Vino Van - Piaggio Ape Beverage Wagon

About this Piaggio Ape

Where to even begin. Before we started importing these vintage Piaggio Apes ourselves we were at the mercy of seemingly the only importer in the US. To not venture too far into that we will just say that we are VERY happy to be sourcing and importing them ourselves now. This Ape came from that importer and came WRECKED. Not wrecked in the sense that it was hit by a car but wrecked as in the motor was basically seized up, the whole thing was rusted and falling apart, all the tires were cracked, the seats were crumbling, the floor was missing, the doors were caved in…honestly I think I would have preferred one that was just hit by a car instead.

This restoration was intense. Fast forward -> There was a very eager young gentleman by the name of Cameron who wanted to be a part of Silverside Design. He hailed from the paint and body industry and was employed by a company that specialized in the repair of super cars(I.e. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Rolls Royces, Aston Martins..you get the picture). I fired the last painter that worked for me and was being forced to outsource paint and body so this seemed like a good opportunity for both Cameron and I. I decided to give him a test. Come to the Silverside Design shop after hours and not only restore this piece of garbage Piaggio Ape, but make it the best looking Piaggio that Silverside Design has ever released. I gave him a pretty strict deadline on the finishing of this project too. I needed to design, fabricate and finish all the remaining components and I work fast. He had to beat me.

Well if you’re looking us up on Instagram (click here for our IG), you’ll probably notice the company is now titled “Jazzy Jeff & Killer Cam”. Cameron completely blew my mind. Hell, this Piaggio is now probably the strongest, most resilient one on the market with how much new, and thicker, metal we had to put back on this bad boy. While I don’t really post many “before” photos, I’ve dropped one below for everyone’s viewing enjoyment.

This engine was completely torn down and every.single.mother fatherin piece was replaced. I’m talking piston, gaskets, plugs, wires, rings, etc. We decided with the heart of this vintage Piaggio Ape being brand new..we needed to give it a paint job that reflected its inside..free of charge ;)