Following on from the huge popularity of the Complete Spanners Manual for Lambretta Scooters and his recent Lambretta Kit Book, Sticky is crossing the tracks to the world of the vintage Vespa. His current project is another workshop book, aimed at those working on ‘Wideframe’ (pre-57) Vespas. He’s chosen this subject mainly due to the lack of any useful books regarding these models, and their current rise in popularity thanks to the Wideframe Tuning scene. The plan is to have this book ready sometime in 2023. That’s still a long way off so don’t hold your breath.
Thanks to the products of Pinasco, Scooter Center, SIP, Nagy Blechroller, Stoffi’s Garage, CC Corsa and Bollag to name but a few, the range of performance products for early Vespas has blossomed. It is now perfectly possible to double the top speed of a 35mph vintage Vespa and turn it from a pretty decoration into a really useable machine. The market for wideframe Vespas is not small either. Piaggio had already made their millionth wideframe Vespa by April 1956 and didn’t stop there. Wideframe models were also made under licence in France, UK, Belgium, Spain and Germany. Even if many of these have found their way to scooter heaven, many others still survive. More than one way to skin a cat If you’ve never been inside one of these engines then they really are very different to the subsequent largeframe and smallframe series. Despite the many different tools and techniques needed for working on them, nobody has yet produced a practical workshop guide for them. Using his experiences from producing the Spanner’s Manuals, Sticky is now working with a range of experts in this field, to not only show you one person’s way to work on these engines, but a choice of different methods to achieve the same result depending on the tools you have at hand.
Video As an example of what is possible with a wideframe Vespa, check out Sticky’s video of a road test of Zini from Austria’s kitted Allstate Cruisaire Vespa from 1954. Effortless vintage style can now also come with effortless modern performance. To read more about this scooter, pick up a copy of ScooterNova Magazine’s September 2022 edition or better still; a subscription, it’s only £30 for a full year’s worth of mags.
When can I buy the book? Hangfire everybody. Sticky is well underway with the project and has already visited many specialists but he still has plenty of work to do yet. The book won’t be ready until sometime in 2023 but we’ll bring you updates as it gets nearer to completion.
