April 19, 2006
EVEN A STOPPED CLOCK IS RIGHT TWICE A DAY
Cool at any age: the Vespa hits 60(Richard Owen, The Times, April 19th, 2006)
The Vespa was created in April 1946 by Enrico Piaggio, an aircraft manufacturer looking for new postwar markets, and Corradino D’Ascanio, the aeronautical engineer and helicopter designer.Its elevation to the status of national icon came in 1953, with William Wyler’s film Roman Holiday, in which Gregory Peck takes Audrey Hepburn for a ride around Rome on a Vespa. Other film stars who subsequently posed on one include Ursula Andress, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Quinn, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jennifer Lopez.
By the 1950s, Vespas were being manufactured under licence in 180 countries, including Britain, where they became an essential element of Mod culture.
Part of the Vespa’s success was that women felt comfortable on one. As La Repubblica noted, it was “a tool of emancipation — and seduction”. Even at this time of deep political division and dire economic predictions, Italians can unite around the nostalgia it inspires.
Since 1946, some 17 million have been sold, and 40 per cent are still made at the Piaggio plant at Pontedera in northern Italy. Although the Vespa has been through 140 models, its design remains much the same.
This is one of the few genuinely superior facets of modern European life. Urban North America would be far more livable if these delightful, cheap machines-for-all-ages had caught on here.
My brother has one. It's not cheap compared to a motorcycle. I also think the wheel size of a motorcycle is inherently safer than little scooter wheels. But what do I know; I ride one of these:
http://www.optima-cycles.nl/it/2-07-1.htm
Posted by: ted welter at April 19, 2006 7:44 AMWith the absurd numbers of people too stupid to operate a motor vehicle properly, riding a cycle or moped is simply a death wish.
When you think of buying one (or have a kid who wants one), throw a cantelope out of a car traveling over 40 or just take out a brick of cheese and run it through a grater.
They'll get the point.
Posted by: Bruno at April 19, 2006 10:13 AMI tend to think the opposite.
The little scooters make walking the streets of, for example Rome, very unsafe. The lunatic Italian drivers zip through those narrow streets connecting the piazzas creating havoc for pedestrians.
Bottom line: they're no choo-choo train.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at April 19, 2006 10:58 AMThe most formidable problem with wide acceptance of the scooter is image. At least in The South, the immediate assumption of anyone seen riding a scooter is that they are an alchoholic who has lost their license due to multiple DWI's. This is especially so if the driver of the scooter has duct taped a milk crate to the back of the scooter for carrying items.
Posted by: Scott at April 19, 2006 11:27 AMScott, wish you had a picture to go along with your post.
In Italy the noise from them is horrendous, especially up until 3 AM. However, when gas reaches our equivalent of $5.00 a liter we'll surely see more of them, especially if Honda sells one with a 4 cycle engine.
Posted by: Genecis at April 19, 2006 1:24 PMThe mileage these things get is not that much better than a really small car, such as my old Geo Metro or the forthcoming Smart car. They are dangerous as Hell because of the small wheels, as has been pointed out, and their balance is defective: the rider is seated, rather than astride, and cannot shift balance the way a bicycle or motorcycle rider.
Another bad idea.
Posted by: Lou Gots at April 19, 2006 1:55 PMGenecis, I do dude...it's stuck in my head and it won't go away!
Posted by: Scott at April 19, 2006 2:57 PMI keep getting bits of them stuck in the axle of the Suburban when I drove over them.
Posted by: oj at April 19, 2006 3:56 PMI looked into getting one last year, but they are amazingly expensive: small-displacement, decently-made ones (i.e. not Chinese with plastic drivetrain sprockets!) start at about $3,000 and can easily go to $5,000+.
Posted by: PapayaSF at April 19, 2006 4:05 PM