One of the things I love about the scooter scene is how much it varies from country to country.
Italian culture is generally far more social than the colder northern European equivalent, and their scooter scene reflects that. Mediterranean scooter events often focus around eating together, drinking together and simply spending quality time around scooters and scooter riders.
When I looked for a venue to host the book launch for Manuale D’Officina Completo: Motori Vespa ‘Wideframe’ (the Italian translation of the Complete Spanner’s Manual for Vespa ‘Wideframe’ Engines) I first tried Francesco Gaetani of Vespaio Gaetani, even though I’d never been to his place before.
Vespa 98 from 1946 – not every day you see one of these
Why Vespaio Gaetani?
One of three custom Vespa chassis that Francesco is fabricating by hand, in aluminium
Francesco’s workshop near the coastal resort of Forte Dei Marmi – not too far from Pisa – is perfect; large and spotless, with everything you need to restore and rebuild old Vespas.
Jig for correcting Vespa frame alignment
Secondly, he is one of very few Vespa bodywork specialists who will manufacture new bodywork by hand for old models. Matthew Philips from Douglas Vespa Parts Finder – who helped with the book – recently finished rebuilding a Vespa 98 using a sidepanel manufactured by hand by Francesco from two flat sheets of aluminium. This skill is very rare wizardry that I wanted to see first-hand.
Stray Dogs in the yard!
Not only was Francesco happy to host, but he’d lay on a feast of Tuscan delicacies (wine, salami, focaccia) and ask his friends from Vespa Club Massa (Can’ Sciolti – meaning ‘Stray Dogs’ since they left the fold of the national Vespa Club) to help out on the day.
Andrea Pinasco’s book ‘Olive’
The first person we added to the programme was legendary scooter kit manufacturer Andrea Pinasco who I’ve had the good fortune to interview in the past for one of the scooter magazines. He used the event to promote his latest literary work: a book called ‘Olive’.
Andrea (seated) talked about the book and answered questions posed by Fabio Cofferati in front of an eager crowd
I’m still reading Olive but I really like it. Unlike his previous book ‘Quelli Delle Vespa Truccate’, which deals with the history and foundation of the Pinasco brand, Olive is far more philosophical and personal. ‘Quelli Delle Vespa Truccate’ is only printed in Italian but Andrea is thinking about doing an English version.
The Pinasco Vespazzura project for endurance racing in Spain
Olive by Andrea Pinasco
Olive is laid out ‘social media style’, with an image accompanied by a section of text in both Italian and English. It’s perfect to dip in and out of, taking a moment to read and also digest each section. Some of the posts deal with scooters; and why they mean so much to him. Other posts deal with life, family and relationships.
The book reads like a grandfather trying to pass on a lifetime of accumulated wisdom to following generations. If that sounds like your sort of thing then you can buy the book here.
There is a rumour that Andrea Pinasco is keen to do a presentation and talk at a large UK scooter event this year, and at least one event organiser is looking into it. If you’d like to hear him talk, then watch this space!
Paolo Zanon comment
Great review from highly respected Vespa book author Paolo Zanon
The Italian Wideframe Manual presentation
Next, after a break for lunch and some wine for Dutch Courage, was my turn. I was interviewed by Gegio from Scooterismo online magazine (very much like an Italian version of SLUK). Gegio translated the book into Italian, with a little proof-reading help from Luca Fonio and Gabrielle from CC Corsa.
I’m not big on public speaking, so after thanking everyone who helped put the book together, and taking some questions from the audience, it was on to the main event…
It started as flat sheet, hammered on a sandbag
Gaetani Vespa bodywork manufacture demo
No joke, it took Francesco around half an hour, while talking and explaining, to turn two flat sheets of aluminium into 70% of a Vespa 98 front mudguard.
Admittedly, a lot of the hard work was already done: he’d made a slightly-smaller steel mudguard to form over, but all of this is still by eye using hammers, an ‘English wheel’ (opposed rollers) and a foot-pedal driven stretcher/shrinker machine to bully the flat aluminium into the required double-curvature shape.
It’s like watching one of those street cartoonists drawing tourist caricatures. He works so fast and so effortlessly that he makes it look easy, but that’s only because he’s very skilled. You or I would have no chance to make anything like that at the first attempt.
Shaping the aluminium parts around a welded steel form
The sides and top would normally be tig-welded, panel beaten and then smoothed with a file. Francesco supplies his handmade panels with zero body filler
Working prototype of the kit for GS150 in cast iron almost doubles the power of the original cylinder
News from C.C.Corsa
We tested and reviewed SIP’s kit for the GS150, but it will soon have a rival from Gabriele Cagni’s C.C. Corsa brand. He brought along a prototype of the kit (made by modifying an original cylinder) fitted to a GS so people could see and hear it.
As with his other kits, Gabriele has called on the experience of Falc Racing guru Lauro Caforio in the design of the cylinder, which contains – we are told – a novel inlet system. Now that Gabriele is happy with the cast iron prototype, the plan is to manufacture the kit in aluminium with a nicasil liner.
On the day, the kit was running with a standard carburettor and encountering the same problems that we found with fuel evaporation due to being bolted directly above a hot engine without the extra insulation of a rubber mount. So far in testing C.C. Corsa have had better results with a Keihin-type carburettor but they understand that many GS owners will prefer everything to look standard.
Side Hustles
Andre Jueterbock from SIP Scootershop drove down from Germany with a display of SIP’s 9-inch wheel conversion parts for 8-inch wheel Wideframe Vespas; allowing you to use bigger brakes. He also showed their ready-patina vintage-look parts that allow you to fit tubeless rims to an unrestored scooter without the wheels looking out of place. Along with Scooter Center, Bettella’s Pinasco and other smaller producers, SIP are trying to fill all the holes in the spare parts supply in order to keep these oldest Vespas on the road.
Matthew Phillips (Douglas Vespa Parts Finder) and ‘GS Jim’ McCabe (Classic Vespa Club page on Facebook) came from the UK and showed a collection of original Piaggio and Douglas technical drawings for early Vespas. These are like mana from heaven to information-hungry engineers and restorers alike.
Gallery: See more images in our gallery
As often happens when spirits get high, people then start misbehaving. I’m pretty comfortable with that. One moment, we had a really fierce-sounding red smallframe burning out its rear tyre in the street. Next, Luca from Vespazio demonstrated the performance of the CC Corsa GS as a flypast and Nicola L’Impennatore (the Vespa Wheelie king) did guess what with it?
By the end of the day all the food and wine had gone, the sun remained throughout a relatively warm February afternoon and everyone left happy.
The vibe we were after at the start of the event was ‘friends in the garage’. Target hit, I’d say. Thanks to everyone who came and made it a great day.
Sticky
Additional pics by Gegio of Scooterismo
The Complete Spanner’s Manual – Vespa ‘Wideframe’ Engines: English version
Of course, if you don’t speak the language of the motherland, you can still buy the original English language version of Sticky’s Vespa ‘Wideframe’ Engines book from us at SLUK.
As with anything Sticky does, he puts his heart and soul into the research, photos, writing and publication of his books. He travelled Europe seeking out specialists to help with this manual. It’s written in a straightforward, easy-to-understand style and is invaluable to anybody with an interest in these early Vespa models. If you’re a Vespa fan, get yourself a copy.
