History of Scooters
The History of the Vespa
Did you know?
- . Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio.
- . The word Vespa means Wasp in both Italian and Latin!
- . There have now been 138 different versions of the Vespa since production began.
The Piaggio Group
Enrico Piaggio and his brother Armando inherited the family engineering business on their father's death in 1938. Enrico decided to move the business from aircraft to scooter production after the end of the war as there was a need for low cost transport.
This proved to be a prudent move as the company would eventually become one of the biggest manufacturers of two-wheeled vehicles in the world and in fact The Piaggio group is now Europe's largest manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles and the world's fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer by unit sales. The group own 7 companies. Piaggio, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, Vespa, Gilera and Ligier.
The Vespa
Production of the Vespa started in Italy in 1946. In 1950 a factory opened in Germany and a year later in the UK (Douglas of Bristol). Soon it was manufactured in 13 countries and sold in 114!
Although the Lambretta was starting to gain popularity in the 50’s by 1956 Vespa had still sold over 1 million vehicles. 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.
As a result of the MOD subculture that developed in the 1960s, the United Kingdom has become Vespa's second largest global market. A new lifestyle evolved from this and by the late 80’s/90’s thousands of ‘Scooterists’ attended national scooter rallies held around the UK each year. Although with a smaller attendance level these still happen today.
Vespas are often split into 2 categories
- These are:
- Small Frame & Large Frame.
- The Small Frame are the 50cc-125cc versions, all using an engine derived from the 50cc model of 1963.
- The Large Frame are the 125cc-200cc displacements using engines derived from the redesigned 125cc engine from the late 1950s.
Modern Vespa’s
These range from a 50cc up to a 300cc. All have electric start and are twist & go’s although a new geared model is due to be released in April 2011. This will be an updated version of the old PX which was last in production in 2007 and will be available in a 125 & 150cc version.
List of Vespas
- Paperino – the original prototype made in 1945 at Biella
- Vespa 150 TAP – A Vespa modified by the French military that incorporated an antitank weapon.
- VNC Super 125
- VBC Super 150
- VLB Sprint 150
- VBA Standard 150
- VBB Standard 150
- 125 GT
- V9A
- VNA
- VNB 125
- Vespa U - U is for utilitaria (English - economic). 1953 model with a price of 110 mila Lire (about US$175), 7,000 were produced
- GS 150
- GS 160
- SS 180
- Standard 90 (3 spd)
- Standard 50 (3 spd)
- SS50 (4 spd)
- SS90 (4 spd)-90 SS Super Sprint
- 150 GL
- 90 Racer
- 125 TS
- 100 Sport
- 125 GTR
- 150 Sprint
- 150 Sprint Veloce (Vespa Sprint)
- 180 SS Super Sport
- Rally 180
- Rally 200
- 125 Nuova (VMA-1T) - Prelude to Primavera
- Primavera 125 also ET3 (3 port version)
- PK 50
- PK 50 XL
- PK 50 Roma (Automatic)
- 50 S
- 50 Special
- 50 Special Elestart
- 50 Sprinter / 50 SR (D)
- 50 Special Revival (Limited to 3,000 Italy-only numbered units, released in 1991)
- COSA 1 - 125 cc, 150 cc, 200 cc
- COSA 2 - 125 cc, 150 cc, 200 cc
- P 80 / P 80 E (France)
- P 80 X/PX 80 E (France)
- PK 80 S / Elestart
- PK 80 S Automatica / Elestart
- PK 100 S / Elestart
- PK 100 S Automatica
- PK 100 XL
- PK 125 XL / Elestart
- PK 125 S
- PK 125 E
- PK 125 automatica (automatic transmission)
- P 125 X
- PX 125 E/Electronic
- P 200 E
- PX 200 E FL
- PX 200 Serie Speciale (Limited to 400 UK-only numbered units)
- T5 / Elestart (5 port engine 125 cc P series)
- T5 Classic (5 port engine 125 cc P series)
- T5 Millennium (5 port engine 125 cc P series) (Limited to 400 UK-only numbered units)
Recent
- ET2 50 - 2-stroke
- ET4 50 - 4-stroke
- ET4 125 (Euro Model)
- ET4 150 (Euro Model)
- ET4 150 (US model)
- ET8 150 (Eastern model)
- GT 125 (Granturismo 125)
- GT 200 (Granturismo 200)
- GTS 250ie
- GTS 250 Super - Only briefly sold in the US where the 278cc engine as used in the 300 Super had not yet been approved for use. Quickly replaced by the GTS 300 Super.
- PX 125
- PX 150 (reintroduced to US and Canadian Markets in 2004)
- PX 200
Current
- 2008 Vespa LX150
- LX 50
- LX 125
- LX 150
- LXV 50 (60th anniversary variant of LX50)
- LXV 125 (60th anniversary variant of LX125)
- GT 60° 250 cc Limited Edition. 999 produced worldwide in unique colours and each one receiving a commemorative badge, personalized with the owner’s initials. Features the front-fender-mounted headlight, shared only with the GTV 250.
- GTS 125
- GTS 250ie
- GTS 250 ie abs
- GTS 300 (2010)
- GTS 300 Super (2008)
- GTV 125 (60th anniversary variant of GTS 125)
- GT60 (60th anniversary limited run variant of GTS 250) Features the fender mounted headlight as a tribute to the original Vespas.
- GTV 250 Standard model based on the GTS250ie. Physically similar to the GT60, but available in a choice of colours.
- PX 30 125 (A limited edition, only 1000 produced to celebrate the 30 years of the P range S 50 and S 125 new model 2007, introduced at Milan Motorshow November 2006
- S 150 (2008)
- Zafferano 50 cc and 125 cc (A limited edition, only 200 produced)
The History of the Lambretta
Did you know?
The name Lambretta comes from the small river Lambro in Milan, Italy which ran near to the 1st Lambretta factory. Innocenti & The Lambretta Ferdinando Innocenti started production of Lambretta scooters in 1947 - the year after Piaggio started production of its Vespa models.
- Lambrettas were also manufactured under licence in other counties but often by other names:
- Société Industrielle de Troyes (S.I.T.) in France
- NSU in Germany
- Serveta in Spain
- API in India
- Pasco in Brazil
- Auteco in Colombia
- Siambretta in Argentina
As wealth increased in Western Europe in the late 1960s, the demand for motor scooters fell as the small car became available to more people and Lambretta started to struggle financially as did parent company Innocenti.
The British Leyland Motor Corporation took advantage of Innocenti's financial difficulties as well as their production and engineering expertise and contracted Innocenti to produce cars under licence. The Innocenti Mini used the mechanical components of the original but was in many ways superior to it. Innocenti / Lambretta were eventually sold to BLMC. Unfortunately they joined a fashion trend that was ending rapidly and as scooter sales took a nosedive both Innocenti and Lambretta stopped production in 1972.
The same year the Indian government bought the factory and the manufacturing & trademark rights to the Lambretta name, creating Scooters India Limited (SIL). They bought it essentially for the same reasons that Innocenti had built it after the War. India was a country with poor infrastructure, economically not ready for small private cars yet but still with a demand for privately owned transport.
Former Innocenti employees were used to set up an Indian factory as all the manuals and machinery instructions were in Italian. The first scooter built was the Vijay Delux / DL, which was badged the Lambretta GP150 in export markets. This sold poorly because of build problems and was enhanced to become the Vijay Super. Further improvements were made in the final years of production by incorporating a contemporary Japanese CDI Unit and an advanced front suspension. SIL production seems to have peaked during 1980/81, with around 35,000 scooters being built. However by 1987 this had dropped to around 4,500 units with production finally ceasing in 1997. Automobile Products of India (API) had assembled Innocenti-built Lambretta scooters since the 1950s. They eventually acquired a licence to build the Li150 Series 2 model, which was sold under the Lambretta Series 2 name until about 1976 and later on changed the name to Lamby for legal reasons. API also built the trademark model API-175 a 3 wheeler which was based on Innocenti's Lambro. API continued to build Lambretta-derived models until the 1980s but have been non-operational since 2002.
Lambretta today
The Innocenti brand name rights are currently owned by Fiat whereas the oldest Lambretta and Lambro trademark registrations worldwide are owned by Lambretta Consortium. In the United States, Scooters India Ltd licensed the Khurana Group USA LLC to manufacture and distribute scooters under the Lambretta brand. The first release in 2008 were rebadged Adly models.
These are of contemporary design and including the DUE50, UNO50 & UNO150.
It is rumoured that sometime in 2011 the Motom Electronics Group are about to release another Lambretta - The Lambretta LN - More info on this as soon as we know anything. How they work Lambrettas have three or four gears and two stroke engines with capacities ranging from 49 cc to 198 cc. Most two-stroke engines require a mixture of oil with the gasoline in order to lubricate the piston and cylinder.
Unlike the Vespa, which was built with a unibody chassis pressed from sheets of steel, Lambrettas were based around a more rigid tubular frame, although the 'J' series model produced from 1964 through 1971 did have a monocoque body. Early versions were available in 'closed', with fully-covered mechanicals or 'open', with minimal panels and thus looking like an unusual motorcycle. The model A and model B were only available in 'open' style.
Timeline of models
- Model A, 1947–48
- Model B, 1948–50
- Model C/LC, 1950–51
- Model D, 1951–57
- Model LD, 1951–58
- Model E, 1953–54
- Model F, 1954–55
- TV Series 1, 1957–59
- Li Series 1, 1958–59
- Li Series 2, 1959–61
- TV Series 2, 1959–62
- Li Series 3, 1961–67
- TV/GT Range, 1962–65
- Li Special, 1963–69
- J Range, 1964–71
- SX Range, 1966–1969
- Lui/Vega/Cometa, 1968–70
- GP/DL Range, 1969-71 (Italy)
- GP/DL, 1972-98 (India)
