Vespa – 1957 Letters

Vespa Scooters in Israel 1957

However the most popular type of transportation is the light motorcycle and motor scooter which is Israeli produced and called a Vespa. It gets about 100 miles to a gallon & 2 seats.

July 23, 1957 - Night

David's Comments

WAS THE VESPA SCOOTER ACTUALLY PRODUCED IN ISRAEL AS MY FATHER STATED IN HIS LETTER?

Vespa factory in Tzfat, Israel

Transporting Vespas arriving from Italy
to Tzfat factory for final assembly

Readying the Vespas for market

Vespa Tzfat factory closes

Could my father have been wrong?

I then began my research as to whether or not the Vespa was actually produced in Israel in 1957. The first thing I did was look up Vespa on the web. It shows Vespa as an Italian company that started producing motor scooters in 1946. I continued with my research, and found out that in the 1950’s , 1960, and 1970’s, Vespa's production facilities outside Italy were located in the following countries: India, Indonesia, Denmark, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Spain and the Soviet Union. Still no sign that Vespa ever had a production plant in Israel. Could my father be wrong? Can he have written something in his letters to his parents that was false? Even unintentionally?

I was confused; where would I go from here?

I contemplated while doing this project, leaving out the part of the letter where my father mentioned the Vespa. That way, I would not have to find an explanation as to why my dad wrote something that wasn't true - that the Vespa was produced in Israel, when in fact, they never had a production plant in Israel. But I tried to be like my dad, and did not give up. After doing more research, I googled "Vespa Israel", which took me to the "Vespa Club Israel" website. The site showed some great pictures of Vespas in Israel, including models from the 1950’s. I still did not see anything about Vespa having a factory in Israel. I then noticed a phone number on the Vespa club website – it was the number Oren Reznik, who headed the "Vespa Club".

Oren's clarification

“In 1956 there was an assembly factory in Tzefat that built 500 Vespa’s. It came in a kit. Some parts were made here like the tires, seats, rubber parts and small engine parts. The color scheme was different then the European Vespas. “
The "Kaizer Fraizer" (Vespa assembly plant in Israel) factory closed in 1961. The news article states that the closure was due to a dispute between the factory and the Israeli government regarding import licensing of certain Vespa parts from Italy. Oren added that it was also due to the Arab boycott of Israel which blacklisted companies who had production plants in Israel.

1957 vs today

In 1957, In the 1950’s, in the young State of Israel, people were proud to produce and purchase Israel-made products like the Vespa.

Today, To our knowledge, no motorcycles, mini bikes or scooters are manufactured or even assembled in Israel. Unfortunately, the concept of creating jobs in Israel and buying blue and white has become of secondary importance.

LINKS:
Video of 1957 Vespas in Israel: https://vimeo.com/446224462
The Israel Vespa Club: