A step back in time

[WildWilly]

If you ever find yourself in Sabula, Iowa, this is a must visit stop. Bombfire Pizza is pizza done right. Wood fired oven and a 60s atmosphere. The van is permanently parked in front of the place.

[notacop]

Oh, man. I remember when those were popular. Too hip!

[magil]

Where's The Grateful Dead decals?

[guidoveloce]

The van is permanently parked

of course, it has been cut and shortened. I don't think it can go anywhere.

[WildWilly]

Where's The Grateful Dead decals?

In the bathroom above the urinal. Seriously.

[guidoveloce]

[notacop]

Guido, those shortened busses were all the rage for a while. Some got big Chevy engines stuffed in the space and the super wide drag tires were installed.

[guidoveloce]

but I can't believe they can run... it's against any law of physics.

[notacop]

Bumblebees can't fly either according to science but they do.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/volkswagenshortbus/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwAXZ2mXQlQ
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stilla...7622953901842/

The internet doesn't lie.....maybe?

[guidoveloce]

incredible!
those busses have a wheelbase shorter than the Ape Calessino

[Richard230]

incredible!
those busses have a wheelbase shorter than the Ape Calessino

And probably about as stable.

[notacop]

It's a cool surfer thing. No one ever thought about stability. It's the looks, man!

[guidoveloce]

The Piaggio Ape is the most cheap commercial vehicle in Italy. at the first time it was produced with a two stroke 50 cc engine, the same engine of the Vespa with three gears, then, in the last models the engine grown to 600 cc. (now the biggest model has a four stroke engine of about 400 cc) apparently its has not stability at all, but in fact it is one of the most stable little commercial vehicle on the market. here, in Sicily you can find a lot of Ape Calessino, they are used as Taxi in some touristic towns, or for the tour of the historic center of some cities. Piaggio still produces the commercial models of the Ape, the Calessino (which name means "little caleche" in english) version costs about 6,000 €... not really cheap, but it looks like an exclusive vehicle.

this is the commercial, basic version of the Ape 50:




p.s. Ape means "bee" and Vespa "wasp". the name Vespa should have been used for the first bike produced by the MV Agusta (Vespa 98), but this name was already registered as a trademark, so the first MV was simply called 98.
for those who didn't know it, MV are the initials of Meccanica Verghera, for the name of the place where the count Agusta (a count from Palermo who already produced aircraft parts near Milan during the first world war) made his factory to produce motorcycles.