• offbeat news

    Donald Rumsfeld, Vespa Driver

    Seems even retired warmongers are feeling the pinch at the pump these days, as everybody's favorite former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has purchased the least-aggressive form of transport in the world, a Vespa. Yes indeed, Rummy has picked up a shiny new LXV 150 to use for scooting around the Maryland seaboard while getting 60 MPG and being ridiculed by every biker he passes. Wonder if he will be followed by a phalanx of secret service boys in black Suburbans? [Examiner]

    2:40 PM on Wed Jun 11 2008
    By Ben Wojdyla
    2,387 views, 31 comments

    Latest by Trundler: I bought a 3 year old ET4 150 Vespa a couple of months ago, I've been commuting on it daily more »

  • motorcycles

    Riding the Vespa S

    Getting through a traffic jam on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is a game of inches. So even though I'm a fan of almost anything with a motor and two wheels, I was a bit skeptical about venturing onto the city streets aboard the Vespa S.

    2:17 PM on Tue May 20 2008
    By Ray Wert
    789 views

  • novelties

    What's Up With The Japanese Scooter Tuner Crowd?

    Japan rightly sits near the top of the world's strange automotive trend setters. What is cool in the United States now is so two years ago for our pals over in the land of the rising sun, so it pains us to speculate that overly gaudy tuner scooters will be the next big trend over here. Hell, people are already installing media centers in them. Our Japanese-savvy friends over at Pink Tentacle have rounded up some of the more unusual looking tuner-scooters from Japan and we're more confused than titillated. A low rider scooter? That's just asking for trouble. [Pink Tentacle]

    2:20 PM on Mon May 12 2008
    By Travis Hudson
    6,145 views, 70 comments

    Latest by skulldriveshaft: @darex: Just saw an MP3 last summer, interesting to say the least. more »

  • found on ebay

    Basket Case Vespa 400 Will Be Check Writing Extravaganza

    The march of soul crushing eBay projects continues. After seeing the amazingly terrible mid-engined 1976 Mustang II yesterday, a less malaise but far more European project emerges from the bay of 'e' and it's a terrifying one. 28,000 examples of the Vespa 400 were built in France between 1956 and 1961 using an Italian design and sporting as much as 17 horsepower. This one is almost completely disassembled and comes with seven crates of parts. That's a looooong way from mint Vespa 400's we saw at Autorama two years ago. Good luck on this project to whoever is insane enough to to hit the bid button. (Thanks for the tip Robert)

    [eBay Listing]

    12:00 PM on Fri May 9 2008
    By Ben Wojdyla
    1,672 views, 32 comments

    Latest by joneez: @kleinlowe: Ya, I mean, you already took the Smart's motor out when you GSXR'd it, so there ya go. more »

  • novelties

    VW Busbretta Isn't Quite Humiliating Enough

    Pardon us for still trying to wrap our brains around this whole Vespa modding trend, but here is another Vespa-style (it's actually a Lambretta, but details, details) scooter mutilation worthy of noting. Not only is this person driving scooter, but it's a scooter with a sidecar, a sidecar that is modified to look like a Volkswagen Bus. So, Jalopnik faithful, which would you least want to be caught in: the scooter or the sidecar? At least in the sidecar you could possibly duck down low enough to not be seen. [Presurfer]

    4:20 PM on Mon Apr 28 2008
    By Travis Hudson
    3,089 views, 45 comments

    Latest by RaptorCK: @WesleyJ: If you're riding bitch on some chick's scooter, I'd keep in mind that you're pretty damned unlikely to feel more »

  • novelties

    How Do You Increase The Coolness Of A Vespa?

    Put a computer in it, of course! Sure, this Vespa GTS 250 still has a 250cc, four-stroke engine capable of propelling the scooter to more than 60 mph. But the real shine comes with the integrated PC. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would want a PC in a Vespa, especially in the area of the two-wheeler this one was placed, but it doesn't matter because nobody will question a Vespa with a high-end computer.
    More »

    3:00 PM on Fri Feb 15 2008
    By Travis Hudson
    1,965 views, 29 comments

    Latest by hotrodmetal: Get Richard Simmons to ride the Vespa, in the "Sweatin to the oldies" collector dvd. more »

  • choose your eternity

    Project Car Hell, 1958 Edition: Mercury Commuter or Vespa 400?

    Yesterday's all-Corvette Choose Your Eternity poll resulted in the '68 just barely edging out the '69, no doubt due to the Jimi Hendrix connection. Now it's time to try a different type of theme; we haven't yet seen a selection of cars based on a model year alone, so today we're going with two vastly different- yet vastly cool- choices from Anno Domini 1958, the year Nikita Krushchev became premier of the Soviet Union.
    More »

    5:00 PM on Thu Feb 14 2008
    By Murilee Martin
    3,154 views, 42 comments

    Latest by 1600mkII: Sorry - the Vespa could actually be put back together without going bankrupt. Gotta be the Merc! more »

  • pebble beach concours

    Vespamino!

    We saw all sorts of little vehicles zipping around as folks prepped their vintage race cars, from Segways to golf carts, but this was by far the coolest (and most useful for hauling Whitworth socket sets, cases of $50-a-quart oil, etc). This Vespa-with-truck-bed looked to be in great shape... but what's up with the drip pan?

    3:30 PM on Mon Aug 20 2007
    By Murilee Martin
    1,184 views, 15 comments

    Latest by Supergome: @ Euromobile: It's a reasonable assumption, since most of them leak to some degree, it's just that the engine more »

  • vespa-bots

    Transformers Movie Update: Putz Around On A Vespa, Get A Free Ticket To See Transformers

    It seems like everyone's trying to get in on the cross-branding action for the new upcoming Transformers movie, and the Piaggio, the maker of the Vespa death trap on wheels scooter is no exception. They've got a new promotion running starting tomorrow branding the Vespa as a "Transportation Transformer." For real? Anyway — if you head into a Vespa dealership to test drive a Piaggio-built pooter-shooter from June 14th to June 24th, you'll get to walk out with a free movie ticket to see the new live-action film that'll give you a robogasm. In addition they've also got a contest to enter to win a Vespa just like the one seen in the movie! Oh wow, we can hardly contain ourselves. OK, on this one — we can probably contain ourselves a little bit. More »

    8:00 AM on Wed Jun 13 2007
    By Ray Wert
    10,182 views, 20 comments

    Latest by Spekkio: Transforming Vespa == Wheelie! Ack! Kill the rhyming SOB! more »

  • retro

    It Ain't A REAL Vespa Until It's Got A Chevy Big Block!

    I'm sorry Ben, that may very well be a Vespa, but it's not a Vespa I'd be caught dead in. This, on the other hand, is a Vespa that's taken out the sissified 349 cc engine and replaced it with more power! That's right, it's now become simply epic with the addition of a Chevy Big Block engine. And that, my friend, is a real man's Vespa. Just sayin'. [Hat tip to Pat!] – Ray Wert More »

    1:21 PM on Fri Mar 16 2007
    By Ray Wert
    2,169 views, 10 comments

    Latest by racerx: Needs more motor. more »