Sold for £8,568
(including buyers premium)
Registration No: 394 XVD
Frame No: VTT 515346
Engine No: V201M513591
CC: 145
MOT: Exempt
The action television advertisement ‘Road to Lisbon’ starred 13 of the top footballers in Europe and was devised jointly by 180 Amsterdam and TBWA the creative advertising agencies and major global brand Adidas who were awarded advertiser of the year in that year. Arriving from across Europe at a rustic Portuguese locals football game on their individually ‘nationally’ designed classic scooters were David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and the other leading European soccer icons of 2004. The advertisement cost 4.5 million Euros just to produce and was part of the global ‘Impossible is Nothing’ Adidas campaign. The art production on all of the scooters was directed by multi-award winning creator Nicholas Foley-Oates who has a reputation as one of the top collaborative producers in television advertising. He has worked on behalf of leading global clients brands including Lego, Audi, Virgin Trains, Nike and Stella Artois to name just a few.
The ‘English Beckham Vespa’ in the advertisement is actually a Spanish built 1962 MotoVespa 150S but was designed in English style and kit colours in white with a number of typical English decals and badges. She also has ‘mod style’ accessories including a front rack with lights and mirrors, rear rack with spare wheel and a whip aerial (now broken). All of the scooters for the advertisement were acquired beforehand by Widescope Productions and a garage workshop located in Seville, Spain prepared and decorated the machines there. The mirrors for our scooter were sent from England. The English cross of St.George badge on the front mudguard shows signs of age and has deteriorated but the other badges and decorations seem to still be in very good order. The scooter featured in the July 2004 issue of Scootering Magazine with behind-the-scenes photography by commercial photographer Jake Chessum, who was on location. The story of the scooter that we understand is that after filming David Beckham liked the scooter so much that he had it shipped to his house in Hampshire where it stayed for 2 years. The scooter was then used as a competition prize and won by a member of the public.
MotoVespa was the Spanish Vespa licensee for Piaggio. This 1962 150S is a standard scooter on 12 volt electrics as was standard for the Spanish models and is in good all round mechanical and physical condition. The Motovespa 150S was a unique combination of Italian GS body styling but with different forks and headset than the Italian models. It is a fine looking scooter in its own right. Properly registered on the UK system in 2018. Since the advertisement there have been the additions of; a black UK number plate on the front mudguard, new tyres (the actual old originals do come with the scooter), the original Beckham leg shield banner was missing and a replacement has been added, and a (removable) mud flap has been added at the rear of the front mudguard. It is notable that the Piaggio/target badge under the headlamp has been airbrushed out of the poster, possibly due to copyright branding, but is clearly visible in the behind-scenes photographs and other Adidas promotional material of the scooter. The scooter also comes with an official match ball from the tournament, a copy of the 2004 Scootering magazine with the supporting article and an official Beckham poster from the advertising campaign. We also have several supporting emails from the creative directors who worked on the project. Our scooter expert has also located the actual silver helmet worn by David Beckham on the scooter in the advertisement and could be available for sale in the future, from another source. The last 4 pictures are of the scooter being prepared in March 2004 in the workshop in Seville. The finishing touches of Adidas stripes and red inserts in the lights was yet to be done. This is the first time since 2004 the the scooter has been seen in public. An absolute must for sports memorabilia, scooter, England Football or Adidas collectors. A fascinating addition to any collection.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Diamond
info@vintagescooters.co.uk
07768 313001
All successful bids must be paid in full by midday the day after the auction at the latest.
You can collect your new pride and joy from our venue until 1pm the day following the sale or our partners are on hand to help arrange safe transportation:
Auction: National Motorcycle Museum, 6th Apr, 2022
AUCTION VENUE
National Motorcycle Museum
Coventry Road
Bickenhill
Solihull
West Midlands
B92 0EJ
AUCTION VIEWING
Wednesday 6th April 2022, from 9am
BUYERS PREMIUM
15% (plus VAT @ 20%)
TRANSPORT
Shippio will be onsite to assist with all of your transport requirements.
Click Here for a Transport Quote
Do you have an item to sell?
If so, contact one of our friendly specialists for your free valuation by completing the form below and someone will get back to you as quickly as possible.
If you prefer to speak to humans, don't hesitate to call our office on +44 (0)1925 210035