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Vespa Halifax opened
its doors in the fall of 2004 to re-introduce the Vespa line of scooters
to Metro Halifax. At that time we had just three models. Fast forward
to present day and we've grown to offer over a dozen different models
in three different brands from the Italian giant Piaggio.
Every model features an electric starter and an automatic transmission which makes for incredible ease of use. And of course, each one is as beautiful as it is well made. Be it a 50cc peninsula-putter, a 500cc super-scooter, or a Vintage Vespa, we've got a dozen different reasons for you to fall in love again. Trevor Benesch has been a scooter enthusiast for as long as he can remember. His father owned Italian scooters in his youth and would share stories of scooter adventure and romance. But these mythical creatures eluded Trevor until 1999 when he moved to Nova Scotia and he finally found and bought his first Vespa: a 1979 Vespa 100. He has since sold it, but now has others waiting in the wings for a little bit of his time, anticipating their second go around. His favourite model of all time? His 1959 Vespa GS150. He'll restore it one of these days… Trevor and the entire staff at Vespa Halifax are certified Vespa Technicians, and are ready to help keep your Vespa, new or vintage, keep on rolling. Vespa Scooters -Piaggio & C s.p.a has been making the Vespa scooter in Pontedera, Italy since 1946. Until this time, Piaggio had been an aeronautical firm, and engineer Corradino D'Ascanio was set to the task in 1945 to design a scooter that would mobilize a post-war nation. It was his background in aircraft design that led D'Ascanio to develop the stressed skin or monocoque chassis which enclosed the engine and allowed the rider to step-through the frame, and to incorporate single-sided stub axles. These features are what made the Vespa both practical and beautiful, and led other manufactures to f ollow their styling cues. Vespa Around the World-Vespas have been manufactured under license and sold throughout the world by numerous companies. The most famous, is of course, the Douglas firm of Bristol, England, who began the manufacture of Vespa in 1951. These machines were adopted by the British youth of the early 60's and ultimately defined the most memorable group of scooter enthusiasts the culture has known: The Mods. The Who's Quadrophenia was the movie that exposed the world to the British scooter scene, and is a scooter-cult classic. Vespa in Canada-Vespas were available here in Canada from the early-50's until the mid-80's through motorcycle dealers and Sears, Roebuck and Co. Many are familiar with them, having ridden on machines belonging to a friend or family member, or perhaps they have seen them when traveling abroad. Regardless of how this icon is etched into our collective memory, one thing is for certain: in almost every culture, the name Vespa conjures images of fun and romance for aficionados of this wonderful little machine. Scooters, cappuccinos, friends. Perfect. |