Modern Vespa

I really don't need another project, but sometimes stuff pops up, and you have to say yes.

Back in October Voodoo pointed out pointed out an this add for another smallframe Vespa on the internet. They were never sold in Aus, but the attraction is that they're super cheap to register (as a sub 50cc bike), and they're gorgeous (and should be great for nipping/ripping around traffic.) The one advertised had two serious problems:

1: It was disassembled and being sold as incomplete/parts

2: It was on another continent, 8182 miles away.

But it was super cheap, and while a little beaten up, it was crying out to become a RatRod. I really like the idea of a 50 Special, but hated the square plastic horncasts. This is a US spec 50 Special, so it has the nice curvy look on the front, and the 2 door rear. Nice...

So after lots of emails, a flurry of paperwork to get an import permit, and a whopping great big fedex bill, I've got another project to do. Sometime down the track...

The seller, an awesome bloke called Keith, didn't blink about helping me export it to Aus, and agreed to "box it up for Fedex".

Which he did. (This sounds simple, but it wasn't. Keith was bloody fantastic)



He also plowed his 1200 yard driveway so Fedex could get through this



Apparently it's a touch colder in Buffalo Minnesota than here in Melbourne Australia at the moment..

Today it arrived.


Upside down.

Thanks Fedex.



Fortunately, Keith had packed it well, so out came my new toys.



The rust looks only surface, and the dents will punch out.



Pretty solid really.



It was a very full box.



Pretty much everything I need for US$320, plus "some" shipping. Thanks for the tipoff Voodoo!!!



Admitting you have a problem is the first step.

This should be fun.

Looks like a box full of awesome to me.

Thats a great story, keep us updated as to how the project moves forward.

So you're not going to go all Meet Buffy on it?

I don't know if it'll help or not, but this picture of an SS90's legshield marked with dimensions showed up on the Pinterest spam that I can't seem to get unsubscribed from, so I figured I'd throw it in here in case you found it useful.

I'm with everyone else, it looks like a great project!

If I wasn't already a Sprint V, a vintage speedboat, a GL, and a VBB deep in projects, I might consider something similar...

I'd say ya struck gold mate ... even has the elusive battery-side door!

SCORE - It's gonna be fun watching what you do to this one!

Oooh, a 1980/81 US market 50 Special. 3 speed, P type switches, giant 6v DC horn, needs a battery.... What's not to love?

Awesome!

I believe one of the owners of SIP has decided to go ahead and build that indoor swimming pool once he heard the news.

LOL!

That explains the big jump in FedEx'es share price today, too.

Hello Pot.

I can give it up any damn time I like.

Surprise, surprise! It seems that you enjoy difficult challenges and are truly serious about these little grocery getters. Also, a big ATTABOY to Keith going the extra mile + 1200 feet to get it out to you! . I would have jumped on that on pronto at the price he was asking, but it was too far away from me! Yeah... In reducing my herd, I offered up several I could part with but only got serious enough offers on my 2 favorite smallies, .a '64 V90 & '74 Primavera. So they're now gone leaving me w/ my only US smallie being the same year and model as yours, it's even the same color. I already put in 4 speed gears w/ 90/100 primaries but gathering stuff to put a long crank & Primavera top end on it. I miss my Primavera so will try to build a clone .


@Ginch: Yeah, uh huh, right...


Twins!
Fewer dents but worse paint, it's solid but pretty rusty on the left side. I hope you can save the paint, dunno if I can on mine.

Well, huh...I had the exact same as both you two. Same US market 50 special, and same color! Mine still had a 3 speed, but it did have a Pinasco 102 kit on it. What I really think it needed was a 130 kit, a 4 speed transmission, and a 20mm PK fork. But since I didn't want to invest into all of that, I sold the scooter locally instead about a year ago. It was a pretty cool scoot, and it always ran like a top.

All those US market 80/81 50 Specials were that Ice Blue color. No color choice for us.

Anyone know if the tail light is available anywhere?

Are you looking for the USA 'tractor' light like this that came on it originally?

Yep. I have the blue mount, but not the light.

Not made anymore. Just put the call out for one. There's a lot a state side but of course shipping will be high. Wait until you get your part list going for other items that's unique to over here like the plastic fuel tap. Lol

Good luck

One NOS CEV 9350 original Eyetalian tail light assembly on the way to Oz! This was nearly the last of the 10 or so NOS ones I found in a box in a shop corner in Greece. I'm guessing bikes were built for USA, Piaggio pulled out of USA & they were rerouted to Greece w/ a box of Euro lights for dealers to install.


small crack in this lens but cracked reflector has been replaced w/ a minty one

Terry. You are THE Man!!


ps don't forget I have that crank for you...

I may have overdone it.

Ok, I've completely overdone it.



If my wife should ever ask, this is about $50 worth of Vespa parts, ok...

Ah...price "fixing". I do that all the time. The US$175.00 part in the mail was just US$25.00. I swear. One reason I love Italian vendors is because they have absolutely no problem saying the price is much lower on the customs form. Sometimes they will even say "gift". Petty corruption at its finest.

I felt sorry for the guy in this episode of Fathom Works - https://simkl.com/tv/42565/fantomworks/season-2/episode-1/
as he’s put on the spot and has to admit, in front of his wife, spending $58,000 on parts for an Avanti that still doesn’t run! Could’ve bought a restored one for that kinda money...but what fun is that.

Now that you have a smallframe left door as an example, maybe you can take the old Buffy frame and cut out a door for someone in US. Is that even possible?

I don't even have gas/LPG/butane now I've got a house, the closest was an open fire, no cooking for me... dont even have a jug to boil a bit o water down there yet

note: this was a few km down the road... no fires for decades, till the week after we brought the house! Couldn't even go to see it, as that's the main highway to get to it!

Thanks Voodoo,

You’re a gent!

Yeah, I'm sure that the Quattrini kit (if I'm seeing right) was only $12

Life (as it does) got in the way of this project, so it's been on the shelf for a while.

The bodywork was all a bit ugly

Between lockdowns I got back to it, and made up some bracing to help hold the rear end together

Then looked at packaging in the exhaust

Which didn't fit. So I made a hole for it.

Then curved a plate to fit around it.

Tightly!

With all that welding and the various bracing welded in, the paintwork was shot. So Mr Wirewheel came out, then there was lots of hammering and dollying.

Followed by lots of bogging

And lots and lots of sanding.

And more bogging, and more sanding.

With the Lockdown MkII going on for the last few months all this has had to take place on the odd occasions when I'm legitimately at the factory, waiting for work stuff to finish, so it's been slow progress. But today I was able to finally hang it up in the booth.

and try to remember which end of the spray gun paint comes out of.

Lesson of the day - Vespa's are curvy and hard to paint.

and I'm out of practice.

But she's finally in primer, (we'll ignore the couple of runs till later), and I can assess how much more work the body needs when I get to the workshop next.

Gotta love a badass smallie

Fearless work at the back for the pipe - made possible by confidence in welding abilities. Like it. Fit is remarkable.
Gotta feel good to get a coat of primer on it - and better to warm up the skills with primer than with finish coat..
This thing is gonna be sharp.
What color is planned?

even just primer, that looks awesome

Personally I think all the body filler and sanding to get it just right is much harder than the priming and painting, then again what do I know I just winged my way through it.
So far you're doing great.

I agree, then once you prime it and get a new perspective, you see all the spots paint accentuates, not covers up.

A thousand times this! When I was doing my boat, I was constantly frustrated by this fact...and even a small boat is a lot more surface area than a scooter!

niiiiccceeee

only quibble, the fit on that pipe is really really tight. i'd suggest a little more wiggle room for "movement" be it suspension travel or motor things and stuffs.

-g

I'm hoping it'll be ok, Those photos were with no rear spring and the motor at the end of it's arc.

She's now been guide coated, rubbed back, thick fillered, guide coated, rubbed back, thin fillered, guide coated, and rubbed back once more.



As of tonight, she's a inspection and rectification session away from having colour shot.

Reading this I was thinking, you should have left it bare and saved a few pounds of weight. 😁

Most of it gets rubbed off!

4 more hours of rubbing, an hour of cleaning, then 4 hours of cleaning the paint booth and I was ready to shoot colour and clear.

Except I wasn't. I was procrastinating, because the though of screwing up the paint had me putting off committing.

So I sucked it up, mixed and shot 3 coats of 209 Metallic Mica Black , cleaned the gun, and followed it with 3 coats of clear.

Pretty happy with the result. I don't think there's any runs, and it looks good till you get 3 feet away, which is better than the 6 I was hoping for.







Proof will be in the pudding when I look at it after it dries though. Fingers crossed.

That's looking amazing!

Why'd you mask off the tank opening and inside the cowl? are you leaving them white primer'ed?

White epoxy prime in the tank/carb area, I figure it's the most fuel resistant, and it will be a nice bright colour for light when delving in there. (It's also a bitch to get a spray gun into!)

The under cowl area right up to the front stiffener is still in white primer to, but I'm planning to scratch that back and spray a modern water based schutz/stonechip there. I'm (obviously) no purist, and I'm building it to ride, not look at, so I'm happy to add modern tech to the paint and protection if it's gonna help.