Indians For Guns

February 22, 2011 — Cover Stories / Italian / Motorcycles
Mod Max: 1956 Vespa TAP

Need to feel a little tougher on your scooter? No problem. Just mount an M20 75mm recoilless anti-tank rifle. The Vespa TAP was developed for use by two-man French parachute teams dropped behind enemy lines in Indonesia. The seller’s description doesn’t give much info on authenticity verification, so it is hard to know for sure whether this is one of the less than 2,000 real ones or a replica. Either way, it would still be great fun for putting around Williamsburg or Silver Lake – Dr. Zhivago style. Find it here on eBay in Reggio Emilia, Italia for 8000 Euro. Special thanks to BaT reader Milt P. for this submission!

The TAP was designed to be parachuted in pairs, with one bike carrying the gun and the other most of the ammo and tripod. The gun wasn’t supposed to be fired from the bike but wouldn’t it be great to let one fly the next time a someone makes a left and cuts you off?

The 75mm round could penetrate a Soviet T34 armor. The gun bike carried five rounds and the other bike ten. Always leave one in the chamber. See a nice selection of TAPs here, along with some commentary from owners and soldiers.

The TAP was an ACMA-badged Vespa with a 250cc 11hp two-stroke with a three-speed transmission and 8-inch wheels. It would go 60mph, which seems quite insane to do while seated on a five-foot long gun.

There are some discrepencies in tire size and fitment of body parts from what we expect in a TAP, so we suggest buyers investigate accordingly. At a mimimum it’s a custom Vespa 150 with a cool theme that would be a blast and draw the biggest crowd at any Mods v. Rockers night.

About 500 total TAPs were produced throughout the 1950s. However ingenious the TAP was, the vehicle was never used outside of the French military during engagements in Algeria and French Indochina.

Many motorcyclists over the years have wished for more "presence" with which to balance the inequities of the road-going pecking order, but until I wandered into the newly opened Vespa Museum near the Australian Albert Park Formula One Circuit this week, I had no idea that there had ever been a production two-wheeler which could command complete respect from fellow-roadgoers (apart from maybe a Harley-Davidson with open pipes).

Other than the engine, plus the M20 light anti-armor cannon, rack and ammunition mounts, the only major differences to a standard Vespa were a strengthened frame and lower gearing which gave it a top speed of just 40 mph (64 km/h).

The TAPs were designed to be dropped into theater by parachute on a palette, protected by hay-bales, fully assembled and ready for almost immediate action. As such, the TAP offered a highly mobile lethal capability with which to counter guerrillas – the M20 was originally designed as an anti-tank weapon and using a HEAT warhead, it was claimed to be capable of penetrating 100mm of armor and striking from a distance of 7,000 yards (6.4 km). The 150 TAP was often deployed with a trailer, which was used for additional supplies and a lightweight stand for the M20.

The Vespa 150 TAP (Troupes Aéro Portées) is an Italian Vespa scooter modified by creating a hole in the legshield to carry a M20 75 mm recoilless rifle. The recoil or ‘kick’ from the rifle was counter balanced by venting propellant gases out the rear of the weapon; this eliminated the need for heavy mounts, and enabled the weapon to be fired from the Vespa frame. Due to the lack of any kind of aiming devices, the recoilless rifle was supposed to be mounted on a tripod, which was also carried by the scooter. Primarily built for the Algerian War in the 1950s, five parachutes could carry a two-man gun crew, weapon, ammunition, and two scooters. Then the men would load the weapon on one scooter and the ammo on the other, before riding away to find their enemy.

timmy wrote: Anyway, I'd rather have a BSA than a Vespa:

ngrewal wrote:This probably isnt secured properly the flanges and body is too thin and scooter isnt stable platform NICE concept..

timmy wrote:CK: well, it is James Bond, so that's to be expected!

I don't believe that the recoilless rifle was intended to be fired while on the scooter. As the quote pointed out, I think that one scooter carried the tube and another carried the ammo. These recreations have all the stuff mounted on one scooter, which I don't believe was the way they were used. The idea was to be able to transport field ordnance with cheap, lightweight transportation.

xl_target wrote:You sure didn't want to come off that seat onto that "Butterfly nut".