One of the rarest, strangest and most popular Vespa scooters of all time is on sale for about half the price it normally sells for.
Created specifically for the French Special Forces and French Foreign Legion paratroopers who fought in the Second Indochina War in the 1950s, the Vespa TAP (‘Air Transport Unit’) was armed with a massive M20 75mm light anti-armor gun. It was designed to be dropped into a theater of war. Parachuted on a pallet, protected by hay bales, fully assembled and ready for action.
The Vespa TAP is therefore a powerful and maneuverable weapon, as the integrated M20 recoilless rifle was designed as an anti-tank weapon in late World War II and uses a HEAT (shaped charge high-explosive anti-tank) warhead. Provided advanced weapon systems. It was capable of penetrating 100 mm (just under 4 inches) of armor up to 7,000 yards (6.4 km) away.
In the late 1950s, French Vespa licensee ACMA (Motorcycle and Automobile Construction Atelier) produced 500 military Vespas with integrated M20 recoilless rifles in two production runs, in 1956 and 1959. (possibly more) produced.
The Vespa’s then regular 125 cc engine was enlarged to 150 cc to support the extra weight of two paratroopers, trailers, ammunition, and rack mounts, making it suitable for regular off-road use. The frame has been strengthened and the gearing has also been strengthened. At reduced speeds, top speed is just 40 mph (64 km/h).
Ironically, the Vespa TAP was never actually used in Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. Because by the time the Vespa TAP was designed, tested, and exposed to three-way firefights with other competing motorcycles to meet the demands of the French military, Vietnam had been defeated and the French army was defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. were expelled from Indochina.
This was somewhat fortuitous, since the new Soviet T-34 tanks acquired by Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh were not immune to the M20 recoilless rifle, and the Vespa TAP would not have worked well in the Vietnamese jungles.
Immediately after World War II, France had no shortage of wars to fight as it sought to rebuild its empire. The military Vespa soon saw action in the war of colonial liberation that Algeria was fighting, and its original design parameters proved incredibly useful. Although it could not defeat the Russian T-34, Algeria returned to the days when it could be used as a tank buster since the T-34 did not exist.
In Algeria, the French military used the Vespa TAP as a tank hunter and operated two lethal scooters. One was loaded with an M20 and six rounds of ammunition, and the other scooter was loaded with an additional 10 rounds, but no gun.
Each round of M20 ammunition weighs approximately 10 mm because it fires a variety of 75 mm rounds: High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT), High-Emissive (HE), High-Explosive Shell Plastic/Plasticized (HEP), and White Phosphorus (WP). It was kilo. ).
The maneuverability of such a deadly system proved to be a game-changer, as two soldiers were able to wrestle the ungainly seven-foot-long M20 into a tripod position. In Algeria, it also flourished as infantry support, particularly useful in destroying enemy trenches, pillboxes, and bunkers. Algeria ultimately won, but the Vespa TAP acquitted itself on the battlefield.
Remarkably, the quirky Vespa TAP is now so rare and so sought after that its auction price approaches the exorbitant.
The world record price for a Vespa was achieved in 2017 when Catawiki sold the Vespa ridden by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in the 1953 film Roman Holiday for 191,000 euros ($195,750). Ta. Apart from the Vespa 150 TAP, the only Vespa to have sold to the public for more than $40,000 was used in the 1979 film Quadrophenia, which sold for $47,174 (£36,000).
More than 500 were originally manufactured, but only a few Vespa TAPs survive, as military vehicles were almost completely destroyed in defeats overseas.
The image above is a Vespa TAP sold at Objetmarcant.com. Previous sales information is difficult to find, but TAP has never been sold for less than $40,000 USD. Most prices are close to $50,000 USD. Marc-Antoine from Objetmarcant.com is selling his Vespa TAP for €25,000 (US$27,400). The M20 recoilless rifle, or without it, costs 22,000 euros (24,00 USD).
Marc-Antoine Marquent said of TAP: “I think it would probably be more convenient for everyone to proceed with the sale without the gun, as we anticipate that the M20 could cause some troublesome export problems.” Ta.
Finally, the Vespa TAP was very unusual. Even though I’ve been writing about, hanging out with, and doing silly things with motorcycles all my life, I had never heard of the Vespa TAP until I stumbled upon it one day at the Vespa Museum in Australia. The lead image of this article was taken and I was able to take some good photos of the perfectly restored example.
Source: Objetmarcant.com
Marc-Antoine can be reached via Instagram
