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Ape in the fog


groovylee

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Hi everyone.

 

last weekend, i did embark upon a mercy mission.  "a friend of a friend has a *thing, and said thing wasn't working, would i mind taking a look at it?"

 

god i love non motoring type people.

 

further questioning revealed that it has a gear stick, handlebars, and a terminal case of FTP. oh, and it's grey.

 

*helpful.

 

so, following a heavy night on the ale for a friends 40th, i did load up the ranger of much awesomeness with ALL the tools, and made my way over to the *thing.

 

more to follow, figuring out pics.....

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After arrival at the offending driveway, the *thing did turn up.

 

post-19546-0-27899100-1551273450_thumb.jpg

 

turns out it is a Piaggio Ape.  not a bad looking little thing really. we chucked it off the trailer, and set to looking at its undercarriage.

 

post-19546-0-02820200-1551273578_thumb.jpg

 

no matter how hard we tried, it just wouldn't fire. so, off with the airbox, and liberal use of brake cleaner had it firing!

 

ok, so fuel then.....

 

post-19546-0-76040000-1551273668_thumb.jpg 

 

tank off.

 

post-19546-0-40713200-1551273685_thumb.jpg

 

some form of yeti piss came out of the tank....  complete with hair ??  oh, and this

 

post-19546-0-94484000-1551273613_thumb.jpg

 

anyone care to guess what that was once?

 

 

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we eventually got it running with new fuel, too much 2 stoke, and a LOT of fettling gear cables and throttle cable.

 

i did get a vid of it running, but not sure how to do that here at work, so it'll have to wait.

 

not all that interesting really, but i know some of you out there like these sorts of things :-)

 

cheers,

Lee

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oops, it appears to be an aussie model lol

 

yeah, it was interesting trying to figure out the gears - you have a gearstick for forwards/reverse, and then the clutch lever on the left handlebar as per motorbikes, but you then rotated the left bar to change gear.  proper confusing.  i only managed 1st or maybe 3rd? not sure how many gears it had.

 

anything over walking pace on the pavement was terrifying  :shock:  I felt like a full on giant in the cab lol

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Just come back from Italy and I can confirm that Apes are still being used for proper work! It is THE LAW to recycle and at least two of the local hotels use pick up versions to run down to the recycling centre with flat cardboard boxes etc in the back of them. The smell of two stroke fumes in the mountain air was special.

 

You know those Chinese versions of the Daihatsu/Piaggio Hijets, the ones with the BMW grills? Well they're taking over, badged as 'Victorias' often in 4x4 flavour, with Italian built tipping tippers (although Piaggio also make a 4x4 pick up, the Porter, as well).

 

Victoria

 

post-3405-0-95889300-1551296278_thumb.jpg

 

Piaggio

 

post-3405-0-15089400-1551296265_thumb.jpg

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A few years ago, heading north on the A15, just past Caenby Corner, the traffic slowed and the 'rolling roadblock' was 3 Apes. All Italian registered and covered in stickers, flags, streamers etc... My turn came to pass them and as I did, I got a load of horn honking and waving, as I was in the Fiat 126 at the time. I joined in the horn honking too. As you would. :-D :-D

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Bit like a Cannon Ball run, or mission of mercy...

 

 What are parts like to get hold of ??

 

 How do they get through emissions ?

Being three wheeled they would come under motorbike MoT regs wouldn’t they? eBay Italy is full of bits for them and I have a friend in Naples who can help out with translations etc.
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