1963 Vespa

This scooter was originally used on Garden Island Naval Base Sydney. With its top speed of 30 MPH and with 2.6 HP this scooter was only every meant to pop back and forth from the engineering workshops or to Harry Café de Wheels in their lunch break. The new owner wanted more than just to lifestyle it on a cafe racer. So he decided to shoe-horn in a genuine race-spec engine, modern suspension and braking of a modern street machine, without loosing the classic Italian lines. The humble 50 cc engine was welded and machined to an inch of its life. Rotary induction had now become a thing of the past and a massive inlet was machined for the reed manifold. All topped off with a massive Dell’Orto carburettor. The drive ratios were modified to suit the estimated output of the engine and a Zirri short 4th was installed. SSScooter ported a 130 cc Malossi Kit and a VSP race exhaust finished off the package. A front full hydraulic disc brake was installed to the original front fork and a pair of Bi-tubos make sure the scooter stays on the tarmac until at least 1⁄4 throttle is reached, when the front wheel lifts off the ground! She now rides kind-of like a cannon ball… I suppose its something to do with her naval past!