Saluti da MIami...

[Miami]

Ciao,

Sono un Lambrettista a Miami da 17 anni. Ieri ho comprato quest'ape in un mercatino a Fort Lauderdale, secondo il numero telaio e' un ape 4 del 57''... ovviamente e' stata verniciata ma volevo chiedere a voi esperti come posso capire se e' uscita dalla fabbrica con la panchina passeggeri oppure come un ape con il cassone. I figli del proprietario mi hanno detto che e' stata importata negli USA tramite la California da un'isola tropicale cosi' com'e' (vendevono yatch) piu' di 30 anni fa e' che la usavano fino 3 anni fa, oltre quello non sanno niente.

grazie
Alex

[olandese volante]

hi, make a picture of the frame number.
it looks like a home modified ape
to understand more about this machine make a picture of the right hand side .
another thing to do is check the engine number .........in the usa i doubt there was a lot of engine switching going on .

[Miami]

Thank you for your reply! Here are pics of the engine and frame number, it's not near me right now so I don't know the engine number offhand.

Rgds
Alex

[olandese volante]

looking at the pics i have little doubt its an ac1 , its home modified and not just the rear seating but nearly everywhere.
it seems to have been a closed version and then it was modified to a free form calessino .
its been modified everywhere but seems in pretty unrusted condition .
the big question is of course what to do with it but that is up to you.
i would try to find the previous owners ( preferably the early owners.....)
ken may know some more about the story of these american api .

[Miami]

Thank you, can you show me a link showing pics for an original calessino aC1? That way I can compare it to this one.

It has no rust and starts and runs well, I'm only missing the cylinder shroud, you know where I can find one?

Thanks
Alex

[olandese volante]

on this site go to the section telai and look around , a cooling schroud should be findable .
ask ken how to go about with this , he knows the italian-american way and knows half the world.
he might know some one having one ......
sometimes you find the weirdest things on ebay usa ....
put in an ad in the 'cerco /wanted section'
to get aquinted with api have a look in the restauration section ( il mio ape di luksenior)
there you learn that anything can be done ..............

[SYBARIS]

It´s obviously a french-market Ape Van (furgone (it) / fourgonette (fr)).
You can tell that it´s french by the headlight which in this hight (compared to the fender light) was mandatory in france back in the days.
You can tell that it used to be a van by the shape of the box - or what´s left of it...
It´s a sin, they turned it into a fake Callessino. Here is a picture of what it used to look like: http://www.boyscootshop.com/blog/2011/1 ... -a-vendre/ . It´s really hard to get one of those boxes in a condition that´s worth restoring and as far as I know there are no reproductions available (sometimes you can find wooden versions but not the metal one).
Anyway if you would like to rebuild your Ape as a Calessino, you might want to buy a complete back-part in indonesia for a fair price: http://www.scooter99.com/content/calessino-kit-1 . I´ve recently restored an original box (Ape AD1) which looked really good when I bought it but it turned out to be a hard piece of work to restore when I saw the actual condition after sand-blasting. The problem are all the notches and curvatures in the body. Nevertheless: An Ape is always worth the effort Good luck with the restoration!

[olandese volante]

nothing french about it, cnadian api and american api originally had to have this type of headlight.
the germans needed a double one and here the headlight glass was illegal when there was no nl approval in it.

rebuilding your machine as a calessino is silly as it just is no calessino but a van .
a van body can be found like the calessino bodies.
the best replicas are made in macerata .

contact piaggio to see how your ape was originally delivered .( when you want to know)

as far as i can see your ape does not really need a restoration and is an all exclusive american one off.
do what needs to be done and have fun with it !
if you would be living here i would trade you my ac3 for your box converted calessino because its ready for fun ..

[Miami]

Thank you for your replies! I agree with the Olandese, i'm not looking to put it in a museum but just something to enjoy. The reason I asked is the shop i purchased it from said they had already contacted Piaggio (for a $50 fee?) and they told them it left the factory as a calessino... as many of you do, i have my doubts, I just want to be informed as to what it really is in case I ever sell it.

I've already looked on various ebays, usa, italy, uk etc for the shroud, will keep looking in here also.

Rgds,
alex

[kjjohnson]

Shall I wade in the pond? First, go to my website and look in the 'Ape USA' file - http://www.kjjohnson.ca/piaggio/picture ... rrentPic=3 - To find out exactly how it was produced Sr. Lari Fiorenzo at Piaggio will send you documentation from Archives for a fee. Tell him 'Ken in Canada sent you'. All the early Ape's brought into the USA had the French style headlight and I originally thought when I found one that they were ACMA versions from France. Things being the way they have been around our house I've not done enough website changes so you better look in the ACMA file as well, there are USA models in there that I haven't transferred - http://www.kjjohnson.ca/piaggio/picture ... entPic=205 - with a photo of yours incorrectly titled as an ACMA (must change that). Here's a Depliant originally from a Portland, Oregon, USA dealer. - Ken

Devo guadare nello stagno? In primo luogo, andare al mio sito e cercare nel file 'Ape USA' -% http://www.kjjohnson.ca/piaggio/pictures/VESPA 20APE% 20USA / directory = & currentPic = 3 -. Per scoprire esattamente [/ b] come è stato realizzato Sr. Lari Fiorenzo a Piaggio ti invierà la documentazione da archivi a pagamento. Digli che 'Ken in Canada ti ha mandato'. Tutto il primo Ape è portato in USA ha avuto il faro in stile francese e ho inizialmente pensato quando ho trovato uno che si trattava di versioni ACMA dalla Francia. Cose che sono il modo in cui sono stati intorno alla nostra casa io non ho fatto modifiche al sito web abbastanza quindi è meglio cercare nel file ACMA pure, ci sono i modelli USA: in là che non mi hanno trasferito - http://www.kjjohnson. ? ca / Piaggio / pictures / Acma% 20France% 20Vespa / directory = & currentPic = 205 -. con una tua foto erroneamente intitolata come ACMA (deve cambiare la situazione). Ecco un Depliant originario di Portland, Oregon, USA rivenditore. - Ken

[Miami]

Hi Ken! Wow, where did that pic of my ape come from? I'll contact Lari and post his reply here. I'm sure they had to move the headlights up since the fender-mounted ones didn't meet dot regs back then. Thanks also for the links, I'll go take a look.... btw you have any leads on a cylinder shroud for it?

Rgds,
Alex

[michelino]

......................... ammappala quanto SONO ignorante............

nughecapiscuinbelin................

[Miami]

haha Michelino, dubito molto l'ignoranza e per il

Alex

[michelino]

ho una cara amica dalle tue parti... Jessica......... very nice girl......

mm

[kjjohnson]

Not yet for the cylinder shroud, just finished supper! I work on P501/P601's (more modern Ape's), best to try on MondoApe where lots of the guys work on 'real Ape's'. Here's where your Ape photo was posted a number of years ago when I first got a computer - http://www.apevintage.com/inviate.htm - Now, being a detective here's the link to the ApeVintage Registry ( you'll find me in there) - http://www.apevintage.com/cgi-bin/vista.pl - and you start searching through the USA owners and see if you can make contact. This Registry thing was a dumb idea, they'd been hacked so bad they were shut down for a long time, surprised I could still find the list. You might look through the 'Ape C' photo file on my website, some good photos of the furgone. My best suggestion is just clean it up and enjoy it for now. - Ken

Non ancora per il cilindro sudario, appena finito di cenare! Io lavoro su P501/P601 's (più moderno di Ape), meglio provare MondoApe dove molti i ragazzi lavorare sul' reale di Ape '. Qui è dove la tua foto Ape è stato pubblicato un certo numero di anni fa, quando ho avuto un computer - http://www.apevintage.com/inviate.htm - Ora, essendo un detective ecco il link al Registro ApeVintage (troverete me in là) - http://www.apevintage.com/cgi-bin/vista.pl - e si avvia la ricerca attraverso i proprietari USA e vedere se si può entrare in contatto. Questa cosa del Registro di sistema è stata un'idea stupida, che era stato violato così male che sono state chiuse per lungo tempo, sorpresa ho potuto ancora trovare la lista. Si potrebbe guardare attraverso il file della foto 'Ape C' sul mio sito, alcune buone foto del furgone. Il mio suggerimento migliore è solo pulirlo e godere per ora. - Ken

MY RECOLLECTION IS THAT YOURS WAS USED AT A HOTEL IN WESTERN USA - KEN