A STORY OF SUCCSESS

Vespa

A Story of Success

Not many products can look back on a life span of over fifty years - but the Vespa from Piaggio can. This motorcycle, developed in Italy during the post-World War II years, moved from being a utility vehicle, whose characteristics had been dictated by criteria such as function and cost, to international success and is now a "cult object". So what is the story behind this unique motorcycle?

The Vespa was born in the post-war period in Italy. The company Piaggio with its manager Enrico Piaggio suffered from the destruction of several parts of their factories and was forced to adopt their wartime production to the peace that came over Europe. The country was poor, its infrastructure was set back by about thirty years and the level of consumption was low. But Enrico Piaggio had an idea that suited that period. Something that was suitable for the growth of the domestic market, the need for mobility and to recover the industrialization: He invented the Vespa motorscooter. On 23 April 1946 at 12 o'clock in the central office for inventions, models and makes of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Florence, Piaggio e C. S.p.A. (Piaggio and Co.) took out a patent for a "motorcycle of a rational complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards and a casing covering the whole mechanical part". This was the official birth of the Vespa.

But the name of that scooter was not always Vespa. The first prototype was given the initials MP5 and baptized "Paperino". This is the Italian name for Donald Duck. It was given that name by the workers because of the strange shape it had. But when Enrico Piaggio saw it he did not like the design at all and asked Corradino D'Ascanio to redesign it. So Corradino D'Ascanio, a former aeronautical designer, made a nearly complete redesign. When that prototype, called MP6, was shown to Enrico Piaggio and he heard the buzzing sound of the engine he exclaimed "sembra una vespa" which means "seems like a wasp". And the name Vespa remained.

The MP5 "Paperino"

The MP6 "Vespa"

Especially the redesign by Corradino D'Ascanio made the Vespa something special. Actually, Corradino D'Ascanio did not like motorcycles at all. He found them uncomfortable, the wheels where difficult to change after a puncture and, worse still, the drive chain made them and the driver dirty. However, his experience from aeronautical design made him find solutions to all these problems. To eliminate the drive chain he thought of a motor directly connected to the back wheel. To make tire changing easier he designed not a fork but a construction very similar to the front wheel of an airplane. To make it even simpler to fix a puncture he thought of a wheel rim that can be slit in two parts to ease the exchange of the inner tube. And finally he designed a body that protected the driver against getting dirty and disheveled. Another specialty of the body worth mentioning is the stress-bearing body like it is used in all cars nowadays but which was not very popular right after the war. Also the riding position was designed to let the driver sit comfortably and safely. And to make it even easier to ride the gear lever was put on the handlebar - decades before the spread of ergonomic studies.

The motor directly connected to the back wheel.

The cult of the Vespa started with its success. In 1946 Piaggio put 2,484 scooters on the market. This number increased to 10,535 in the following year, and by 1948 production had reached 19,822. When, in 1950, the first German licensee started production, there were already over 60,000. And just three years later, already not fewer than 171,200 vehicles that had left the plants. In that decade the Times called the Vespa a completely Italian product, not seen since the Roman chariot. But Piaggio also did its best to spread the Vespa. They created an extensive service network all over Europe and the rest of the world. In 1953 there were already over ten thousand Piaggio service points all around the world, including in America and Asia. Enrico Piaggio also watched with great interest the founding of several motorcyclist clubs around the Vespa. In 1951 no less than twenty thousand Vespa enthusiasts showed up at the "Italian Vespa Day", and in 1953 there were already more then fifty thousand Vespa drivers organized in clubs throughout the world. The word Vespa became synonymous with freedom, mobility and the new lifestyle formed after the war. Even the armed forces got interested in the Vespa. The French army, for example, ordered a few special Vespas that were able to carry arms and bazookas and were meant to be parachuted together with the troops.

Poster of the Vespa Club Europa

Today the Vespa has not lost any of its spirit. Piaggio is prospering, and since the beginning of the nineties they have thrown some brand new scooter models on the market. Sadly, the silhouette of the original Vespa is starting to disappear more and more from the roads, replaced by the look of the new scooters. But the idea of the Vespa still lives even in the new models. The idea of mobility for the persons that can not afford cars. The idea of the lifestyle of a young generation.

I'm also the proud owner of a Vespa, a Vespa PX 200 E Grand Sport, which is the fastest and biggest Vespa produced by Piaggio in the moment, with a cubic capacity of 200 ccm and an (official) maximum speed of 105 km/h. I bought it brand new in 1993 and has not given me any reason to complain yet - except that the clutch cable is tearing every few thousand kilometers. But you can live with that Achilles' tendon if you are always carrying the right tools and spare parts. I love my Vespa for giving me mobility and the possibility to differ from the "regular" motorcyclists and do not want to miss out on riding it a single day.