Modern Vespa

I've been trying to find some info about the Blue Badge scooters, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there. Can anyone tell me more about these scooters? Going prices, parts availability, desirability, etc...?

Thanks.

I am guessing you are refering to the Blue Badge Smalframe only made in 66. The good thing about them they were a 4 speed and had the 125 motor. They also had the Mickey Mouse tail light. The parts are the same as any other Smallframe so no worries there. The prices are all over. In the past year I have paid $350 and $1100 for Blue Badges. There is a super nice low mileage one floating around the east coast for $3000.

There is alot of Blue Badges Smallframes around. They are only desireable if thats what you want.

i know of one in venice with all fresh cabling, electrics, brakes, wheels and motor....just needs paint.......it looks like a cow right now

Or, if you are looking to make an 90SS/50SS replica.

Thanks for the info. The reason that I was asking is that I don't see them listed for sale that often and thought that since they were offered only in '66 that they might be collectible.

Does anyone know what color(s) they came in?

Do you like white? Thats the only color they came in.

True and I like the parts because there is no chrome ring on the headset or extra holes for silly turn signals. Plus the motor is a great base for building off of. I have a motor and headset from a Blue Badge on/in my bike.

Blue Badge allstates were only made in 1966.

You may know that the Sears rebadging / reselling of vespas had been going on from 1952 or so until 1966. From 1952 until 1965, you basically just went into sears and said "i want a super cruisaire" ... and that was it. It came in one color, and was always the most stripped down VN1 / VNA / VNB 125cc 3-speed scooter that vespa was making at the time.

You had options : you could pay extra and get a speedo!! You could add on a rear pillon seat cushion, a sidecar, a windscreen, etc. Since these were marketed to farmers in the midwest, many just bought them as they came.

All of these scooters had the little "Allstate" badge on the front, no vespa markings at all, and then the black metal placard above the fuel tap that said it's sears parts number ( which changed each year, for the new model)

In 1966, Sears made a departure. They must have done some remarketing / rebranding. All of their bikes ( ALL of them..not just the vespas they resold, but the Puchs, Sachs, etc ) had a 3-piece sticker applied that said "Sears". Some bikes had blue embossed foil ones, like the vespa... and others ( their mopeds, their small-displacement motorcycles ) had either green or red embossed metal foil stickers applied.

This was also the only year you could call Sears and have choices as to which vespa you wanted. They made a 125cc one ( which was a VMA1T smallframe - the 'Nuova' model from Italy, which is pretty fecking rare over there ), and came in Hawthorne White, like an SS180.

Or you could say "150cc" and you would end up with a rebadged VLB1T sprint, in the only color it came in back then : Metallic blue-silver.

It should be noted in underline that EVERY Allstate prior to 1966 was a special bike - stripped down and unique to Sears. The two bluebadges in 1966 were actual Italian production bikes - identical in every way to their vespa-badged counterparts....but with the vespa badge removed, the bluebadge and sears placard applied. That's it - the ONLY differences.....down to the paint they used ( which was unique to the allstates, but euro-production colors for the bluebadges )



And that was it. 1966 was the last sears rebadge year. Around this time the scooter market in general was taking a HUGE hit ( cars were getting cheap! ). I'm speculating, but i imagine this had a lot to do with Sear's decision to stop carrying vespas.

Thanks for the info Eric. Welcome back!

Anyone know of the going price for either in rough, rideable, and restored condition?

Thanks!

I see bluebadge allstate smallframes in ORIGINAL condition...with some blemishes and wear, but ultimately all original ... go for $2000-2500

There were about 4 of them in detroit, and i think they were all had, used, in the 1000-1400 range, but this was years ago, and they were more like in the 80% condition.

The bluebadge sprints can command the price of a really nice sprint... moreso, i'd say, due to the provenance and backstory associated with a single-year oddball bike they sold at sears.