Vespa Scooters in Israel 1957
Was the Vespa actually produced in Israel as stated in the letter?
Letter Excerpts:
“However the most popular type of transportation is the light motorcycle and motor scooter which is Israeli produced and called a Vespa. It gets about 100 miles to a gallon and two seats.”
— July 23, 1957, night
This letter puzzled me, because Vespa is listed as an Italian company, and my father stated that this iconic scooter was Israeli produced.
I knew little about Vespas or motorcycles for that matter, but I decided to get to the bottom of this.
As I researched this matter, I discovered that in the 1950’s through the 1970’s, Vespa had production facilities outside of Italy in India, Indonesia, Denmark, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Spain and the Soviet Union. Still no sign of any production plant in Israel.
Vespa factory 1950
Pontedera, Italy
Being stubborn, I continued to investigate the matter, figuring that if my father wrote it, there may be something to it. Up to now, his letters had been incredibly accurate and stood up to my fact-checking. Eventually, I stumbled upon a group called the “Vespa Club in Israel”, and received the contact information of an Oren Reznik who headed this club and was an expert in anything having to do with the subject of Vespas. Lo and behold, he told me that in 1956, Vespa had an assembly plant in Tzfat operated by “Kaizer Fraizer,” which built close to 500 Vespas.
Members of Israel’s Vespa Club.
Sign of the Kaizer Fraizer Vespa factory in Tzfat, Israel,
Oren explained that some of the parts were delivered to the factory as a kit, while other parts like the tires, seats and parts of the engine were produced in Israel. This Israeli-made Vespa possessed a different color scheme than the European ones, The assembly plant was eventually closed in 1961 as a result of an Arab boycott blacklisting companies who had production plants in Israel.
The Israel Vespa Factory, 1950s
Readying the Vespas for market
The Israeli Treasury froze the import licenses of Vespa parts to Israel in 1961. As a result, the Vespa factory was forced to close.
I knew that the factory closed in 1961, but I was curious to locate the old factory and find out what exists at that site today. This was a difficult task considering I had no address or leads to go on.
On a trip to Tzfat in 2021, I was roaming the streets hoping to stumble upon some clue as to its location. While passing through the Old City of Tzfat, I saw an older man operating a natural juice stand at the entrance to the Artists’ Colony. Because of his age, I figured he might know where the old Vespa factory may have been.
To my amazement, he pointed right behind us to an old building in an empty lot and said: “That’s the old Vespa plant. My father Chaim worked there in 1948 when it was used as a weapons factory. In the 1950s, it became the Vespa Factory — until it closed in 1961.”
In the 1950’s, in the young State of Israel, people were proud to produce and purchase Israel-made products like the Vespa. To our knowledge, no motorcycles, mini bikes or scooters are manufactured or even assembled in Israel today. Unfortunately, the concept of creating jobs in Israel and buying blue and white has become of secondary importance.