Modern Vespa

Hi all. I'm new here, but picked up my '55 VL1 in 2004 and restored it.

The scooter has been in the family since new, though. The story is that my uncle brought it home - possibly in lieu of a paycheck or two - when he worked for a place in the Kansas City area that sold them. I remember riding on the back of it as one of my cousins rode it around their huge double lot in Shawnee Mission, but by the time I was old enough to start asking if I could learn to ride it solo it has stopped running and been parked. And parked it stayed, outside their garage, from roughly 1967 until I picked up the rusted tattered remains in 2004.

Much hilarity ensued.

More recently it's sat in a hangar for several years due to an ignition problem I just fixed, so now I'm getting it cleaned up and fixed up once again. Now I've got grandkids, and who doesn't want to give little critters rides on the back of a Vespa, right?

Plus, I like it because there aren't a lot of things around that are even older than I am.

Welcome to MV!

Nice photos. You don't see a lot of those around! Guessing you'll be hanging with the NSM folks for the technical stuff, but hey, we're not scary here....

BTW, rechecked your post and your scooter is EXACTLY as old as I am. And it still runs. I'm feeling inspired now.

Welcome Mate,

this website is better than any maintenance book you will ever read. welcome and enjoy.

Thanks, guys.

Honestly, if it hadn't been THAT specific scooter, I'd have left it where I found it. The sheet metal was like a horror movie. The engine was seized hard. Surprisingly, though, inside the engine was near perfect other than of course the seals and bearings being toast. The carb just needed a good clean, and I had the cylinder honed and replaced the rings. No rusted steel inside.

I've got the old Darnell & Golfen book, which is aggravatingly general. I just bought the Spanner's wideframe engines book, which is great - though with a couple of missing items. About 99% of the information one can find relates to '57 and later scoots, not the VL1-3, but I've managed to scrape and cobble together a lot of what I need over the years.

Haven't been parts shopping for close to a decade, in which time my one or two go-to shops seem to have all but abandoned the wideframes, and some new ones I hadn't seen before carry WAY more parts than were available when I started this whole thing out (thanks, SIP!). Hell, I spent years looking for a flywheel cover for a VL1, which you can now buy anywhere. Ditto the spare tire carrier that bolts onto the package rack/buddy seat. I'm amazed at the stuff I can just order now.

You sure did a great job on that scoot. Would it be too much to ask for you to post a lot more pics? We like pics.

Nah. I'm sorry, but pictures are out of the question. I simply can't do it.


















My two cousins, seeing it in rideable condition for the first time since the 1960s. This would have been about 2007-ish or maybe '08.

Yes, I still need to get the outer floor rails on. The edges of the floor are a little banged up on the left side. This is not a concours restoration; I got it as straight as I could (some of that sheet metal is from a donor frame). It's still a bit of a work in progress, but after 50 effing years I finally got to ride the damn thing by myself!!