Rusty Vespa? Don’t despair!
Anyone who's ever owned a post-1995 Vespa PX, unless perhaps they live in California or Montpellier (or have won a lifetime supply of Acf-50), knows about a rusted seam down the back of their front mudguard. It is as inevitable as the soles splitting on their well-cared-for (relatively new) ox-blood Doc Marten boots. The reason? Inferior materials and/or bad workmanship. There can be no other explanation. But it hasn't always been that way. Time was when your Docs would last forever, as would your hardy and everreliable 1980s PX. So what went wrong and how did Piaggio allow their flagship model to fall into such disrepute? And I'm not just talking about rusted mudguard seams here. That is just the tip of the iceberg or, rather, the disintegrating hull of the submerged Titanic.
I admit that my own 2006 PX lives outside (I have no choice unfortunately), and is therefore (as I live in the northwest of Lancashire) no stranger to the elements. Nevertheless it has, I would like to think, been well looked after and has been the recipient, in the 12 or so years I've owned it, of much (to coin a phrase) time, trouble and money. And after all, it is a scooter, not a boat or canal barge requiring regular waterproofing and blacking. Or is it?
A couple of weeks ago, upon removing the protective rubber mat from the footboards so that I could give my much loved Italian icon a wash and wax, I noticed some bubbling to the paint between the runners. Giving it a gentle poke with my finger to assess the seriousness of the problem, imagine my horror as said finger went right through the metal (or whatever it is Piaggio uses to make scooters with these days). Same thing happened on the corresponding footboard so, it being a sunny day, I laid on the ground to check out underneath and then spent 10 minutes picking and peeling off pieces, sometimes sheets, of factory applied silver paint to reveal – you guessed it – RUST! Then too, I couldn't ignore nor quite believe the huge rusty gash along the middle of the floor pan above the exhaust.
On closer inspection of the scooter as a whole I noticed bubbling paint on several other random parts of the body, and really do fear the worst.
On a Lambretta, of course, none of this would matter so much with its sensible interchangeable, Meccano-like body parts. But on the multi-troublesome monocoque Vespa frame, as we know, this is not so easy to remedy.
There might, however, be an upside to all this – a silver lining. Remember the subtly beautiful, yet affordable Alfasud of the 1970s and 80s made by Alfa Romeo? (Another fine and respected Italian motor company that should have known better.) Really great looking cars. Go and have a look at one on the internet if you don't believe me. If you want to see one, that's where you'll have to look I'm afraid, because you will rarely (if ever nowadays) get to see one in the flesh. Why? Because they were made of cheap Russian metal that was not fit for purpose and so have sadly rusted themselves into (almost) extinction. They are certainly an endangered species. A half-decent Alfasud goes for silly money now when one surfaces for sale, for that very reason.
So if you have the misfortune to be the owner of one of the later rust-bucket PXs, don't despair. You might be sitting on a gold mine and not even know it… if it lasts that long!
Wayne Auty from Lancaster