Vespa Folie!

The Vespa is a line of motor scooters that was first manufactured in Pontedera, Italy in 1946 by Piaggio & Co, S.p.A
Piaggio continues to manufacture the Vespa today.

Vespa's Origins
Post World War II Italy was a dour place - and one which, in light of its agreement to cessation of war activities with The Allies, meant that its post-war aircraft industry was severely restricted in both capability and capacity.
Piaggio emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera fighter plane plant completely demolished by bombing. Italy's crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the re-development of the automobile markets. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio's founder Rinaldo Piaggio, decided to leave the aeronautical field in order to address Italy's urgent need for a modern and affordable mode of transportation. The idea was to design a cheap vehicle for the masses.

What does "Vespa" Mean??

The name Vespa"Sembra una vespa!" ("It looks like a wasp!") exclaimed Piaggio president Enrico Piaggio when he first laid eyes on what would become the most successful scooter of all time - the name stuck [1]
Vespa is both Latin and Italian for wasp - derived from both the high pitch noice of the twostroke engine, and adopted as a name for the vehicle in reference to its body shape: thicker rear part connected to the front part by a narrow waist, and the steering rod as the antennae.

With its elegant lines and classic aesthetics, the Vespa is recognized as the epitome of Italian design. There is a dramatic increase in the number of urban commuters who have purchased new or restored Vespas. The difficulty of parking cars and the Vespa's low running costs are two reasons for this upswing in Vespa (and other scooter) popularity. The cultural use of the scooter as a recreational vehicle with a sub-culture following in the USA/Canada and parts of Europe & Japan. In contrast, the Vespa is considered a utilitarian vehicle for hauling products and sometimes up to 5 family members in much of Asia and Mexico
Vespa enthusiasts can visit the comprehensive Piaggio Museum & Gift Shop adjacent to the plant in central Pontedera, near Pisa, Tuscany. The permanent exhibition includes those items which toured prestigious venues such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Pompidou Centre, Paris. Also on display is, perhaps, the most famous Vespa of them all - the one personally customised by Salvador Dalí in 1962.

Forty percent of new buyers today are women. The Vespa even has a postfeminist heroine, Scooter Girl, a comic-book character who rides a vintage Lambretta when she's not breaking men's hearts.

Increasing environmental restrictions compelled Piaggio to pull out of the US market in 1985, due to their reliance at the time on two stroke engines.
Vespas would have completely disappeared from the American scene if it weren't for the enthusiasts who kept the vintage scooters on the road by rebuilding, restoring, and adding performance enhancing engine parts as the stock parts would wear out.
Vespa returned to the US market in 2001 with a new, more modern style ET series, in 50cc two and four stroke, and 150cc four stroke. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, U.S. scooter sales increased five-fold over six years, swelling from 12,000 units in 1997 to 69,000 units in 2002. Vespa sales in the U.S. increased 27 percent between 2001 and 2002. The 65 "Vespa Boutiques" scattered throughout the U.S., where scooterists can buy, service, and customize Vespa scooters, and outfit themselves in everything from Vespa watches and helmets to Vespa jackets, T-shirts, and sunglasses.
In light of vastly increasing US sales, Vespa developed the GT, offered in both 125cc and 200cc four stroke variants. In 2004 Vespa reintroduced a modernized PX 150.