DEBUT ON A SHAKY STAGE

It was natural for the Managing Director in person to preside over the birth: he alone could celebrate the name-giving ritual and thus give it life. Crucial lo the way an object is perceived, to the definition of its identity - and thus the culmination of the effort of many — the name had to signify many things: agility, brilliance, familiarity, forthrightness, attractiveness, reliability, spontaneity and a certain amount of natural elegance without any formalism.

But history willed somehow that the thing itself, with its pinched waistline and rounded sides, led Enrico Piaggio to the laconic consideration "It looks like a wasp [Vespa]". And that was it. A mere whiff of company mythology but an indicator of the clear, assertive ways the man had of doing things. "The name 'Vespa' for the Piaggio motor-scooter" reads the reply sent to the Sccolo XIX newspaper when they asked the Managing Director for an Interview in August 1902 "was given by Dr. Enrico Piaggio because he found that the shape of this vehicle (narrow waist and large hindquarters) brought to mind the hymenoptera of the same name. No oilier name was ever considered." The same tone here too.


April 23, 1946, the patent

At noon on that day an application was filed in the city of Florence's patent office for an industrial manufacture patent for a "model of a practical nature" of a "motorcycle with rationally placed parts and elements with a frame combining with mudguards and engine-cowling covering all working parts". Here, it is worthwhile going into some more detail. "The model," it goes on, "concerns a particular form of motorcycle endowed with a suitable shape and in which the elements comprising the frame, and which lave ihc function of footrest. Mudguards, engine cowling as well as the special, arched frontal protection, have been given a rational layout; the whole shaped and combined so as to cover and protect all mechanical pans as well as making the position of the motorcyclist practical and comfortable." A little further on, it refers to an enclosed drawing of the part in question as follows: "It should be pointed out that covering N. 6 has been shaped so that the fanned air for cooling the engine - once it leaves the fan itself- must follow a curve that brings it against the engine." This was D'Ascanio's answer to the problem of cylinder overheating and seizing: it had been perfected on a test bench with the engine running and talcum powder fed into the fan as it was spinning. A cloud of powder filled the air and started everyone coughing, but the cylinder head had been duly whitened by the air-flow.
Attention was detailed, perhaps too much, for what the vehicle offered both technically and aesthetically, so much so that at the end of his description the words "while, as can be seen from the drawings and in any case is made clear by the description, the whole constitutes a rational, comfortable motorcycle offering protection from mud and dust without jeopardizing requirements of appearance and elegance" are underlined. In the handwriting of the technical head of the 0 patent office there is a nervous note in the margin stating "a practical article, not ornamental" eliminating any reference to appearance or elegance. The office involved issued confirmation of patent acceptance on November 9,1946.

Introduction into Society

The little Pontedera-born scooter's potential and ambition was already part of its genetic code. The project was set up along "Fordist" lines for automobile production, which, in a company like Piaggio and with its history, meant there was nothing shortsighted or left to chance. Everything was aimed at turning out large numbers. The only question-mark left was how the market would respond and this, in the early stages at least, was uncertain. The presentation to the press was held in the exclusive setting of the Rome Golf Club and organized by Umberto Barnato, trusted ally of Enrico Piaggio and later one of the organizers of that joyous juggernaut, the Vespa Club, which appeared soon afterwards. The American newsreel Alovirfrmchad to be there because so was General Ellery W. Stone, head of the Allied Commission, standing side by side with the civilian and religious authorities. Journalists from Italy and overseas were mystified by the odd-looking pastel-green thing in front of them, with its small-diameter wheels, the handlebar speed change and the seeming simplicity of the rounded shape which was its most striking aspect. The Managing Director and top staff of a prestigious cx-acronau-lical linn were apparently risking everything for this: a scooter, little more than a toy.

In road tests, the Vespa seemed to win skeptics over with its maneuverability and case in Marl-up, the fluid, smooth performance of its engine discreetly filtered by the sophisticated, flute-shaped muffler of the first series, the astonishing power in first and second gear and going up hills, the comfort greatly superior to a motorcycle despite the lack of back suspension.

Despite it all, the fifty or so units made up in the pre-production series almost didn't sell. In one way or another, and not without difficulty, the first forty-eight Vespas were sold, the last being the most difficult to find buyers for but then day after day things picked up until it seemed they'd never stop. The company had never needed to deal with the free market before, because it had always lived on government orders and bids. For the whole of 1946, the ways and means still hadn't become clear and the year-end accounts reflected this state of uncertainty. Things, however, were beginning to move.

The opportunity arose to share the style and quality limelight enjoyed by the large Lancia sedan automobiles. Early contacts were difficult for the newly created S.A.R.P.I. (Societa Agenzia Rappresentanze Prodotti Industriali), the small Florentine company Enrico Piaggio had set up to sell the product. The salesmen found themselves negotiating with car showrooms that had the Appia and the Ardea, flagships of Italian automobile production, proudly on show. They tried to get the Vespa 98s exhibited alongside them, perhaps because of the aristocratic associations of the old English scooters.

The idea of payment in installments was adopted, something out of the ordinary, that enabled a lot of people to buy a Vespa while assuring the company a valuable advance on capital in the time frame for delivery, at this point between ten and twelve months from order. A technical assistance network was set up offering training courses for authorized mechanics. There was still a lot to do, first and foremost in production. There was no lack of labor in these lean years when the national economy was struggling to get off the ground, as top-management in companies seemed to understand, particularly with the dying down of the revolutionary so-called "North winds" born of the Resistance. Already the Managing Director was pushing for the development of a new model that would sell in big numbers. The first years of heady growth and deep social con-Hid were just ahead, the years of great satisfaction In sales, not only on the home market: the years when an icon of our limes was forged.