The lost Vespa factory So hands up who knows what the scooter pictured here is? Off course like QI, the television programme hosted by Stephen Fry, the answer is not the obvious one! So no, it’s not a Vespa 50 Special made by Piaggio in Pontedera, boasting a typical Italian modification of a plastic PX horncasting. Ibis in facta 100¢e Vespa PL170 made under licence from Piaggio by Andhra Pradesh Scooters Ltd in India and everything about this Vespa is as it would have been sold in India, fresh off the production line of APS. Quite Interesting, eh? ‘As ascooterit now! mnetaloneindreamingot thal day when! stumble upona abled barnfinc, ‘much ikelan'sLambretaSxlastmonth.Butean youtmagineviratitwould beliketocomeactossa wholefacioryloadofscootersand parts? Neither canl,butafiermeetingChrisathishomeinlaly,! haveaslighflavouroftheexcitementihatispart fit athough nowalsounderstandsomeot the logisticalnightmares involvedwith ronsporting sauchastock back rom Indiate Europe ‘Chris was firstintorested in scootersbackin 1966 whenahumbleVespas0Sbecamehis 5 | soncrenns ESBS ‘modeot ransporiteand from schoolin his native Germany. Heretained thatpassionup Lniltoday and sone ofthefewlucky enoughto besbletomixbusiness with pleasure aspartof Ricarsbio Rapido, avholesale scooter pars supplier based inlaly.Asabrie aside, it lranspiredduringour conversation thatl'dcome. ‘across Chrissome years arlierwhenhe as dealingin classi scootersandiwas lookingfor anApePentaro,butthat's another story. ‘Anyway,aswith other people involvedina similarlineofbusiness,onetsalsrays|ooking further afieldforthatalusivepartandsoitwas justa matieroffimebeforeChrisendedupin India,a hotbedet both Lambrettaand Vespa production foranumberofyears now. Alwayswithan eyeoutforsomething Uiferent,oneday backin2001 he waslookingal photograph emalledover by oneofhis Indian contacts when henoticed ascooter inthe beckground that looked outofplace.Cheished spotted whatappearedtobeaheadset froma Vespa $0 Special, which was strange because as farashe knewtheonly smaliframebuitout the wat LML's versionofthe Pk, the somewhat ‘overwhelmingly named Senestion,Heasked hisiniendtosendthescooteroverto himandonarrivalhestrippedthispeculir Vespa tofind utmore,Coneludingthatitvwas probably anindlanassembled scooter usingalotof Piaggio pars, andealledthe VespaPLi70,hisnextstroke ofluckwestofindanindla beating suppleroniine ‘hatliteethePLI70asamodelthey cteredfor. He nextciscovered information albeitold about ‘the andhra Pradesh Scooters Lidfactoryclosing ddown.Neverthelessthis promptedhimtoaskhis friendinindiatofelowthislead He eventually contacted Christosayhewasintheareaofthis factory Hyderabe6,haltherewasa possiblity of the facorystilexisingandthathewesmeeting with somelocalofficiaistodiscussitfuther. ‘Oneof Chris client from the USA, Sheldon {americanscootercenter com) was planaingto isitIndiaanywaysoa hastily adjusted schedule ‘meant Sheldon ould alsobeat themeeting at Wwiichthey discovered natonly cide factory sillexs bulthat inside, coveredin inches of dusteverythinglookedas thoughithadbeen abandoned ikethe ghost ship, thetarie Celeste. Scootersapgeared abandoned partway through assembly, someppartsappeariohavebeen cast butnotmachinedioafinish.'salmostasifthe workerswenthomeone nightasnormal and never returned. Maybethey were abducted by sliens? Maybe they allwentonstece? Who knows.Isimplylookt iti, anoldecooter factorythat'sbeen abandonedforthebestpartot 2oyears,someframespaintedand ready for engines, others sllin bitsawalting assembly ‘Althefactory they were accompaniedby governmentoffcialstomake sure they didn take any photosthey weren'tsupposediorventure Intoanyareasthey weren'allowedtoenter.Asa resulta iretimagessentbacktoChes were toorevealing justanaldtactoryinerioceaveredin dustshowingafewfamiialookingscooter frames Thiswasenoughofuelhimfurther, hhoweverandsothey wentbec: twas hen they dlscovered thatthe propertyhadalreadybeen soldand waste bedemolishedwithinthreeweeks temmakewayfornen hausing Inaveryshortspace coftimeChrisdecidedthatltshouldn' gotothe scrapmanbutthathe wouldlouytheconlents partallyassembledscootrs,engines, parts helo. Therewos, however somestulfhtjusthadto ‘bescrspped,kealltherubber pars thathad perished overtheyeaes Thedeal was apparently that Chrishadto buy everything or buy nothing twasinthe background ofa photolitethietha eee eee His Vespa heartratherthanhis businessbrain madethedecision save whathe could, uta resulttherewasiterallytonnes of metalthathe simplysoldasscrapin Indiaasitwould have cost ‘more han twas worth to shipto Europe. Sadasit ‘may seem. tjustwasn'tworth keeping loadsof rustingexhausts,frameparis,fueltanks racks, rollenseats, unmachined parts etc thal had been lying exposedtothe elements since thelateos, The remainder ofthe partswereleadedand shipped to New Delhi dazensofloryloadsinall lobepackedfor shippinglo Europe. Nowanyone ‘ho'shad dealings with indiawil know thatit | SCOOTERING SMEs iar) en ee eee ee so engine casings, gears, barel ‘we featured Mark Broadhurst’: back in2005 (Cerin a uae cee) Lambretta GP model, probably suppliedas CKD (complete knock down) kitby Scooters Perec vce) Decca ues ees om ee Poros aca ae eee ecm a crea eee a) meee ed Green ere cues es ene cn eee ene cory Cee ui cet een Ucn Suen mca and well worthbeingin. Their previous Roeser Se ee Orr et was broughttoahaltin1971,coincidingwitha mean ete oa Deen ecg ea ee eee ane ence ieee Meee tin ee ome es eee ee eget a annoyedatthis, what with inventingthe Vespain on Deere Poe eee are eee fay ofscoaterbis,Atthe top, pattally assembled Vespa frames Deer ie eer eee eee ire Seen cae eee eee eT ee oe cae eet eee ee ee ee ard, st ery Cee eee Seaeetags therefore that they decidedto re-enterthe Indian markel asamalter ofpprierity. Here | wouldliketo enue etc rie) goingout and lookingforan Indian partnership, ee eae Ea ee eee) Rr aces octet Chairs ‘way licences were agreedupon and developed Meneses) ale iceiee sini Dirac See Ferri ean moter tierra Indian FaderaGovernmentand ourexporsto Cece minteemmnsetts errites | gotthis from the Piaggio book, ‘Vespa ~ Italian] ENC Rn at eer eOn ns nee eee Perera Cee eer a See eeescooters were probably supoliedin partsfrom thefacteryin italy forassembly and completion in Snot eset] ieee ey eee ee ers eeecier ener ete they couldsee exactlyhowitwenttogetherand Pee ec Marra ey etree rn an a eg ee hom con) Tee mma) Pte scoolersis good thus reatinga postive eden een cence Ce enn aetna) eee es oe cue etme eet ee ere] Cee eet beta! siowlybutsurely moreand:morewould Pere eee oes eee et ante roe en eee eee Ferenc Se eee eee eo ae ea aera ee een Ce oe ete een ty Ce eee eer eee Seen tennis Ber eee econ ere sae a eee Taree Get ce rey teat ere eee ere eee cee ery companies inindiaalthesametimeisabitofa ean eee ee a meee PoP ee een) en ee Se ee ey Ee atest ett eee eet eee ee Cereal Se en ae ae Teena ed Cee ae een erent eee eee ees Se eee eee nue pee ee eer een mieten eet) produced by LML wore dealandachistory Ce eee ene ee ee ee ana e eite reece ener ee ces ee eee eta eer ener Eee eae eeeer area reopeningolilwhich youllbe abletoread more ont tan Te eee een) Pee er tere eae ete) een) eSnips ec eee ere cree reeetnt ty cee ee ieee ty Birr cents ee SN eet eee orien Ree ane ee ee en Se eee in Ree ge ets peer aery emote are ee See er ea ay Cee aun ea ng ie eee cee ey Creer ie rete Se Pe eee) Premed ieee eee} eee ees creer eee es Limited incurredhugelossesand consequently eee et eee eae eae ee Cee ee er eer erento ae eee ere) Cees ei ent Cerne eee en oe eee pee eee) Cor ecnenmieae ay Pradesh Scooters tdisboundtocometo ee ac) rom the frontyoucaneshow they Eerie pale ericreia Pe