By Eric Bryan

By Eric Bryan
One of the most iconic images of
Italy in the 1950s and 1960s is the
colorful Vespa scooter. Inspired by
the U.S. military Cushman scooters
used in Italy during World War II, the
Piaggio Company in Tuscany began
producing the scooters commercially
in 1946. The resulting Vespa scooter
went on to become one of Italy’s
greatest manufacturing success stories.
In 1953, its appearance in the film,
Roman Holiday, which also introduced Audrey Hepburn, reportedly
generated more than 100,000 sales.
By 1956, Piaggio had sold over one
million scooters. Celebrities such
as Dean Martin, Charlton Heston,
Marlon Brando, and John Wayne
were fans and its popularity grew
so great that a new Italian verb was
coined: vespare, meaning to travel by
Vespa.
to the masses and commissioned an
engineer, Renzo Spolti to design a
motor-scooter. Spolti’s prototype
was the Moto Piaggio 5 (MP5),
but the workers at the Biella factory
christened it Paperino (Donald Duck),
perhaps inspired by the nickname
given to the tiny Fiat 500 car, Topolino
(Mickey Mouse).
The MP5 98cc scooter had a chain
drive, was bulky and didn’t have a
step-through design which allowed
women in dresses or skirts to ride
it. Piaggio was so dissatisfied that he
halted production of the Paperino. By
this time, approximately 100 of them
had already come off the assembly
line. Those that survive today are
highly-sought after by collectors.
The Wasp
Enrico Piaggio next asked the
aeronautical engineer, Corradino
D’Ascanio to take over the project.
Some specifics were required: the
scooter had to be elegant yet durable,
reliable and simple to operate with
An advertisement for the Vespa 50
aimed at the youth market
Donald Duck
In 1943, after his aeronautics
factories were destroyed by the
Allies, Enrico Piaggio decided
to offer low-cost transportation
The Vespa MP5 prototype
displeased the manufacturer.
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The Evolving Vespa
A pinup calendar girl on a Vespa
in 1951 foretells the scooter’s
popularity.
a layout that prevented the rider’s
clothes from getting dirty.
D’Ascanio’s dislike of motorcycles
coupled with his experience in aeronautics led him to create a groundbreaking new machine. The engineer
found motorcycles uncomfortable
to ride. The chain drive is messy,
and changing a motorcycle tire was
cumbersome.
With these ideas in mind,
D’Ascanio took an ergonomics-first
approach and began plans by first
drawing the figure of a rider who sat
comfortably upright, then sketched
his proposed machine below and
around the figure, accommodating
the human proportions.
D’Ascanio’s innovations included
a unibody frame, the placing of the
gearshift on the handlebars, a footbrake, direct-drive, and attaching the
front wheel to a single strut instead
of a fork to allow for quick and easy
wheel changes. And women liked its
frame’s step-through design.
This 98cc model was the Moto
Piaggio 6 (MP6). When Enrico
Piaggio saw the prototype and heard
the buzz of its motor, he exclaimed,
“Sembra una vespa!” (“It seems like a
wasp!”). The nickname stuck.
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Like automobiles, this popular
scooter has gone through many transformations in the 68 years since Piaggio premiered his Light Motorized
Runabout (Motoleggera Utilitaria), or
Vespa 98 at the Rome Golf Club in
1946. This model was almost the same
as the MP6, but D’Ascanio had made
some refinements such as adding an
engine cooling-fan, and repositioning
the horn and handbrake.
The Vespa 98 made the cover of
La Moto magazine, and Piaggio initially sold the scooters through Lancia
dealerships. Optional features for the
Vespa included a kickstand, whitewalls,
and a speedometer. The Italian public
was curious but skeptical of the new
The Growth of A Legend
Some Vespa Production Figures
•1947: 10,535 produced
•1948: 19,822 Vespa 125s produced
•1950: 60,000
produced for Germany
•1953: 171,200 produced;
Year also marked production of the 500,000th scooter.
•1956: Over one million produced to date
•1960: Two million
produced to date
•1970: Four million
produced to date
•1988: 10 million
produced to date
•2013: 18 million
produced to date
A poster of the 1953 movie that
helped popularize the Vespa
creation, and the first year’s production number was only 2,484 units.
In 1947, Piaggio brought out the
second generation Vespa 98. This
model included improved lighting,
a smaller front fender to further simplify front wheel removal, and a new
start lever which was easier to operate.
The silver finishes of these vehicles
reflected the aeronautical heritage
of the Piaggio Company. The Vespa
98s could do 37mph, and cost $244
($293 for the luxury model) in 1946.
As sales numbers climbed, Piaggio
offered the Vespa 125, a new 125cc
scooter, in 1948. With a top speed
of 43mph, this model had improved
suspension, a rear shock absorber,
and easier engine access. A competition 125, the Sei Giorni, appeared
in 1951. With its modifications, this
scooter could do 60mph, and won
nine gold medals at the 26th International Six-Day Event.
A further incarnation of the 125
also debuted in 1951: the Vespa
Siluro (Torpedo). With a sleek silver
body of panels, fins and fairings which
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enclosed the rider, this was a timetrials model that broke the standing
kilometer record with a time of 21.4
seconds and an average speed of
106.3mph.
After the Sei Giorni, came the Vespa 150 GS, a mass-produced sporty
model with a 145.6cc engine and a
top speed of 63mph. It is regarded as
the height of beauty in scooter design,
and the most famous Vespa. Released
in 1955, examples of this classic are
prized by motor enthusiasts and collectors the world over.
Corradino D’Ascanio
A Modern Da Vinci
Women liked the Vespa’s
step-through style.
In 1963, Piaggio created the Vespa The Future...
50, a small-sized 49cc scooter that
could do 25mph. It is the last model
designed by D’Ascanio. Known for
its simplicity and easy handling, this
motor-scooter was especially popular with Italian teen-agers. Its small
engine allowed it to circumvent the
Italian Highway Code which required
license plates for vehicles with motors
of greater than 1.5 horsepower. Over
three million Vespa 50s were built.
As sales mushroomed, Piaggio had
the scooters made under license in
France, Spain, Belgium, Great Britain
and Germany. Production expanded
into Brazil, Indonesia, and India in
the 1960s.
From its single motor-scooter introduced in 1946, Piaggio has since
created hundreds of different models,
including a military Vespa, which carried a 75mm anti-tank gun; scooters
with sidecars; scooters with trailers;
and other competition models.
Production of the Vespa continues
to this day. The latest model, the 2014
deluxe Vespa 946 has a 150cc engine,
cruises at 58mph and costs about
$10,000, but much cheaper models
are also available.
New projects include the development of hybrid scooters. Thanks
to its “wasp,” Piaggio is the world’s
top producer of two-wheeled motor
vehicles. The Italian Vespa is truly un
fenomeno mondiale!
Eric Bryan is a freelance writer originally
from Burlingame, California.
The 2014 deluxe Vespa 946 costs about $10,000.
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2014 88 The man who created the Vespa
was born in 1891 in Popoli, a town
in the Abruzzo region. Corradino
D’Ascanio was interested in aviation early on, achieving flight at 14
with a homemade hang-glider. He
earned an engineering degree at
the Politecnico di Torino in 1914,
and in the 1920s to 1932, designed
prototype helicopters.
After WWII, Ferdinando Innocenti approached D’Ascanio
to design the Lambretta scooter.
Innocenti insisted the frame be
constructed of tubing. This conflicted with D’Ascanio’s vision of a
stamped spar-frame, so the engineer took his plans, which would
lead to the Vespa, to Piaggio.
D’Ascanio continued with
helicopter projects in the 1940s
and 1950s, and in 1964 worked
for the Agusta Group designing the
Agusta ADA, a helicopter intended
as a trainer and crop-sprayer.
D’Ascanio’s inventions included a
punch-card computer, timed cigarette-holders designed to curb his
own smoking, and elaborate games.
Despite the overpowering success of the Vespa, D’Ascanio
regretted that his aeronautics
achievements went underappreciated. He died in Pisa in 1981.
Vespa designer D’Ascanio (L),
admiring an early model
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