The Man Who Put Italy on Two Wheels Hello All,
Wonderful Thread!
I just chanced on this today. Though I never owned one, I have ridden the Vespa and all of its Indian variants to know it well and its ecentricities.
Though late to the party, I would like to share some info on the beginings of Vespa (nothing new to a group like this I suppose). What I am putting below has been adapted from the "Mechanix Illustrated" of early 1955. The sketch attached is also from the same article. Quote
Vespa is largely the story of one remarkable man Enrico Piaggio of Genoa.
Before the Second World War Enrico and his brother Armando headed one of Italy's biggest manufacturing companies, which made railway trucks, trolley-buses, aeroplanes and aeroplane engines. At war's end their factories were rubble, and a peak payroll of 12,000 had dwindled to zero.
The Piaggios could have retired to lead lives of ease. Instead, in October 1945 they called together the remnants of their shattered organization.
"We ought to be providing jobs for thousands of people," said Enrico (Piaggio). "Yet most of the things we know how to make are forbidden by the occupation authorities. Let's have some suggestions."
"What the country needs most," said Armando Piaggio, "is a quick and easy means of transportation."
The Allies had blasted railways; main roads had been ground to dust by tanks'. It would take years for motor-car makers to resume production. Meanwhile, how were people to get about?
Piaggio remembered the sturdy, versatile motor scooters which the American and German paratroopers had used during the war. Mightn't such vehicles put transportation within reach of millions? Piaggio thought so.
"Let's try a design," he suggested to one of his engineers, Dr. Corradino d'Ascanio, aviation pioneer.
D'Ascanio started -sketching-. A four or five horse-power engine would be about right. (Speed and power weren't essential.) No one liked to straddle a hot, dirty engine -why not put the engine in the rear, enclose it and hook it directly to the rear wheel? Fat tyres on small 'wheels would give more comfort and make the vehicle easier to handle.
The tiny, one-cylinder engine that d'Ascanio sketched was a masterpiece of simplified design. Powered with an oil-petrol mixture, it needed no elaborate lubrication system oil pump. Made largely of aluminium castings, it would weigh only 44 pounds and would be easy on fuel.
To make his scooter appealing to women, d’Ascanio designed it along the lines of a girl's bicycle and added a floorboard to rest the feet, plus a flaring windproof apron front. He found some wheelbarrow tyres, old motor-cycle handlebars and scrap metal, and the new vehicle was built in six weeks. That first crude model is now in the Automobile Museum in Turin. Unquote
Hope all of enjoy this tit-bit
Best Regards &Drive/Ride Safe
Last edited by r_nairtvm : 23rd December 2009 at 14:17.
Reason: Editing Fonts and attaching the sketch
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