THE MOTORCYCLE: DESIGN, ART, DESIRE PREVIEW - 1960 VESPA - JUST BIKES

The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire PREVIEW - 1960 Vespa GS150

A motorcycle design exhibition simply couldn’t be held without a Vespa being included – it’s a name that’s become synonymous with scooters!

Created by Piaggio and launched in 1946, the Vespa tapped an urgent need for cheap and reliable transport in post-war Italy, with 2,500 sales in 1947 rising to more than 60,000 by 1950.

The Gran Sport 150 (GS150) was released in 1955, and, as the name suggests, was powered by a 150cc single - a high-revving engine that was matched to a four-speed gearbox. Capable of hitting close to 100km/h, the GS150 could do it with better roadholding than most of its contemporaries, too.

While it was an obvious advancement over the original Vespa mechanically, the significance of the GS150 scooter was that it moved Vespa away from purely utilitarian transport and into the realm of style and speed, becoming the signature Vespa model in the minds of many, even decades later.

The 1960 example pictured came from the collection at Vespa House in Melbourne. Run by the Tonon family for three generations, Vespa House is one of the oldest Vespa dealerships in Australia.

As a mirror to the Vespa - and an additional demonstration of how two-wheel transport was adopted by “non-riders” on a large scale after World War II - a 1960 Honda Super Cub will also be exhibited.