Modern Vespa

While I was outside working on my vbb a guy walks by and asks if I needed another one, so I said "yes, why yes I do."
So its in my garage now.

The plate above the glove box says it's from august of 1977. After some wiping and encountering the largest GD spider I've ever seen I got the serial # on the engine, typed it in scooterhelp, and says it's from 1978. I know there is no such thing as matching numbers on a vespa but did they do this type of thing from the factory?
I'm happy the motor is from '78 though, having the ducati ignition and all.

It's been under a tarp outside since at least 2002 when it was last tagged. Seller says it smoked. I don't know if he just wasn't used to 2 strokes, or if it has a bad seal somewhere. Whatever. Everything is stiff and gummed up. However, the engine turns nicely and makes a spark, I'll have to check compression.
No keys, luckily the steering lock isn't engaged but now I'm wondering what's in the glove box. Money? Bowie knife? The missing brake light lens?

Always happy to see another Rally around here, you will see me on mine between Wallingford and SLU.

Has this one been in an accident? Front fender looks awfully close to the body in that third pic.

Man how lucky are you? What a cool score.

Yeah it has a couple bends in the sides of the fender from being smooshed in the front.

Cool!...

sweet 'find'? how much did you get it for? old heads talk about stuff like this happening on the regular in the 80s or whatever and i always imagine it happening to me on my lambretta or one of my p's, but nothing.

Awesome.

Why doesn't that happen to me? All I get is an old dude talking about how he rode a lambretta when he worked for the Concord parking enforcement.

Score... I gunna start working on my bike out in the driveway.

2 kilos of uncut italian blow

I'm on my way to his house right now.

I knew you would be

You lucky bastard! I obviously live in the wrong neighborhood. Good Luck with the Rally. And the search goes on........

Do Eyetalians make blow? I thought is was noodles n stuff.

kidding aside, that's a cool story... all I get is people asking if I can fix their honda sprees!

Yeah... Looks like my Painfully dry sense of humor strikes again. 'cause, yeah, that was kinda the joke I was making. That shipping coke from spaghetti land to here would be absurd, ya know... Like something outta some terrible Mark Wahlburg movie

Looks easy to restore. Such a beautiful model. Congratz.

I'm pretty happy that it found me. And that I could get my hands on something that wasn't listed or fiddled with. I like original scrapes.

He took $1,000 for it.
It makes a spark, and compression was at 145, I think I'm going to just make sure everything is straight, polish it up and ride it for the summer. Gas tank smells/looks like ass, so I haven't started it up yet.

Faded sticker under the front emblem says it's from Scooterville, Anaheim.

Dude... You F-ing SCORED! Big congrats!

Wow, great deal! So it it running at this point?

Check fork, fender is to close from legshield.
Great deal even if bent.

Nice deal there lad

i really wish dana would pull the part of his search that correlates engine number -> frame number -> year.

Piaggio never published a correlation between motor and frame numbers, nor did they publish a correlation between motor numbers and year. Once again, it is impossible to precisely date a motor from it's motor number.

there was a thread where went into detail about this.... found it, it's burried in here.

90 racer serial number problems!

that being said, your motor is from... august of 1977.

have you looked at the engine side to verify the ignition system?

Rallys with Ducati ignitions are actually pretty rare, especially in the states. I've worked in shops and been around scooters for about 15 years and i can count the number i've seen on one hand.

I had to leave town the day after I got it in my garage for vacation, so all I had time to do was check for spark and compression (both seem good). I'm going to see if it will start when I get back this weekend.
I actually think the fork is a little bent, but that's just from looking at it. No ripples or creases were found on the leg shield or under the fork tube. We'll see..

Thanks for the info, Rob. The flywheel says ducati on it, I'll try to post pictures soon.

Here's a picture of the ducati flettronica flywheel. I'm doing this from an iPhone so I hope it works.

*Elettrotecnica