Is that a cannon in your Vespa or are you just happy to see me?
This scooter looks terribly exciting, till you learn that it needs Viagra. Sure, this Vespa Acma packs a badass barrel, but it was designed for transporting the cannons, not blasting other motorists. We wonder what the little 145cc engine would do when faced with the recoil, as well.
We'll admit that our French isn't what it once was, but the gist we took away from some research was that ACMA was a licensed assembler of Vespas in France and it was used by French Paratroopers in the late 1950s. The intimidation factor of puttering around on an "armed" Vespa would be fun. We're not sure how these looked on the battlefield though. We can't imagine that it'd be intimidating to see the troops roll in with olive drab Vespas. Even if they had a mortar barrel and shells on it, we think you'd surrender to laughter first. Apparently, though, these things were like the all-purpose little scooter that could. They even dropped them out of planes with parachutes. Still, it all smacks of something out of Monty Python to us, no matter how lethal. We also wonder if the riding posture is um, erect.
[Source: Hemmings]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yogurt 8:17PM (12/16/2006)
That's a 75mm **recoilless** rifle, so it's not a problem.
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Car videos & Motorcycle videos 8:42PM (12/16/2006)
Well you can tell the ladies you have a Cannon between your legs. :)
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Alex 9:01PM (12/16/2006)
First, no problem with parking because it being a small bike, but also have the canon helps. Someone cuts you off? Problem solved!
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andrew 9:45PM (12/16/2006)
wow, I first thought it was a crazy guy who wanted to combine his potato cannon and vespa... talk about shitty engineering, I could've made that.
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The Hanged Man 11:52PM (12/16/2006)
@1: How would one carry the (relatively heavy) ammo?
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TeamNutmeg 2:15AM (12/17/2006)
The rounds for the M20 RR are about 20 lbs. apiece. A backpack frame and some bungee cords, plus the round in the rifle, would give you three shots, enough for a quick blast-and-dash bunker busting.
Alternately, a second, weaponless Vespa could easily carry half a dozen or so reloads. Then the second rider could act as loader for the first, speeding up firing.
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smokeydog001 6:54AM (12/17/2006)
You forget, these belong to the French, therefore would only be used in a full retreat.
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dave 4:41PM (12/17/2006)
#7, i thought the same thing, but the real french version has the cannon facing the rear and a white flag on the handlebars.
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illnoise 1:24AM (12/18/2006)
Note that it's leaking oil from the clutch cover onto the rear wheel. Vespas rule.
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Joe 5:09PM (12/18/2006)
World War I cost France 1,357,800 dead, 4,266,000 wounded (of whom 1.5 million were permanently maimed) and 537,000 made prisoner or missing -- exactly 73% of the 8,410,000 men mobilized, according to William Shirer in The Collapse of the Third Republic. Some context: France had 40 million citizens at the start of the war; six in ten men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight died or were permanently maimed.
And stopped the Kaisers' armies dead in their tracks. Not exactly what I would call a nation of cowards.
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Darrell Elmore 3:41PM (12/22/2006)
1. Ignorance of the times is no excuse for dumb comments. The 75mm RR was useful and mounted on a Vespa makes sense and carrying ammo on a second one works too. As a guy that used the 57mm, 75mm, and 106mm Recoiless Rifles I figure this was a pretty good and inexpensive way to move the weapon around the battlefield.
2. French military operate similar to the US, the civilian government runs policy and directs their forces to be either offensive, defensive, or absent. Damn the governments not the forces.
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Patrick 6:43PM (12/22/2006)
well congrats to the french they invented an anti-golfcart motorized scooter.....maybe theres one driving around with small machine guns on the handlebars, also look how thin the seat padding is things would get pretty hot real quick
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DANE DEFIO 7:38PM (12/22/2006)
WELL ITS BETTER THAN SOME SOLDIER CARRYING IT IN THE FIELD.IT IS ALSO NOT AS STUPID AS THE HARLEY DAVIDSON IN WW2 THAT MOUNTED A MACHINEGUN ON THE HANDLEBARS.
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don pamula 8:18PM (12/22/2006)
Wow, this may have been what the french were initially selling to jihadist terrorist suicide bombers. This must have been the next faster and more maneuverable model up from the camel with the attached ammo wagon.
Don erie PA
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Krog 4:38AM (12/23/2006)
Well, they were probably modeling this upon the effectiveness of the US paratrooper in WW2. They were greatly effective with the little fire support they recieved. They were trained to be self-sufficient fighting forces. If the paratroopers had something like this in thier arsenal, they would use every part.
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