Italian ape import

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Italian ape import
Breakable

to travel

Italian ape import

Italian ape import
The ape dream

Everyone knows it, everyone loves it – the Ape. Three-wheeled sister model of the Vespa and an indispensable part of the Italian cultural area. Markus Golletz brought one to Germany.

Markus Golletz

02/27/2003

In the back the old Tenere on the loading area, in front of us a layer of fresh snow that is gradually thickening. I turn the throttle as far as it will go – but the speedometer needle hardly moves. It points to 15 km / h and we go full throttle! With any other vehicle that would seem unbearably slow to me, but with the Ape it’s colossal. We’re fighting with ten horsepower on the southern ascent of the Splugen, and the first snow is just falling. It’s the middle of September, and Corinna and I have been the owners of a 20-year-old Ape for a few days. Built at Piaggio and the three-wheeled version of the famous Vespa. Two well-known product lines named after wasps and bees (Ape) have been rolling off the production line at Piaggio for over 50 years. As hard-working as its role model in nature, the Ape specializes in rappelling down heavy loads, even in steep mountains. A Tenere has certainly never been on one of its loading areas. We set out with her to track down one of these likeable three-legged insects in Italy, firmly believing that we would return on the back of such a worker bee. But the search turned out to be more difficult than expected. Finally, Piaggio Italia gave the decisive tip: The Ape is at home in sunny Liguria. Indeed – in San Remo we find it: Model 601 in corn yellow. It’s love at second sight. On our first date with the object of desire at the local Piaggio Center, I react rather negatively. The good one is dusted as thick as a finger, the bench is totally torn, everything looks ailing. With that thing over the Alps? I mumble something noncommittal and disappear again. But the search for the next few days will be fruitless, and I can’t get the little yellow one out of my head. When the price finally started to falter, we took it, and the bureaucratic part of the adventure began. The hardest part is obtaining an Italian license. Every day we go to the dealer, try to underpin the urgency of our concern with personal waiting and a little penetrance. We sweeten the waiting time with a visit to the beach or stroll through pretty San Remo, where everything is already glowing in the fever of the rally of the same name. A nice man offers us his help on one of our dealer visits. He has brought many Daimler back to Germany and apparently knows his way around. Namely, there is a new law that simplifies the import: by means of an export number that is issued by the registration office. But in the meantime an even better solution has emerged in the Piaggio Center. The previous owner agreed to register the Ape in his name for another month and thus freed from many formalities. Charge the Tenere – it just fits on the 1.75 meter long loading area – take a bag with screw nipples, Bowden cables and spark plugs from the mechanic, and we chug away. Straight into the lively evening rush hour traffic in Ventimiglia – and me as a debutant on the Ape handlebars! The throttle grip is on the right, the four-speed manual transmission on the left and the combination brake pedal for all three wheels (!) Below. After endless stop-and-go traffic, the Royatal finally branches off and we climb up to the Tende tunnel. Halfway through, at least five of the ten theoretically present horses say goodbye, the engine glows just before the piston jam. Better to take a cooling break. Tende – the incline becomes more extreme, the Ape can barely manage 20 things. It is now dark and, thank God, a bit cooler. But today, of all times, the tunnel will be closed an hour earlier. We spend our first night next to Ape on the disused old pass road. Things are starting to be fun. The next morning, however, we feel a bit queasy about the narrow, gloomy tunnel. What if the ape fails in there? Of course, it does not fail, but instead rushes with pleasure on the descent, which it tears off at a remarkable pace. Nevertheless – in the Vallone dell’Arma we make a service stop to thoroughly check the busy bee in front of the main Alpine ridge. Indeed – the air filter, V-belt, intake manifold and parts of the air fan cooling are gone. No wonder you get too warm all the time. I’m looking for parts with the Tenere in Cuneo. The first alleged dealer is particularly cunning. After half an hour of waiting, he gets the parts from another dealer and then resells them to me at a hefty surcharge. I only discover the fraud when I track down the “real” dealer the next day … Our Italian license plate proves to be particularly conducive to contact. Truck drivers like to ask us for directions – an Ape is no more than a 50-kilometer radius around its home town and its driver is therefore usually familiar with the area. When we later put a tarpaulin over the German motorcycle, the camouflage is perfect. When the Italians then notice our plan, they react completely differently. While the younger ones openly explain us to be a bit crazy – “Siete matti …” – the reliability of the Ape enjoys full confidence among the older ones. In the Valle Pellice we are accommodated by Ida, an elderly woman, next to her chicken coop. Anyone who drives such a beautiful Ape cannot be a bad person. It only gets really complicated in Turin, where the traffic makes us difficult and, to make matters worse, we end up on the motorway near the Fiat factory. We scared away between thundering forty-toners and flashing Alfas. When the engine starts to stutter and we can just roll out on the hard shoulder …. Shhhh …. . But a little later the little one just jumps on again – she was just getting too warm. We are real eye-catchers in Como in a supermarket parking lot: a Carabinieri crew is targeting us. Did something forbidden? No, no, they just had never seen anything like it – an old Ape with Tenere on the back. Where did we want to go? Up to Germania? Crazy! In any case, they wish us a good trip. Aside from the bitchy carburetor, it is. Placed lonely and completely dusty on the lying two-stroke cylinder, the Vmax becomes increasingly noticeable with dropouts. But this is a problem that takes a maximum of ten minutes, as the Piaggio Center in San Remo reassures us by telephone: “Un problema di carburatore è un problema di 10 minutes”. In Chiavenna at the foot of the Splugenpass we find the ideal workshop. Shelves of fully disused Ape-50 engines, lifting platforms with three-wheelers on them and two figures smeared with oil on the roller door: father and son, the specialists! The carburetor problem is really solved in ten minutes, and because they like us or they welcome our export of the Italian way of life, the two of them give us a few spare parts as a goodbye – grazie, Italia! The Passo Spluga sign next to the workshop signals ‘aperto’, the Ape is full and there was the first snow that night – so what are we waiting for? At the night camp halfway up it gets pretty cold, then the summit climb follows. In the second gear, the bee plows stoically up the long slope. With some cooling breaks we approach the high alpine snowfall zone, the Ape is really hot now. For us there is the last warm-up cappuccino in Montespluga before the final summit storm, for the engine a cooling snow pack. Once at the barrier, an ape doesn’t seem to really interest the Italian customs officers, they just look out the window for a moment and wave to us, the table football starts clacking again. Now the Swiss. But they are also friendly, ask about the load and wish you a good trip. Now it’s getting really cold. On the northern ridge of the Alps it snowed significantly deeper, but the roads are clear. That’s why the Ape manages unusually high mileage cuts downhill. Chur almost flies past us. At the border with Austria, the customs officers eyed us critically, especially the Yamaha on the loading area irritated. Do we want to import them? Was she registered? Annoyed, we finally import our own motorcycle in order to finally gain land. We will reach German soil at the end of September. Another xxx kilometers to Hanover. The breaks feel like a rally stop. We are quickly surrounded by curious people, always answering the same questions: Why, where, for how long? Or: “How fast does it go?” “Can you both fit in there?” We continue through the Swabian Alb, past the Neckar vineyards. Children and young people wave, guest workers ask in Italian why we wouldn’t advertise pizza and – Madonna! – take such a long distance? A restaurant owner gesticulates from his terrace and wants to invite us to a cappu, but the traffic light turns green and we plop away with the usual cavalier start. We’re almost home. After xx days and xxx kilometers

Import information

No matter if Aermacchi, Alfa or Ape ?? importing a classic from Italy is not easy, but it is also not impossible. Here are the tips for successfully importing an old Italo.

The first steps: The search should be well prepared at home by researching advertisements and the Internet or ideally acquaintances or dealers on site. If you plan to drive home by axle after purchase, the vehicle must be registered at short notice (registration office: motorizzazione civile). In Italy, a notarial transfer fee is mandatory for a change of ownership (passaggio di proprietà), which is 180 euros for motorcycles, regardless of the vehicle value, otherwise between 350 and 500 euros. However, this is only provided for in national law. If the vehicle is later registered abroad, this can be dispensed with. Attention ?? many traders do not know this, which can lead to time-consuming discussions. Export from Italy: Theoretically, it is possible to use an export or export license plate, for which the motorcycle must be roadworthy and insured. (A three-wheeled Ape turned out to be an unclear borderline case, in which the previous owner helped us out of a jam with the temporary registration in his name.) The Italian automobile club ACI offers short-term insurance (radiazione per l ?? esportatzion) for 214 euros (Sarah- Insurance). The export registration number (“targa provvisoria per L” Esportazione “) must be requested from the Italian registration office. In addition to the vehicle registration document (libretto) and the “foglio complementare” ((I still have to clarify)), a still valid TuV certificate (revisione) is required as well as the ACI short-term insurance mentioned above. The ACI also issues the owner certificate, which is very important for re-registration in Germany (»certificato di proprietà). For the seller, the process is officially scrapped (demolizione). Transfer and customs: No declaration is required for a registered used vehicle at the border. It can look different if a deregistered or new motorcycle is carried on the trailer. When driving by axle using an export license plate, there is also the option of having the VAT difference paid out (in Italy, obtain the consent of the dealer for this). (Form for new vehicles: “dichirazione di conformita per veicoli di tipo omologato ??). The German TuV: For the TuV certificate you only need the Italian vehicle documents and, if necessary, a data sheet from the manufacturer. A sample vehicle registration document can be helpful. But even more important is a TuV expert who has experience with individual approvals. To do this, call different test centers. Because especially with an Ape, the course for approval as a truck, motorcycle or tricycle is set by the TuV and the entry of the key numbers for “type and design”. With decisive consequences for the later costs for taxes and insurance. Individual acceptance: This is necessary if the vehicle does not meet certain EU directives. Which in this country can be associated with considerable costs. Those who are unlucky have to pay for emissions reports or material tests. With 216 euros for the Ape-TuV we got away passably. The costs vary with the state laws and fee regulations of the TuV or Dekra regions and can be up to 270 euros. Approval: Once you have the report in your pocket, not much can go wrong at the approval office. You must bring the purchase contract, a request to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (13 euros), the old license plate number and the vehicle registration document, as well as a double insurance card and the aforementioned “Certificato di Proprietà” from the ACI, which documents the last foreign owner. Translations are not necessary. Then the invalid stamped Italian papers and the license plate must be sent back to the seller. Further information: All detailed information about the authors can be found at www.markusgolletz.de/ape.htm. In addition, the website of the consumer advice center helps with import regulations: http://www.verbuberszentrale.it/23v142d396.html. Current literature on self-import is currently only available in the conditionally recommendable volume “Self-import motorcycles, 125cc, scooters – tricks and addresses for self-import”. By Norbert Albrecht, Axel Koenigsbeck and Max Rabe, Delius Klasing Verlag, xx euros.

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