Stories · PX 125 E
The Cinecittà PX
The Vespa bought from the studios in 1997, and the two years spent finding it the right parts.
In 1997 I bought a PX from Cinecittà studios. It was a prop Vespa: before it came to me it had been in several films, parked in a fake street or ridden by an extra.
There was nothing special about it, and that is exactly why I love it. It is a PX like the ones that passed under my window, except someone had picked it to make a scene look real.
Two years looking for parts
Getting it back on the road meant searching for parts across listings, forums, groups and workshops. Every part came with a question: will it really fit mine? The seller said yes; sometimes the part said no.
The same went for Vespas for sale. The photos were all different, the details incomplete, and the only way to know what a scooter was really like was to get on a train.
The problem was never the Vespas. It was the information, scattered and never checked.
Hence, Tunnel Verde
The idea is simple: one place to buy, sell and find parts knowing what you are looking at. The same twenty photos for every listing, a level of verification chosen by the seller, and parts found on the drawing of your own model.
My PX is still in the garage. The first part I put in the catalogue was its mudguard.
3 comments
Mine came from a set too, a TV series shot near Lake Garda. It still had the production sticker under the seat.
Keep that sticker. One day we will write a piece on film Vespas.
I have taken the train to see a Vespa three times. The same twenty photos every time is a good idea.
From abroad this matters even more. I cannot fly to Rome to check a frame stamp.
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