Piaggio Vespa history

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Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

Piaggio Vespa history

Piaggio Vespa history

Piaggio Vespa history

Piaggio Vespa history

25th pictures

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Introduced in April 1946 and sold for 55,000 lire, 98 cubic meters managed 60 km / h.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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In 1951 the Vespa Siluro drove a distance of one kilometer at an average speed of 171.7 km / h.

Piaggio Vespa history
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Only 6,000 times built as an economy model, a flop back then, now a sought-after property with absurd prices.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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With a sidecar with the 125 cubic engine from 1955

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Vespa GS 150 from 1955

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Four-speed gearbox, speedometer up to 100 km / h, lying up to 85 km / h. Only built 7,800 times, another flop, wanted today.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Built for a good 14 years, with a production run of over 240,000 pieces. With 5.56 hp from 121 cubic meters.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Piaggio sold over 4 million Vespa 50s between 1963 and 1990. One of the main reasons: In Italy, single-seaters up to 50 cubic meters were allowed to be driven without a license from 14 years of age.

Piaggio Vespa history
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Successor to the Primavera, ET3 stands for the electronic ignition and the third transfer channel of the two-stroke engine. Built 144,000 times by 1983.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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With 200 cubic meters and 12 hp, it can reach speeds of 105 km / h. Only built from 1972 to 1979. Technical basis of all Vespa up to 1999.

Piaggio Vespa history
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Piaggio von der Elestart was able to sell a good 7,800 units from 1969 to 1978, initially as a 3-speed version and then as a 4-speed version with 1.5 hp from 49.77 cubic meters.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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The PX series was built for 29 years until 2016. With Euro 4 came the end of the two-stroke engine.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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In 1980 Piaggio drove the Dakar in Africa with Vespa.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Four Vespa competed back then.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Two have reached their destination and are now in the factory museum.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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The PK was presented in 1982 as a successor to the Vespa 50 and 125 ET3. Available between 50 and 125 cubic meters, with 3 and 4 gears, as well as automatic.

Piaggio Vespa history
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With 12 HP the powerful Vespa with manual transmission, built until 1990. Today a popular collector’s item.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Everything new: centrifugal clutch, variator, plastic body. As ET 4 with four-stroke engine with 50, 125 and 150 cubic meters.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Parallel to the ET 4 as a two-stroke ET 2 with 50 cubic meters.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Lamp-down models for the 60th anniversary with all kinds of special accessories.

Piaggio Vespa history
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Special model of the PX for 150 years of unification in Italy. Heavily catalyzed two-stroke model.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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At over 9,000 euros, it is the most expensive Vespa in history. Exciting design, modest performance, little storage space.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Successor to the Vespa LX series. Design is still shaping the current model series today.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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First purely electric Vespa, optically based on the Primavera. 70 km / h fast, 200 Nm torque.

Piaggio Vespa history
Piaggio

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Anniversary model for the 75th.

motorcycles

Scooter

Piaggio Vespa history

75 years of Piaggio Vespa
Scooter tradition since 1946

A Vespa model was first patented on April 23, 1946. Since then, over 19 million scooters have been manufactured under the brand name. The popular two-wheelers of Italian origin rattle through cities and towns around the world – today more than four-stroke engines and without rattling.


Jens Kratschmar,
Ludwig Joos

04/22/2021

In this article:

  • First duck then wasp
  • Record runs
  • Record sales
  • Conclusion

That Piaggio From today’s perspective, two-wheelers are produced for granted; The company was founded in 1884, a year before Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach designed the riding car. For half a century, Piaggio manufactured ships, rail cars and, most recently, aircraft in particular for the two world wars. After Italy’s defeat in World War II, the victorious powers banned any production of armaments: Piaggio was on the brink of extinction – also because the plant in Pontedera had been completely destroyed by attacks by the American air force.

First duck then wasp

In order to make Italy mobile again, Enrico Piaggio decided to create an inexpensive mass product. The aeronautical engineer and inventor Corradino D’Asconi developed a corresponding concept within a few weeks. The first prototype was made because of its strange shape “Paperino” named after the Italian name of the Walt Disney character Donald Duck. The second prototype reminded Enrico Piaggio of the appearance of a wasp, in Italian Vespa. The stinging insect gave the brand its name.


Piaggio Vespa history


Piaggio

1946: Vespa 98cc, the basis for the worldwide success of the Vespa.

the Vespa 98cc, the first model on the market, was offered in two versions: in addition to the standard version, also as “Luxery”-Version in elegant white with speedometer and side stand. In the second half of 1947, the production of scooters exploded, Piaggio was able to manufacture 10,535 Vespas. A trend that continued in the years that followed and also thanks to the prominent placement of a wasp in Hollywood films “A heart and a crown” with Audrey Hephurn and Gregory Peck.

Piaggio Vespa history

Scooter


Vespa turns 75

Special models for the anniversary

read more

Record runs

With the first 125 cc engines, which replaced the old 98 cubic two-stroke engines from 1948, Piaggio set off on record runs. In Montlhery, France, a heavily modified Vespa drives over 1,000 kilometers in 10 hours and sets a total of 17 records. In 1951 a streamlined Vespa with 125 cubic meters drove one kilometer in 21 seconds or at 171 km / h. In 1980 four Vespas set off for the Paris-Dakar Rally, two of which actually arrive after 10,000 kilometers.


Piaggio Vespa history


Piaggio

Piaggio starts the Paris-Dakar Rally with four Vespas. After more than 10,000 kilometers, two scooters arrive at the finish.

Record sales

Piaggio also builds flops. For example the entry-level model 125 U with economy equipment. Piaggio only builds the cheap Vespa 6,000 times, which are now sought-after collector’s items. On the other side of the balance sheet is the famous Vespa 50, which moved generations. Built for 37 years and over 4 million times – the Beetle on two wheels, so to speak. In Germany scooters were manufactured under a Vespa license from 1950. In 1988 the ten millionth Vespa rolled off the assembly line. In 2018 the Vespa will go electric. In 2021 Piaggio will fill the 19th million.

Conclusion

Happy Birthday, Vespa. The great goal of making Piaggio Italy mobile again with the Vespa after the war has been achieved. Just like in large parts of the world.

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