In 1945, two of Piaggio’s design engineers, Vittorio Casini and Renzo Spolti, produced a scooter based on a small motorcycle being built at the Biella plant. They had taken an earlier scooter design, designed by Vittorio Belmondo in the late 1930s, and built on the basic idea. What they produced was an ungainly contraption, nicknamed Paparino, the Italian derivative of Donald Duck, which mockingly reflected its odd, ducklike shape. Piaggio himself described it as “a horrible-looking thing,” and it was soundly ridiculed by the press and public. This was the prototype to the Vespa and never actually saw production...
The following is a photo of the 1940 Simat, Progetto Pietro Frua Torino. I can't find any information on this bike that's not in Italian. Except this bike was the insperation for the Prototype Piaggio Paparino...
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