Reader’s Ride: Low Lamp Illusion
Don’t judge a book by its cover; sometimes all is not as it seems…
Sharp-eyed readers will perhaps already have clocked that this custom rat Vespa has been built around a younger model. With a bit of clever engineering know-how, it has been dressed up to visually appear, at a tentative glance, to be a Vespa model of a much older vintage. Of course, that was the exact intention of its owner, in a roundabout way. Home built on a tight budget, with a lot of clever ingenuity by Steve Clarke… aka Clarkie (of Clarkie’s Customs).
Creative conception
Clarkie has always wanted to own an early Vespa model of the Faro Basso variety. Worldwide demand has seen the asking price for both decent as well as rough examples of original Vespa models with a front mudguard-mounted headlight spiral ever upwards. Realising his dream to own and ride one was way beyond the reach of his finances, Lottery jackpot win excepted, he decided to create his own tribute to the Faro Basso Vespas. Clarkie graduated from being a young Mod during the 80s with an interest in scooters to a rally-going scooterist in just a few years. His first scooter was a Vespa PX200, while his first national rally experience was to the Isle of Wight in the mid-90s, travelling on his old Serveta Jet 200. Over time, Clarkie honed his skills working on and modifying
scooters. This culminated in 2018 with him setting up Clarkie’s Customs as a side interest for evenings, weekends and when he’s not doing his day job. Starting off with the intention of creating what is his ever-evolving custom Vespa, Clarkie’s Customs began life from his shed.
He used his P200 as the Vespa on which to base his home-made tribute. “I knew right from the start that this was going to be a custom scooter that would never be finished, there would always be something that would need doing. For example, the next change will be to the seat… for the third time. To start with, it was a very thin single seat, which was too uncomfortable. I sourced the one that’s on it in the photo shoot that Dennis did last year from a Triumph motorcycle, then modified it to fit. It was better than the thin one, but still not right. I got an old single-seat base with springs, that was just metal, uncovered. Changed a few things around so the base suited my Vespa. Then I made a cover out of sheepskin and brown fur. Which won’t be too good in the wet, not that it rains much on Guernsey. It was part inspired by 40s and early 50s American custom motorcycles.
I’ve intentionally kept the engine pretty much as a stock P2, all I’ve done to it was change the clutch for a new, stronger one and fitted a SIP road exhaust. It’s plenty fast enough for here on the Island. I gave my custom Vespa the name Rocky, in honour of my late father; Rocky was his nickname.”
Misleading mirage
If you have the money to spare, there’s an ever-growing availability of enhancing items aimed at the scooter market. Not only in the engine either… remade items to resurrect rare models, and a profusion of conversion kits to change the appearance of some models to resemble a different model of the same marque. Clarkie has been working on a tight budget in creating his custom Vespa right from the start, an approach that remains prevalent today. “My intention has always been to keep costs as low, as cheap as possible, achieved often by doing much of the work myself. With the handlebars and headset, I am wanting the basic look of an AMCA late 50s Vespa. There is a conversion kit that can be bought, at a price. I went to work with a hacksaw and file. I retained part of the headset top, then using fibreglass I fabricated the speedo surround to make the housing round. I got a small screen off a scrap GTS, cut it to suit then gave it an abrasive rub to make it opaque. I may change it at some point, it’ll suffice for now. For the Faro Basso light, I first needed a suitable mudguard. I found a modified one on eBay that was to suit a PX, it went with the look I was aiming for. Fitting it was an experience; until that point, I’d not removed and refitted a set of forks on a Vespa. Taking them out and fitting the mudguard was a breeze, to refit the forks I had to enlist a bit of help from my wife! I’m a member of the Garagistas Facebook group, which proved very helpful in making a mudguard-mounted headlight, the Faro Basso, both sit how it should and work.”
Home-made hallucination
As is almost inevitable when going for a home-built custom creation, Clarkie came up against several stumbling blocks of sorts. Though he not only overcame them but also managed to turn them into positives: “I got a bit carried away when cutting, let my enthusiasm get the better of me without properly thinking through the consequences, and I removed the panel brackets. I managed to source an old Vespa side panel, just the one, from a garage clearance on the Island. Although not 100% certain, along with ‘Gramps’ input, we think it’s from a VBB. What happened to the other of the pair is anyone’s guess. For the time being, I’ve got a webbing rucksack on the spare wheel side. After mistakenly removing the side panel brackets, I had to come up with an alternative way of keeping the side panel in place – after a bit of trial and error with one bonnet strap, off a Mini rally car, I found I needed two. In keeping with the straps on the side panel, I added a leather strap over the lens of the rear light. I toyed with the idea of having Rocky painted either silver or cream; I went for green in the end, the colour worked out all right, I think. I’ve taken my Vespa down to the classic bike meet by the harbour a few times, it’s foxed a few of the old bike enthusiasts. I’ve had a few show a bit of interest, they’ve all thought it was an old AMCA Vespa. As my aim was to build my own tribute to a Faro Basso-type Vespa, that’ll do me.”
I knew right from the start that this was going to be a custom scooter that would never be finished, there would always be something that would need doing.