As we get ready to welcome the special edition GTV and Primavera to our showroom, we decided to look at the story behind 2025’s most exciting Vespa.
The end of World War Two found Italy’s industries shattered. Companies such as Piaggio, with its expertise in shipbuilding and aeronautics, had been specifically targeted as part of the Allies strategic bombing campaign. With peace, came the need to rebuild, and to do this meant targeting markets that had not previously been considered.
At Piaggio’s Pontedera plant, a special team was established to create a solution to the country’s need for affordable, reliable transport. It comprised designers, draftsmen, mechanics, master metalworkers and test riders who all worked as ateam to achieve this vision. Each of them was specially chosen, all were highly-skilled professionals and many of them had come from the aeronautical industry. They were officially known as the ‘Officina Sperimentale', but to their colleagues they were referred to as ‘Officina 8’, after the office they occupied.
The office of dreams
This office was where new ideas first came to life: the workshop saw the design and subsequent prototyping of the first Vespa, preparing the factory for mass production and modifying machines to use in racing and breaking records. Incredibly, everything from designing the templates required to cut body panels to sand casting for experimental engines was created in-house. Once a prototype had been built it would be handed over to road testers, who covered tens of thousands of kilometres on these bikes before deciding which innovations should be put into production. It’s fair to say that Officina 8 is where the Vespa legend was born.
By 1947 the team moved to larger premises on the site and were granted use of the very latest in industrial machinery. Even this wasn’t enough to contain their aspirations and in 1952 the team relocated to a nearby racetrack where they could continue their arduous testing regime. Access to the team’s offices and workshops was tightly controlled, but if their working conditions were secret, their results would become world famous. It was from the imagination of the Officina 8 technicians that the Siluro Vespa 125, which set 17 world speed and endurance records in 1950, and a flying kilometre record of 171.102kmh in 1951 would emerge. Other machines, many of which can be found in the Piaggio Foundation’s Museum, such as the legendary ‘98 Corsa,’ and the scooters that dominated the arduous Six Days International Trail of 1951 are just a few of the masterpieces created in Officina 8.
Blue is the colour
To foster a sense of camaraderie and ensure that these artisans were recognised within the factory, members of the Officina 8 team were allowed to wear a blue and brass pin with the words ‘Piaggio 8’, on their work overalls. It's those overalls, and the spirit of Officina 8 that has inspired the latest special editions we’re so excited to showcase.
Finished in matte blue, the special editions are accompanied by an exclusive booklet that will be presented to every owner of the edition, whether that’s a 50 or 125cc Primavera or 310cc GTV. In this booklet, bound in the style of a draughtsman’s folio, the Officina 8 story is set out in detail and this, together with the edition’s unique trim and a dedicated range of clothing makes Officina 8 one of the most emotive special editions ever to emerge from Pontedera. With prices starting at £5105 it’s also one not to be missed.
For more information, or to reserve your own Officina 8 machine, call our sales team on 01226 203377.
