Modern Vespa

Gents -

I fear asking this, but you fellows seem to have a good grasp of "authentic" and I'd love to solicit thoughts on these two 150cc vehicles (and I'm happy to send more pics of certain areas of the bikes that could inform opinions if you needed them)...

I was posted to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and while there purchased and shipped these two home to the USA. The orange is a 1962 VBB with 8" wheels and the silver is a 1977 Sprint 150 with 10" wheels.

The work was done at a very small shop (that I visited frequently) in-town with very small production, catering mainly to the European and western diplomatic staffs posted there. The shop completed a bike or two a month with a staff of 5-6 guys (most had worked at the Piaggio plant in Pakistan before it closed a decade or two before) with each bike taking 2-3 months to restore.

Based on the premise that not all non-American/non-European outfits are scams, I'm really interested to get you all's take on the overall quality, workmanship, and keeping-true-to-Vespa standards of these two machines. What are the tell-tale signs of "bodge" work that I should be looking for?

Welcome any and all thoughtful comments... Thanks! I'm happy to keep adding pics of suspect areas if that helps.









Last edited by theupdegraffs on Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

First off Welcome aboard!

My first question is do you like the rigs, do you enjoy them as they are? Have you had a great ride or two?

If you answered yes to all three then ride and enjoy.

I'll leave it to others to give their insights.






PS I grew up over in Arlington and had my first of many scooters there in the Fifties.

They are pretty looking! I'm gonna have to get a second one I think so I can have one shiny and one rust bucket.


Check under the gas tank for welds that shouldn't be there.

Run a magnet along the metal to look for bondo build up. Magnets won't stick where there's a bunch of bondo.

Thanks, gents. Yep, magnet works everywhere but on the head/top of steering column around the headlight (whatever the name of that part is).

As far as welds around the gas tank, that's something I'd had to see up from under the machines?

Pretty interesting, didn't know there was apiaggio factory in Pakistan. I wonder what the quirky Pakistan specific features of their Vespas were. It seems each region had it's own slight differences to the same models. Wondering if anyone knows more about the uniqueness of Vespas coming out of there.

Either way I'm curious to see what people have to say and am following. On first uneducated glance they look accurate but more pics including engines and closer inspection would give better answers. Share photos of speedos, brake pedals, engine, frame number, engine number, etc.

A few pics coming...

Another...

Exhaust...

Head...

Brake...

Pedal...

Greetings:

If a piece of trim, a pedal or a mirror deviate from Vespa Canon, so what? There are probably less than 100 people in the world who could tell what's wrong. Stay away from those people.

Meanwhile, they are beautiful, clean in every detail, and a pleasure to contemplate. I presume they are also functional. I would be proud to own either one. I will PM you my address

well, the sprint appears to have a P motor so at least you've got that going for you.

both of the front brake cables look janky.

those switch housings are... uhhh.... something...

the lever screws look awful, which i'd suspect sloppy action on them and the controls. and thus crap ass cables.

the floor board is already showing cracking.

seats and trim look hammered ass.

the pic of the exhaust showing just that little bit of floorboard and tunnel looks, less than ideal. and that exhaust is kinda junky.

but, the whole thing hinges on what you can't see. and if you've not owned one and worked on it then you'll not know what is and isn't correct.

at minimum i'd pull the tank to have a look see inside.

-g

Greetings:

Do not let curmudgeonly Greasy125 kill de buzz, mang. He's probably right, mind you, as he's forgotten more Vespa lore than I'll ever know, but if they run and give you pleasure, enjoy them. You can always address the issues down the road.

I personally could never enjoy them as Id always be wondering what was underneath everything and how it was built.
Just my paranoia maybe?
But I guess its like most in the forum, if you know what you have in the beginning thats always a better starting point...
Good Luck and I hope you have fun either way...

If they were shooting for 'looks like new', gonna be Bondo on it, it's gonna crack. If the body is sound and rust never a big problem, you're likely safe if the brakes work right. They'd work better with the cables set up right. But the Piaggio factory was in India, they may have worked there and all original cables supplied and installed to spec. Replacements usually must be 'tweaked', your outers are too long.

Only other thing to know and look for signs. The frames and hardware likely have umpteen kilometers, I mean a LOT! They tend to run them forever before giving them up, and if most attention is paid to appearance and little to structural integrity, possible either hidden collision /alignment issues or rust cancer, both can just be covered up.

Your P motor is OK replacement, hope they knew what they were doing on both.

Your ratty muffler bothers me not, I would rock the $hit out of that. Be a shame NOT to if you have no need for speed.

2 cents, and welcome.

I think a lot depends upon what kind of life they had in Pakistan before they were restored. The climate varies greatly, from hot/dry/arid to monsoon and high humidity. In many cases, they had a hard life in that part of the world, so accidents and exposure to the elements would have meant the frames could have been battered and possibly corroded in places. This can lead to areas of bodywork being patched, bits cut out/new bits welded in, body filler etc. This being the case, quality of body parts and restoration skills come into question.

You'll never know what's under the paint until you look deeper. Like others have said, evidence of joins/welds under the tank and anywhere along the central spine/tunnel will be telling.

One thing that I struggle to get past with Bodges, is how many miles they might have done. A 1962 scooter from Asia could have done 100,000 miles easy. Maybe twice that. Or more! An Asian car will typically do 500,000 miles before it is considered old but still ok. And if still starts is still driven.
Even with minimal accident damage, all new parts and shiny paint the metal will be structurally tired. Fine for looking at or Sunday ride at 30mph but nothing more.