In Italian Vespa means wasp, and for 70 years, scooters like today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe candidate have been buzzing around cities all across the globe. Let’s see if this pink Piaggio also has a price that stings.
There’s another sort of sting altogether, and that is the sharp pang of rejection. That’s something that I’m sure the seller of yesterday’s 1968 AMC AMX Von Piranha limited production regional special edition is experiencing after his car’s decisive 77% Crack Pipe loss.
What with yesterday’s Piranha, the Cobra on Monday, and today’s wasp, you might think that the theme for the week is animals whose only purpose in life is to try find you and kill you. That’s an awesome idea, but I assure you that it’s all just a happy coincidence.
I can also assure you, without reservation, that today’s “1960s” Piaggio is pink. I mean really pink. Like Pepto pink, Barbie’s Dream House bathroom pink, Susan G Komen race for the cure pink.
And based on its Craigslist ad, that’s about all I can tell you about it.
The ad for this scooter is about the least-forthcoming, most ambiguous Craigslist ad I’ve ever seen. What year is this Vespa? It’s a ‘sixties’ bike. What model is it? What model is it? Who knows. What engine does it have? Stop asking me all these questions, I’m trying to sell a pink scooter here, not reenact the Spanish Inquisition. Jeeze Louise!
The ad does note that the bike has had $800 sunk into the motor, that it RUNS and has been maintained, and that the tiny tires have equally tiny but new tubes residing inside them. That’s it. Everything else is apparently on a need-to-know basis and we don’t need to know.
Maybe the seller is one of those reserved Minnesota Lutherans that are frequently the butt of Garrison Keillor’s jokes? Or, maybe the specific information is just way above our pay grade?
What can be divined from the ad’s pics at least is that the bike looks to be complete, and includes a couple of racks for your baguette and bottle of Chianti for that picnic in the country you envision riding it to. It has a pillion for a passenger - preferably someone you don’t mind scrunching up close to you with their arms wrapped tightly around your waist as you snake in between traffic on your way to your bucolic brunch.
You’ll also note that the pretty pink paint seems to have been applied with a trowel and by a Teamster, and is cracking around the badge something fierce.
There appears to be but 45 kilometers on the odometer. That could mean that it’s already gone around the horn one or more times, or - more likely - that it’s broken. That would mean that the speedo is also kaput which would mean not being able to test if the bike could peg its 120km limit. That’s just mean, don’t you think?
I’m guessing that the bike is a ’64, and maybe a 150 model. Those of you who are more expert than I am at spotting the differences between the seemingly endless Vespa products can weigh in as to the accuracy of my guesses.
If you follow classic Vespa prices at all you’re no doubt aware that they generally go for a pretty penny, even ones that need a total rehab typically commanding over a grand. This one is seemingly without major issue that would keep it off the road and comes with a $2,500 price tag.
What do you think about this Piaggio and that $2,500 price? Does that seem like a fair amount to sink into the pink? Or, is that too much for a bike about which we know too little?
You decide!
Los Angeles Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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