What the Cosa?

Vespa Cosa (Image via Wikipedia)

As you might guess, I have a lot of Facebook friends with the first name “Vespa.” Yeah, clubs and businesses are supposed to create pages, not profiles, but whatever.

Anyway, the other day I ran across a pic of something that kinda looked like a P-series, but it wasn’t.

It was a Vespa Cosa.

The Vespa Cosa was introduced in 1988 and continued in production until 1995, succeeding the T5 and preceding the ET2/4. This, of course, was during the 2-decade absence of the Vespa brand in the U.S., so any you might see here arrived unofficially.

As you can see, it’s a somewhat more modern take on the P-series; it also boasted some interesting technical features. And underseat storage, though there may not have been a NO PETS label.

The most interesting of those features is a foot brake that acted on both wheels. You know, like most Honda scooters sold today. Those brakes were hydraulic. The front brake featured electronic anti-lock, and could also be operated via cable with a headset-mounted brake lever.

Engines were based on those fitted to earlier PX models, offered in 125, 150, and 200cc versions. The carburetor featured an automatic choke.

There’s a Spanish-language Wikipedia page with a bit more info. There are also Vespa Cosa forums and threads throughout the Interwebs; apparently the Cosa was popular in the U.K. and in South America.

All of a sudden, I want one. Just because.

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