Rebirthing Sophia Project.

I have my SS180 (Sophia) project on hold until about August as my real job (OHS) is keeping me very busy at the moment. Soon I'll be firing up the old potbelly, locking myself away in the shed and getting stuck into!

When I do finally get time to put her back together again, I will be adding the individual project photos and findings as I go ....but here's the background & a video summary of the story so far.

I decided this classic Vespa had to be 'rebirthed' after being "restored to death" in Asia. Too many classics are being lost forever as they are destroyed during restoration, with original parts replaced to make it look shiny and new for the western clients willing to pay upwards of $3000 or $4000 for an old scooter. There's usually a rude awakening when they try to get the scooter registered. Some I have seen (including this one) have the speedo in the headset but no cable or drive pinion. I had to pick the dirt and grease out of the hole in mine with a screw driver to even see where it went! I will add my collection of photos here and you will see what all the fuss is about with what is now commonly known in the scooter world as a "Vietbodge", "Indobodge" or a "Frankenscoot".

PART 1

PART 2

I'm blogging it all here..

Continuing Saga

October 2008

I knew I'd come across some dodgey stuff. Asian "Restored" Vespa's and Lambretta's are notoriously badly restored with mismatching parts, dangerous engineering shortcuts and hideous 2 tone paint jobs!!

Have you ever Googled the words 'Asian Vespa'? You'll be scared to death with what you read. I had read stories about people pulling engines apsrt and finding pieces of soft drink can in bearing holes as makesift shims.

I had read, but never seen it, until now!

I'll add more dodgey stuff as I go, I'm bound to find more! I'm not done yet, still cleaning down for the rebuild.

Trying to find some decent carb bits amongst the collection...

Here's the 2 halves of the old SS180 case, one side done, one side to go.

Looks good.

Recently I have been in contact with a guy from Melbourne who is rebirthing an Asian VBC 150 Super- his story and photos are in my blog, showing some more hair raising home made engineering shortcuts from people calling themselves 'Vespa restorers' in Vietnam and Indonesia.

So you want to buy an Asian restored Vespa?

Read our info and blogs first, in fact- read as much as you can before wasting your hard earned cash.

ASIAN VESPA BUYERS..... BEWARE!