1959/60 Vespa 400

In Spring of 2018 I was on Craigslist in Houston and found some of the rarest micro-cars ever made. Vespa licensed cars to be made by ACMA in France for three years. 26,000 were ever made and only 1,000 were ever imported to the United States. I was incredibly fortunate to find these with original glass, headlamps and almost all of the original exterior components. The engines are rusted solid and the floor pans are swiss-cheesed. One of these was owned by an Air Force officer and used to get around the base, which is evidenced by the Texas license plate. It’s nice to keep it in the Air Force family.

tiny car; big style

The frames are in good condition overall, with the rust existing pretty much anywhere that water could pool. The floor pans and the bottoms of a couple frame supports will need metal work. The cars have lots of chrome as well, which will need to be redone entirely.

one for gas, one for electric conversion

My hope is to be able to cobble one engine together from between the two, but in the event that I can’t, I’ll drop in a larger motorcycle engine. The other I’ll convert into an electric car for short trips around town. I’ll more than likely find a commercial kit to use for this.

Tiny house & Tiny Car

This is a secondary project to the school bus, but one I’m excited to complete because it will complement the bus so well.