The economy of post-World War II Italy was a bit of a mess and companies like Fiat, Lambretta and Piaggio saw the opportunity for small, cheap and effective forms of transport to get Italy moving again. Piaggio’s contribution was the Vespa, or “wasp”, a diminutive scooter aimed at the women and youth market.
With very little departure from the original design, all Vespas became instant classics and with the adoption of the scooter by the “Moderns”, or Mods of the 1960s, rivals to the British bike riding Rockers, an international success was born.
For seventy years the Vespa scooter has represented La Dolce Vita.
To celebrate the launch of Coach Sunwear, Marchon Eyewear worked with Coach designer Reed Krakoff to create a collection of seven unique Vespas with matching helmets and driving accessories including the “Poppy Floral”—later dubbed the “Poppy for Peace” Vespa. New daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres scooted out on stage for a worthy cause on a custom-designed Coach Vespa for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to then be auctioned off to raise money for charity. It attained $25,000.
The 2003 Vespa ET2 on offer here, comes from a varied collection of vintage motorcycles. An associate of the collector was approached by Piaggio to build the special edition scooters for Coach. Various designs were offered including a wrapped bike in the Coach logo with a contrasting red seat. This is that bike.
Now, with 5,200 miles from new and fresh from a service, the bike rides perfectly well, starting easily and offers the heady power delivery of a 50cc motor.
Coming to BaT
