Vespa Mod Machine --- Mirrors, Chrome, Lights , Union Jacks & Fox Tail.....

Many mods used motorscooters for transportation, usually Vespas or Lambrettas. Scooters had provided inexpensive transportation for decades before the development of the mod subculture, but the mods stood out in the way that they treated the vehicle as a fashion accessory. Italian motorscooter were preferred, due to their cleanlined, curving shapes and gleaming chrome. For young mods, Italian scooters were the "embodiment of continental style and a way to escape the working-class row houses of their upbringing". They customized their scooters by painting them in "two-tone and candyflake and overaccessorized [them] with luggage racks, crash bars, and scores of mirrors and fog lights"and they often put their names on the small windscreen. Engine side panels and front bumpers were taken to local electroplating workshops and recovered in highly reflective chrome.

Scooters were also a practical and accessible form of transportation for 1960s teens. In the early 1960s, public transport stopped relatively early in the night, and so having scooters allowed mods to stay out all night at dance clubs. To keep their expensive suits clean and keep warm while riding, mods often wore long army parkas. For teens with low-end jobs, scooters were cheaper than cars, and they could be bought on a payment plan through newly-available Hire purchase plans. After a law was passed requiring at least one mirror be attached to every motorcycle, mods were known to add four, ten, or as many as 30 mirrors to their scooters. The cover of The Who's album Quadrophenia, (which includes themes related to mods and rockers), depicts a young man on a scooter with four mirrors attached.

After the seaside resort brawls, the media began to associate Italian scooters with the image of violent mods. When groups of mods rode their scooters together, the media began to view it as a "menacing symbol of group solidarity" that was "converted into a weapon". With events like the November 6, 1966, "scooter charge" on Buckingham Palace, the scooter, along with the mods' short hair and suits, began to be seen as a symbol of subversion. After the 1964 beach riots, hard mods (who later evolved into the skinheads) began riding scooters more for practical reasons. Their scooters were either unmodified or cut down, which was nicknamed a "skelly".Lambrettas were cutdown to the bare frame, and the unibody (monocoque)-design Vespas had their body panels slimmed down or reshaped.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Vespa
• Lambretta
• Mods

[Bevoin1970]

When I was a kid I always remember my dad would tut tut and say "how can he use all those mirrors" ha ha.. happy days !

[SOULXCHANGE]

That is an SXC machine ! Soul X Change.

[shit3323]

why are u wearing that fckin gay helmet

[alanbstard4]

ditch the full face helmet

[bodean2000]

@smujer95 Trust me dick breath I understand just fine but I also know a pile of shit when I see it so go fuck yourself you gay ass lil punk.

[smujer95]

@bodean2000 shut the fuck up you dont understand wat scooters and mods are all about

[smujer95]

did you get some one to wire ur lights for u and wat length are ur mirror stems

[smujer95]

it ace that bike im only 16 but i had a lambretta j50 duluxe but i want a vespa px 125 but mod it like urs

[Jesscabisstt]

@bodean2000

so what