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Vespa PX 125 30th Anniversary
Its the last of the last the limited edition PX 125. Launched this week in Italy its not yet clear if we will see the final model here on Australian roads. Or in this case lounge rooms!
30 years from its launch, the Vespa PX has become a true icon of Italian style and design. Very few classics have achieved what the Vespa PX has achieved. The PX has renewed itself without ever losing its uniqueness.
Instead of changing for the sake of change, the PX has remained rigorously above the dictates of fashion.
In the last 30 years the Vespa PX has been produced in over 40 versions, with engines of 80, 100, 125, 150 and 200 cc. Over a million units have been manufactured and sold all over the world. The PX is the most successful family in the long history of the world’s most famous and best loved scooter.
2007 will finally see the end of Vespa PX production. To celebrate the occasion, Vespa is presenting a truly special, in fact absolutely unique edition, designated the P125X 30 anni “Ultima Serie”. The P125X 30 anni will be produced in only one thousand exclusive and numbered examples.
The identity of this special series is guaranteed by a frame number between ZAPM0930200020001 and ZAPM0930200021000 on a data plate riveted to the glove compartment.
The Vespa P125X 30 anni will be available exclusively in classical white, and will be powered by a characteristic 125 cc single cylinder 2 stroke engine. A spare wheel will be included as standard equipment. A new seat and the return of the original “P125X” logo make this version uniquely exclusive.
Together with their Vespa, those lucky enough to get their hands on a P125X 30 anni will receive a “Meeting Kit” comprising:
chrome plated tubular rear luggage rack
chrome plated wheels
vintage white wall tyres
fly screen
Vespa PX, a true legend.
19th October 1977: Piaggio launched a radically new Vespa with modern styling and the latest, most advanced technology. The model in question was the PX, initially available with a 125cc engine at a launch price of 673,000 Liras (less than 350 Euros). The 125 was soon joined by its bigger sisters, the 150 and 200.
1977 was also the year in which Jimmy Carter moved into the White House, Leonid Brezhnev became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize. The same year Niki Lauda drove his Ferrari to victory in the Formula 1 World Championship, and NASA launched their Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes from Cape Kennedy. Today, those probes are 15 and 13 billion miles from Earth respectively, and have left our solar system to wander through the depths of interstellar space.
Over the last thirty years the Vespa PX has travelled far and wide too, with over three million units produced since it was first launched. This figure includes over one million PX 150s, the most popular model in the history of Vespa.
Still on the road, all over the world
Piaggio commissioned a giant wooden model, over 4 metres in height, to celebrate the launch of the Vespa PX. The model is still on display at the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera. But the Vespa PX’s record-breaking story does not stop here, nor with the amazing sales figures that the PX has registered.
254,000 kilometres is the record distance covered by Giorgio Bettinelli, Italian traveller and author, in four incredible rides around the world on his faithful and completely standard Vespa PX. Bettinelli tells his story in two books entitled “In Vespa”, and more recently “Brum Brum” (both published by Feltrinelli).
Not many people know that back in 1980 two Vespa PX 200s, ridden by M. Simonot and B. Tcherniawsky, completed the second edition of the famous Paris-Dakar race across the African deserts. The French Vespa team was managed by Jean-François Piot and assisted by Henri Pescarolo, four times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Vespa PX is one of the two wheeled vehicles that generates most passion and pleasure of ownership. Very few of us remember what cars were around twenty years ago, but there are still 15,000 Vespa PXs on the road in the USA alone all sold before Piaggio stopped trading in America in 1981, and well before Vespa’s return with a new generation of machines in 2000. These classic Vespas are kept fully efficient and in excellent conditions by a network of “Vintage Vespa Restoration Shops”.
But this is not really surprising, because so many Vespas are still going strong all over the world, living proof of the marque’s legendary robustness and reliability.
The Vespa PX was conceived as a means of primary mass transport. Today it is recognised as the scooter that stands out from the crowd and brings distinction to whoever rides it.
The Vespa PX is a truly “evergreen” vehicle, and a must-have for the large scooter-riding public in search of a classic Vespa with traditional four speed gearbox, handlebar gear shift, and an unmistakable design that never goes out of fashion.
- Test Vespa LX 125 ie 3v 2012
- The Vespa Collection Scooter Style & Noosa Motorcycles
- 2009 Vespa LXV
- 2009 Vespa S 150 – Used 2009 S 150 at Motorcyclist Magazine
- Ride in style with Vespa
