Oktapodi was created in 2007 as a graduate project by a team of French students at the Gobelins L’Ecole de L’Image, a Parisian film school. It has gone on to win a number of awards and was even nominated this year for an Oscar in the animated short film category.

What makes the short such a treat even if you’re not a particular fan of cephalopods is the choice of vehicle to depict breakneck speed: the Vespa-based Piaggio Ape minitruck, featured here on Jalopnik a short while ago. In a genre where V8’s never hurt and tractor trailers can come in very handy, the truck in Oktapodi is equipped in real life with three to fifteen cubic inches of single cylinder power.

But Oktapodi shows that when it comes to flinging vehicles about with reckless abandon, it’s not the size of your engine that counts.

Source: Oktapodi.com

Looking like a cross between an Ape, a Venturi Eclectic and something from the video game Half-Life, the CarGo can transform from a pickup truck to compact van, folding up its pickup bed into a vertical storage bin. It can also tuck in its wheels to fit into very narrow spaces. Plus, it banks into corners.

It is strictly a rendering at the moment but it would be quite lovely if someone took to manufacturing it.

Image Credit: Adam Schacter Design

That’s ape as in Italian for honeybee, so think Apis mellifera instead of the superfamily Hominoidea and pronounce it ah-PEH. And don’t look for a V8 engine: the one in the Ape has a single cylinder of 3 (three) cubic inches. Upgrades are available which up that to a whopping fifteen, good for high-speed pizza deliveries followed by burnouts in the piazza.

The Ape you see here is from 1969. Its current owner purchased it in Naples, where it was used to deliver salami and cheese, just as intended. And like every proper Italian machine which stirs the heart, this one is mid-engined. So mid-engined, in fact, that all three cubic inches of that rat-tat-tat two-stroke little wonder are right beneath the bench you sit on. Flip it up and you can get your fingers dirty right away.

By the time this Ape was manufactured in 1969, the design was already two decades old. Similar to every tiny post-war European vehicle, it was borne out of necessity and poverty: another cheap, no-frills construction to get the economic heart of Europe pumping. The idea was Corradino D’Ascanio’s, the man who’s had a hand in everything from the Vespa to the Lambretta to the Agusta helicopter. In fact, the Ape is nothing but a Vespa with two rear wheels and a cabin.

They are clearly workhorse machines, a bit rough in places, but this cappuccino-colored panel van transcends its utilitarian roots to become a three-wheeled cube of desire. Both the size and the dimensions hit the cuteness receptor in the human brain with a mighty thud. Kids, as you can see, cannot resist at all.

The Ape is probably as alien a solution to the American idea of trucking as the occasional Ford F-250 is to a European inner city. But for its natural environment, the Ape is as close to perfection as it gets. Plus, it’s a motor scooter in the eyes of the law! You can park it wherever you wish—for free. And absolutely nothing beats that in a car-choked city center.

Special thanks to Misi Szilágyi of Stipistop for loaning us his Ape. Photography by Natalie Polgar and the author. And if you really need to know: that statue of a pair of mosquito-mayfly hybrids in the pictures is located in a playground on the Vérmező in Budapest, which translates to: The Field of Blood. It was named so after Hungarian revolutionary Ignác Martinovics and his men were beheaded there on May 20, 1795.

In case you aren't familiar with the Piaggio MP3, it's an Italian-built three-wheeled motor scooter that can lean through a corner but maintains rock solid stability not available with a motorcycle. The brilliantly engineered but goofy looking scooter has been available in a large part of the rest of the world as the Gilera Fuoco for years but just recently went on sale in the United States.

In any case, this Hummer H2-branded example was spotted this morning on the mean streets of New York City on 32nd between 6th and 7th. The dress up is applied to the MP3 500 model, this biggest, brawniest version of the scooter (sort of like being the coolest kid at the Mathlympics) and consists of a "Hummer H2" sticker over the cowl badge, chipping "Piaggio" off the nameplate, and applying a Hummer decal to the top box at the back. The funny thing is, with all the tough-guy stuff on the MP3 500 like a grille guard, flat black color scheme and headlight guards, a branding partnership between Piaggio and Hummer seems like it might make sense. (Hat tip to Steven!)

Featuring a five-mode switch, riders can choose between three different hybrid modes - optimizing performance, mileage and battery charge - or fully electric and reverse. All other controls remain standard.

The three HyS scooters are currently prototypes, but expect production to begin next year.

Vespa... Transportation Transformers [VespaUSA.com]
Be your own Transporter Transformer! Enter to win [Vespasweeps.com]

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When we used to work at the corner of Polk and Turk in SF, we often found ourselves jealous of our co-worker Matt, who would cross the Bay on his Honda in record time and then only pay five cents an hour to park his bike right in front of the office. Matt, on the other hand, was jealous of our skills with the ladies at the office Christmas party. Unfortunately for us, that never translated into a sugar mama. Anyway, the kids at Piaggio are supporting a petition for more two-wheeled parking, and having been in love with Vespas since childhood, we can't resist their charms. So if you're in favor of bike-based commuting, go ahead and sign the thing.

Vespetition [Vespa USA]

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The Motorpasions had this posted on their site and we fell in love with it. It doesn't matter that we no habla Espanol. Or for that matter, Eye-talian. Because Vespa is universal in any language, as are fresh-faced, sexy Sixties mod girls. The only downside to this absolutely exquisite piece of vintage Piaggio advertising is that we can't stop muttering "Vespa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa..." We'll be down on the corner by the bodega all week. Thanks for stopping by.

Vespa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa... [Motorpasion]

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Byway Star: Installing a Stereo on Your Scooter [Internal]

Italy's maker of all things small and puttery, Piaggio, has come up with a high-tech scooter with three wheels. But get that picture of grandma's Tri Rider out of your mind. This trike has two wheels in the front and one in the back, a setup it shares with a couple of late-model concept cars. The Piaggio MP3 — an overachieving sibling of the Piaggio GT series — features two front wheels that tilt up to 40 degrees in turns to provide more stability, according to the company, and provide an extra disk brake with which to cut speed. It'll be available in 125cc and 250cc models at a scooteria near you.

The Piaggio MP3 [Italiaspeed]

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