Fastest Vespa ever zooms into maxi scooter category with timeless Italian style and craftsmanship
[PRESS RELEASE] NEW YORK, January 16, 2009 – Italian manufacturer Piaggio, renowned for revolutionary ideas in personal transportation, announces the U.S. debut of
the 2009 Vespa GTS 300 Super, the newest evolution of its best-selling mid-size scooter, the GTS 250. Sporting a new high-displacement engine and a collection of racing-inspired components and exterior treatments that complement its high-performance character, the GTS 300 Super has been designed to set pulse points pounding whether in motion or at rest.
As the fastest Vespa in the company’s U.S. product portfolio, the new GTS 300 Super is always ready to stir up excitement. New styling elements that signal its sporty intentions include an eye-catching side grille on the rear engine panel, two-tone alloy wheel rims, a racing red suspension cover on the front spring and a black-rimmed headlight. A new front shield features a stylish chrome air intake, reinforcing its sporty personality and stylish stance.
“The GTS 300 Super doesn’t just stand out in the crowd – it gets you out of the crowd,” says Paolo Timoni, President and CEO of Piaggio Group Americas. “Whether you need to accelerate away from traffic or take advantage of parking spaces that others only dream about fitting in, the GTS 300 Super does it with Vespa’s unique mix of Italian attitude and style.”
Vespas have always been the preferred scooters for those who want to send a message about the importance of personal choice, freedom and authenticity. The company has produced over 17 million scooters since its debut in 1946 and the brand has been immortalized by artists and individualists through the decades. Read the rest of this entry ?
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It is presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The show is famous for its fantastic visuals and humorous commentaries by the program’s hosts. It also gave rise to the popular character of The Stig(he’s even got a fanbase in Facebbok!) the show’s anonymous and silent test driver.
Last December 28, 2008, Top Gear presented an epic episode where the three program host were presented a challenge which took them to Vietnam and required them to travel 1000 miles from Ho Chí Minh City (Saigon) to to Ha Long City (near Hanoi) in a span of eight days. That’s practically from the bottom to the northern tip of Vietnam!
Each were handed a shoebox with 15 million Vietnamese dongs so they could buy a vehicle of their choice to use for the challenge. But they soon realize that the ‘enormous’ amount couldn’t afford them a car so they settled for something cheaper.
Hammond bought a Russian-built 125cc two-stroke Minsk; May a 50cc four-stroke Honda Cub (a bike very common in Vietnam and ranked No. 1 among the World’s 10 Greatest Ever motorbikes); and Clarkson, who claimed to have never ridden before and knew little about motorbikes, purchased a green vintage Piaggio Vespa. It should be noted that Clarkson despised motorcycles. Bikers might find his tounge-and-cheek humor a bit condescending, but personally, I find his Brit humor amusing. In the scene when they were buying crash helmets, he quipped: “The reason why crash helmets are small is because people who wear them haven’t got a brain. Otherwise they’d have a car.”
Here’s the first part of that epic episode.
Will the vintage Vespa finish the challenge? Those who hate Jeremy Clarkson’s guts for “insulting” two-wheel riders may find a little satisfaction towards the end of the episode.
Brisbane’s new landmark — “Vespa Girl” — seen riding high above Scooters Scooters in Wickham Street Fortitude Valley has another reason to smile and wave at passers by, having won Gold in the Australian Sign Awards on the 31st of October 2008!
The annual competition is held on a National basis and the Vespa Girl took on contestants from as far away as W.A to take out the ‘Neon bending & lighting effects’ category.
Dealer Principal Joe D’Ercole was thrilled with the award stating that “we really wanted to make a statement, and an impact with the Vespa Girl sign. People are already using the store and sign as a point of reference in the area. We believe we have achieved this, and taking out the award is icing on the cake.”
Scooters Scooters is Vespa’s showcase store in Australia featuring a full line up of the stylish, economical and environmentally friendly Vespa, Piaggio and Gilera range of scooters. [source]
Just last Tuesday, Gruppo Piaggio unveiled a prototype of a new sidecar design specially made for the modern Vespa line — particularly the GTV and GT models.
The newest Vespa model called the Vespa S is a retro-inspired scooter with square-ish headlamp and side mirrors is based on the classic look of the famous 50 Special model of 1969. These vintage models are still highly sought after and the scoot’s cult status was confirmed a few years ago when teen band Lunapop sang its praises in their smash hit “50 Special.”
In a press release, Piaggio formally announced the debut of the 2008 Vespa S, a retro-forward 150cc for the North American market. To create a buzz for the new model, the Toronto-based Vespa Canada launched the Vespa-head campaign — life-sized humanoid cutouts with the Vespa S handlebar for its head. These ‘dudes’ sports a retro-cool getups like Chuck Taylor and other ‘in-again’ brands to play on the notion that it’s hip to be square.
The company plans to display the odd humal-like images on buildings around Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. There are four different Vespa-heads in total; they’ll appear either as singles like this one:
The winners for the Art Vespa 2007 spearheaded by Vespa South Africa has just been announced. Click the images below for a closer look of the Top 3 placers.
The first placer will receive a brand new Vespa LX sporting his winning design. It was reported that Francesco Maffe, the contest’s judge, had a tough time choosing the winners from this year’s collection of sensational designs. In the end, the ones that caught the judge’s attention are those which stayed faithful in answering the brief (keep it simple, bold and add 2-dimensional color to painted areas only) in the most creative manner. The 2nd place looks like it’s from the pool of delivery scoots from Yellow Cab Pizza.
To see the rest of this year’s batch of Vespa designs, you may preview the downloadable wallpaper of this year’s submissions. Read the rest of this entry ?
(got this pic from Google Image. If you own this picture, let me know so I can give proper attribution)
There’s a certain charm whenever I see I Vespa randomly plastered with stickers of different shapes and sizes especially if the scoot has been around for sometime and doesn’t have that glossy and sleek paintjob. It just have that unique character.
Recently, I came across Stick my Vespa!!! campaign posted in Flickr Group. It was initiated by Max/Omino from Italy who ask other guys to send him their personal artworks, photos, stencil etc. and he will print and slap them on his two-tone Vespa a picture of which appears here.
As he said: “Your Art + my Vespa = Our Art Work on the road!“
What a great idea! Being fascinated of Vespas festooned with sitckers and whatnots, I emailed a soft copy one of my Vespa artworks to him and it’s now plastered on Omino’s glovebox door. Check it out! Read the rest of this entry ?
The last time I was into bicycles was back in the 80s during my pre-teen days on a BMX. Twenty five years hence, I got into biking again; only this time, it’s not on street bikes with my next door neighbors but on mountain bikes with some of my Vespa buddies. Gone biking with Bimbo and his family on a dirt track in Alabang one weekend and twice around UP Diliman Academic Oval with Yey.
To transport the bike for these biking sessions, I load it behind our SUV on a bike rack. If I’m ready to leave home, can’t just hop in to drive & go with all the strapping, fastening, and tying I have to do to make sure the bike is securely mounted. If only it was possible to mount the bike on a Vespa…
A quick search n the web and I found out it’s possible as done in these Stella scoots.
(photo courtesy of Shane Kullman)
(photo courtesy of Shane Kullman)
FEEDBACK: When I asked Shene’s permission if I could borrow his pics, he said: “Knowing that the rack works and hasn’t caused me to crash, makes me feel better showing it off.” That’s great!
I first heard of this Perlini’s Silver Vespa pendant last April when two pieces of the flat design were up for sale in this Vespinoy forum thread. My riding buddies who got ‘em swore the item looks really good for its price. I thought so too that’s why I placed an order for the next batch. But sadly, it was out of stock.
I was hoping to order it somewhere online so I googled Perlini’s Silver Vespa and the search led me to the site of Vespa Club of Singapore and learned from there that the city has several Perlini’s Silver stores. The next chance I got there, my daughter & I visited the branch nearest our hotel and I was surprised that there’s another Vespa pendant in 3D design with a two-tone enamel coating (red & white). With my daughter’s thumb’s-up, I bought the two designs. She never saw any of those pendants again until I brought one out yesterday… HER 8TH BIRTHDAY! Read the rest of this entry ?
Brisbane’s new landmark — “Vespa Girl” — seen riding high above 
Recently, I came across 
