vespa?

I remember when the Cosa from Piaggio was in the shops. I had just bought my Vespa GS 1961. I thought the Cosa was ugly as hell. Too square at the back and ungainly overall. But I never drove one, or has driven one after that. I now know that the Cosa clutch is highly praised.
The photo above was taken today outside Stockholm. I'm pretty sure that it's the same Cosa that was for sale on an Internet-site here in Sweden a couple of months back. It's an import from Germany and it was registered in Sweden in the beginnning of April, and for sale a couple of days later.
As time goes by, I've started to appreciate the Cosa. Not only for it's part in the Piaggio story (a sad part, they tried to get away from the Vespa brand), but now I kind of like the quirky look!

Moscone, the Vespa of the sea

It's summer! Time for boating. No, it's not. 

But since this is a Moscone from Piaggio I had to buy it. It's a 100 cc producing 3,3 hp at 4 000 rpm. I believe that it's from the early 1950's. The information on the early outbord motors from Piaggio is very scarce. I haven't found out how many that they built.

La Vespa di mare!

Moscone translates to "Bluebottle" as Vespa means "Wasp" and Ape means "Bee".

The gas tank with a stylish logo.

At least they branded this product properly.

A friend had the missing covers for the string and the carb.

This is cool! A Lego Vespa...

A Vespa made of Lego from the world famous Danish company.

It's a strange world, with a lot of strange people. Some are grown-ups who "plays" with Lego. 

One of them is Eugene Tan from Singapore. His latest creation is called "Life Sized Vespa Scooter". Yes, a Vespa made completely out of Lego. Planning the build took him one year and building it another four months, after work. Eugene Tan is an architect. 

No, it's not glued together so it's very hard to move.

I just love it! 

Mr Tan has captured the curves and lines of the classic design.

Check out all the cool details on the builders own homepage.

Due Utilitaria, una con sidecar

The left Vespa 125 U, with sidecar, is restored to original.

Went home to my friend Patrik today. He has a Vespa 125 U with an original sidecar from Piaggio. Both were restored by him during the winter 2009/2010. He choose to have them resprayed in the original light green colour of Vespa U. About the time he was finished, my 125 U showed up.
We thought it would be cool to have a picture of them together.
Yes, I would like a sidecar too. But not on my U, it's slow enough!

My 125 Utilitaria in a arty fashion...

Valborundan on a Vespa

The two wheel rally "Valborundan" in the Swedish town Gävle, 170 km north of Stockholm, was very nice. Sunny and warm. Never has so many scooters participated in the 30 year old rally. The oldest motorcycle was an "American Chicago", from 1911!

My own Vespa 125 U was the oldest Vespa, the 125 with sidecar is a 1954 model. There was also a 1955 Vespa GS 1950. Another rare scooter was a Peugeot S55 from 1955. There was also a NV Progress 1956, a "badge-enginered" german from the Progress-Werke, sold by the Swedish "Nymans Verkstäder".

Ola on a 1954 Vespa 125 with sidecar.

Tobi, a german on a german Vespa GS. Note the "swan-neck".

Paka on his nicely restored Vespa GS 150, VS 1.

Another GS, now a VS 5 from 1960.  Janne drives.

His fiancé Märit on a Vespa Touring, 6 hp and 10-inch wheels.

My own Vespa Utilitaria lost in the woods. 

Håkan has a rare Peugeot S55, 1955. Unfortunately he got a puncture...

Note original jacking devices. Fixed in no time at all.

Gävle Scooters, a local club, paid a visit.

The guys from Vespa Club Stockholm.