1998 Piaggio Ape

Stored in our Aiken, South Carolina climate-controlled showroom. To see more pictures, video, information, and our full inventory, visit us online at www.carcaveusa.com or call us at (803) 262 4742!

A walk-around video is on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ow55NO7X68.

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Highlights

TM model with 700kg/1543lb payload capacity

Two-stroke brapbrap noises

Unique three-wheel driving experience

Overview

If you can believe it, just a few years before Piaggio launched the Vespa and Ape (Italian for a wasp and bee, respectively), they were producing one of the only long-range bombers that could compete with the American B-17s in WWII. Shortly after ending production of a four-engine, 6,000hp warplane, they debuted a 170-pound, 3.5hp scooter – that iconic Vespa. And not long after, the enclosed Ape debuted to help get Italy’s commerce back in action, with the utilitarian trikes serving as everything from work trucks to mobile fruit stands. The two-stroke powered, three-wheel van quickly became one of the most prolific machines in Italy throughout the midcentury, and eventually expanded into South East Asia and India over time too.

This particular 1998 Piaggio Ape is a TM bodystyle, which were the flat-bed and enclosed carry-all versions with a larger 218cc two-stroke. If you can believe it, the TM can carry around 1,600 pounds of payload, basically the same as a ¾-ton pickup truck. Just think about that.

It drives like a giant moped because, in essence, it is one. Many of the components came from Piaggio’s Vespa, which is still unlike any motorcycle or automobile sold today. The clutch is the left lever, and you shift by rotating the left grip. The right grip is a typical twist-throttle, but your brake pedal is down by your right foot – not your left like in an automobile and not on the right hand grip like on a motorcycle. There isn’t a traditional reverse gear either, you pull a lever on the reverser gear and your three-speed transmission now spins the tires backwards, so you technically could run in reverse at the top of third gear at 25 mph. Wouldn’t recommend it, but you could.

There’s room for two close friends or family members on either side of the driver’s center position. Other than that, the interior is pretty spartan, other than the basic stack of warning lights and a KM/H speedometer.

Dressed in whatever shade of green the Italians had to spray that day, this is just a fun machine for someone who wants a neighborhood run-about or static display. The top speed that we’ve confirmed is 25mph, so you have to have modest expectations about its performance. It’d be great as a mobile food or coffee truck, since it could be trailered to an event and then driven to a vendor space with a full kit in the back.

It’s hard not to love the Ape, as cantankerous as it is to drive.