Correos de Espana, Moto Vespa Primavera (1980)
Owner: Lee Sparkes
Area: Surrey, South East.
Name of Scooter: Spanish Post Office
Scooter Make: Vespa
Scooter Model: Primavera NK (125cc) with indicators
Engine Specifications:
Standard primavera engine with pk Femsa ignition for reliability and extra power for lights and indicators . These engines and frames have there own engine and frame number . Both starting with 71c and 71m . Only built for the Spanish post office.
How Long Have You Owned This Scooter?
5 years
How Long have you been Scootering?
35 years
How did you acquire your scooter?
Mate had it in his garage for 10 years . Didn’t know what it was so left it sitting there.
How do you typically use your scooter?
Shows Only
What are some of the unique features of your scooter?
All of it . You won’t see another or probably not seen one before.
Any plans for your scooter in the future?
Only to let as many people see it and learn from it.
Are you active in the scooter community?
Yes
How did you get into scooters?
Got a v90 at 14 years old and was hooked ever since
What is your fondest memory of riding your scooter?
Riding with mates.
Too many good time to pick one.
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of owning a scooter?
Finding decent parts that fit .
What are some of the most mistakes you/people make when restoring scooters?
Not going with your gut feelings .
Never add up the cost because you do it because you love doing it . It’s never about the money really as it has to be right and that cost money.
What specific advice would you give to someone who is considering restoring a vintage scooter?
Take your time to research what you want to achieve before you start any restoration.
Make sure it’s achievable realistically.
Take your time . This took me 5 years non stop.
Where have you found the best resources for vintage scooter parts and information?
Internet. And asking on scooter groups.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of owning a scooter?
The people and the scooter scene .
What are some of the things you hope to see happen with scootering?
More younger people joining scootering
What do you most enjoy about your scooter?
Building them and riding them
What are some of the best places to ride a vintage scooter?
On a rd
How do you see as the future going with regards to scooters?
It’s not looking good for the 2 stroke ones
One of only four known in existence, this Spanish Vespa Primavera came out of the MotoVespa factory and was fitted with a 50 Special type headset as standard for to Spanish Post Office. It was produced and design specifically for the Spanish Postal Service and was upgraded to also feature direction indicators.
Lee spent a lots of time searching Spanish junk yards and trawling websites for parts exclusive to this model. He finally finished the scooter in April, it’s public debut was at Scooter Expo 2023 earlier this year where Robert Mee kindly took these photos.
I managed to contact Lee and he has kindly filled in our questionare, really nice of him to go into so much detail.
When asked about People or Parts (Special Mentions) Lee expalined:
“I couldn’t have done it without the help of a few special people. I sent over 60 emails to every club .shop . And person that I found in Spain that had anything to do with scooters .
I then found Dan Horrell of vespa classics in Spain. Dan being an English lad has many connections in Spain. I was finding the parts in Spain and Dan was buying them all getting them shipped to him then once we had a few boxes he would send it all over. This went on for around 3 years to get all the original pieces. It was very hard work . I’ve never even met Dan and he went above and beyond in all areas to help get this done”.
And that’s just the parts???
Paint Next:
“Long story short it was all painted by a reputable painter that had put a new floor on it on when I collected it I nearly cried . It was absolutely appalling. It had more runs than a London marathon and more air bubbles than an aero bar. . I got it home and had it sand blasted straight away as I couldn’t look at it after years of hard work by a lot of people, the floor that was put on was dangerous. I nearly gave up at this point”.
So I got in contact with a friend Craig Lilly who’s known to be very good(OCD)”.
“OCD was perfect for me”.
“Craig took the scooter got the pain match to an original part I had in original paint, sorted it all out and painted the scooter. Getting the decals and strips in the right place and right size was hard but he got there with the help from Russell Lowe(Genius with graphics). As you can see his work and results are mind blowing it’s now right and well worth the wait. A lot of credit to Craig on this one. Kelvin, Craig’s pal for installing the leg shield trim perfectly as factory. ‘H’ for building the engine although I drove him mad about every nut and washer had to be correct in size and colour, so much so, I had a lot of the original nuts and bolts re plated to be as ‘new’ as possibly possible”.
“The gear change for it was one of the hardest parts to find as it has a pk indicator switch on it and as we know 50 special headset don’t have one so. After 2 years of searching I found one that belonged to a scooter shop in Spain . 2 years of negotiations he decided to sell it to me for £170 . Yes that’s right £170 for a 50 special gear change plus postage was nearly £200 yes I’m mad but where else you going to get one from . It was also in original paint so a win win for me but an expensive win. I asked so many people questions as at first I/we didn’t even know what scooter it was”.
A primmy with indicators ?
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