The Cushman* Vespa VNB seen here is not your average scooter. The owner commissioned this highly customized vision as a nod to her love of horse riding and Western culture and also as a tribute to her own horse. With every piece of visible rubber on the chassis, apart from the tires and side cowl gaskets replaced with custom tooled leather, and all brightware engraved and tooled with ornate Western-inspired scroll-work, this over-the-top custom has already been awarded several trophies including “Best Custom” at San Francisco Classic 2014 and “Best In Show” at the Las Vegas High Rollers Weekender.

* The base scooter for this custom is very special in and of itself. In the late 1950s, the veteran American scooter company, Cushman, was starting to lose considerable market-share to the influx of European-built scooters with the latter’s sophisticated engineering, performance and style. After a few attempts at more Euro-inspired styling with models like the Pacemaker and the Road King, Cushman executives decided to “join ‘em if you can’t beat ‘em” and so entered into a deal with Piaggio that would allow them to import Vespa models from Italy, adding their own Cusman badging along with the Vespa badges. These models were sold in Cushman dealerships alongside Cushman’s Nebraska-built models. However, with both the Sears Allstate Vespas as well as Piaggio’s own Vespa-branded distribution network already being well established for some time, the venture was short-lived and Cushman-Vespas were only produced for one year. Being a very rare and very “American” piece of scootering history, this model makes the perfect base for an American Western theme.

1961 Cushman* Vespa VNB

(Custom Western Theme Bike)