FORZA ITALIA

You probably know that the Vespa motor-scooter was Italy’s answer to getting working people on wheels after WW2. But equally clever was the way the Vespa’s very early design used military surplus gear (Piaggio had made aircraft during the war) to its advantage. The front wheel and singlesided suspension, for instance, was actually a left-over landing wheel for a Piaggio fighter plane and the Vespa’s frantic little two-stroke motor had originally been the starter-motor for a piston plane engine. Brilliant!