Vespa history (y3)
Vespa history (y3)

Video: Vespa history (y3)

Video: Vespa history (y3)
Video: Vespa: The Scooter That Rebuilt Italy 2024, March
Anonim

In this third part of the documentary on the history of the Vespa we are going to see how even this small motorcycle that aspired to power a country devastated by war is capable of competing like any other motorcycle designed specifically for it. From the hand of Giuseppe Cau we can recall the feats that he achieved in his youth on the prototypes developed in Pontedera, Piaggio's headquarters.

Nothing less than 171 km / h reached in 1951 on the Vespa Siluro 125, or victories in the 1950 Bologna GP with the Vespa Corsa also 125 cc. Meanwhile in Spain we reached the record of getting 19 people and a dog on a Vespa. Contemporary of that time is the Piaggio Acrobatic Team, which travels Europe with its demonstrations on the modest Scooter.

Some go further, like a French student who crossed the English Channel with a Vespa conveniently adapted for sailing. Without a doubt, the Vespa penetrated society to unknown limits, fostering associationism on the one hand and the desire for individual improvement on some others.

The Vespa is a motorcycle that, keeping the image of the product more or less faithful from its beginning, has managed to evolve to adapt to the times. In a study on the different evolutions of the engine since its initial design at Piaggio they discovered that a part was still kept as it was in the first design. Unfortunately the translation of the documentary confuses the magnetic flywheel fixing key with the flywheel locking key, an unforgivable mistake.

The last part of the documentary delves into the uniqueness of the Vespa, a Scooter that in its more than 60 years of manufacture has seen 150 models, but all have been manufactured starting from the same base, a motorcycle with a single-hull chassis made of sheet steel and a hidden motor under the bodywork. Even the most modern versions are still built in much the same way. As we could see in the post dedicated to its manufacture a few months ago.

In Pontedera we can visit the Vespa museum dedicated to the memory of Giovanni Alberto Agneli, the first of the Piaggio family to realize that the legacy that this bike was leaving to everyone had to be preserved in some way. As a curiosity, the documentary closes with an anecdote related by Antonio Tabucci, an Italian writer who meets an Indian citizen who is transporting a deceased relative on his motorcycle to be cremated. Their only point of attachment is the Vespa on which the Indian circulates.

The history of the Vespa is a perfect example of how a good product can be perpetuated for more than half a century and remain as desired as the first day. Without a doubt, Piaggio has known how to adapt to the times and stay on the crest of the wave. Hopefully this does not end up going to their heads and for the sake of getting more business they lose the north.

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