As World War II was ending, Piaggio began building scooters in Italy. They extended the product line in 1948 with the APE (pronounced ah-pay), which was a small utility vehicle that used a Vespa front end and engine. This edition from 1966 is an enclosed edition of a delivery vehicle, but it’s not currently in running condition. With some TLC, this “van” could be back out of the road in relatively quick order. Located along the New Jersey shore, this Italian workhorse is available here on craigslist. The seller is taking “reasonable” offers. Thanks to Shan for this scooter/van find!
The APE relied on engineering shared with the Vespa scooter, also made by Piaggio. These were all 2-stroke engines that required a mix of gasoline and oil to perform. In 1966, the most common motor had a displacement of 125-150cc and these powerplants are available online for $1,000-1,500 if you want to swap the current “smoker.”
This one is named Rose and the seller describes it as a Vespacar, but that’s not an actual name. On the front fender, the letters VTP are stenciled in and likely stand for Vintage Truck Purveyors, a company known for importing and restoring these interesting little trucks. From the few photos provided, we assume a rebuild would be limited to mechanics as the body and paint come across as okay (except the windshield is missing). If you chose not to fix it, perhaps Rose would look great in a hotel lobby or as an accessory in a store or restaurant.
Aaannndd now it’s Piaggio Week”.
Really! BF is going ape! Too much punch at the office party.
1/4 mile time? That’s the important info.
“Eventually”
I wouldn’t drive this very fast, especially with that one wheel up front…. very easy to tip over…. and top heavy to boot.
I agree. For a vehicle like this, I’d think that 20 MPH would be the fastest one could have safely driven.
Call Mike Wolfe this is in his wheel house
@milewolfe
This would make a great EV! With
EV tech today, you can add lithium ion
batteries, re-gen braking, solar power,
and one crazy powerful drive motor
and you’d have a really nice LEV for
things like running around town or doing Door Dash. Just add a hot and
cold side inside the rear box and call
it done. Might make it go faster too.
Brilliant wee things; the Italian “local” economy – small-scale farms and so on – used to run on these, and other variants. There’s vans and pickups and probably other variants. Moto Guzzi built 3-wheeler trucks, too; slightly bigger than these.
I’m not sure, but Italy may well have the same laws as here; that you could drive a 3-wheeler of less than a certain weight on a motorbike licence.
Nice little ice cream truck , might have to contact those guys in Las Vegas that build fish tanks to make the windshield for you because they can bend plexi
I like it. Valentino Rossi wrote in his autobiography that he and he friends use to race these all over the countryside in Italy.
What would be a reasonable price on it looks like no interior and bet that windshield is hard to find ?
looks like a mail box or a loaf of bread biing hauled by a 3 wheeler.
Cute little truckster. Ok for city use but impractical for much outside of possibly a mail delivery vehicle.
Since it’s in NJ…some guy could sell Italian ice out of it.
Or a turn it into a Pizzamobile. Ala a food truck.
One of the few things that could hold up an old VW.
When I was a little kid, we had something like this in our kitchen, minus the wheels that kept things cold.
Can’t quite determine if this one has handlebars or a steering wheel. If the former, forget windshield and wear a helmet & goggles.
I’d make this into hotdog selling cart. Have it professionally wrapped to intice the customers with a most tasteful color scheme. Change up the one front wheel for two with a able engine to get it around the town. Money maker guaranteed.
PS, it needs to be cut open to have access from the front to the back.
cute rig