Wikipedia:April Fools/April Fools' Day 2023/Vespa Carriola

The Vespa Carriola was a mono-wheeled single-user vehicle initially conceived for general utility purposes. Later versions included a structurally reinforced diesel model intended for heavy industrial applications; a turbo-fan version for military use; a limited edition sport cabriolet powered by a backpack mounted engine; as well as various prototypes and pre-production examples of fuel-cell, electric, and hybrid powered variants that were never commercialised. It was known for its simple, straightforward design, and for its adaptability.

History
The original Vespa Carriola was conceived and manufactured by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy. The concept was first proposed by Italian automotive pioneer Egrègio Bugiardo Buonarruota, who developed the initial prototypes in the late 1950s. The design was further refined by aeronautical engineer Corradino D'Ascanio in the early 1960s, at the height of the Italian Economic Miracle. Initially marketed as a lightweight all-purpose utility wheelbarrow, it was first unveiled at the Turin Auto Show in 1963.

The layout of the vehicle evokes the classic design of a traditional wheelbarrow which has been enhanced and augmented with many novel and innovative features. The standard model was powered by a modified Piaggio 48 cc, 2.6 hp-metric, two-stroke petrol engine with a single-barrel Dell'Orto carburettor, and had carrying capacities of up to 110 L (4 cu ft) wet, or 160 L (6 cu ft) dry. A heavy-duty model was also developed for industrial use. This variant benefited from an improved electro-hydraulically dampened tri-partite dual-wishbone suspension, mono-fractal polymorphic reinforced molybdenum steel space-frame undercarriage, and a 2023 cc DOHC flat-five diesel engine which produced 180 hp-metric.

Developments and derivatives
In an attempt to capture a portion of the military vehicle business from FIAT Veicoli Industriali (a precursor to IVECO), the company's Piaggio Aero Industries division (a precursor to Piaggio Aerospace) began development of an advanced micro-composite turbo-fan powered tactical-strike version in the mid-1960s. While the Italian military placed large orders for this variant, none were actually put into service nor did the Mil-Carriola ever see active duty due to severe technical complications encountered as the mono-wheeled wingless cabriolet surpassed the sound barrier.

By the late 1960s Piaggio was flush with cash from ongoing military contracts and the commercial success and popularity of the utility version of the Carriola. This led the company to explore other variants, including the Carriola Sport and Carriola GT. These were powered by a modified, backpack-mounted mono-block powerplant based on the Lamborghini 3.9-liter, 345 hp-metric V12 engine used in the 1968 P400S Lamborghini Miura (Miura S), and were manufactured to order as non-sequentially numbered semi-limited editions. Information on total production of the Sport and GT models is murky and unreliable, however the automotive historian Edsel McGee has written that "the actual numbers are surprising, somewhat suspect, and mostly unbelievable." An all aluminium-bodied version know as the Carriola Sport GTS Superleggera (with coachwork by the legendary Italian coach builder Carrozzeria Superleggera) was also produced in limited quantities. A grainy photograph of one-off custom Zagato-bodied version dubbed Z-Carriola (Z-Carriola) was published in Quattroruote magazine in April 1971, but the whereabouts and existence of this vehicle remain a mystery. As is typical for the designer, the Zagato design featured a double bubble bottom to allow a lower overall profile.

A fuel-cell powered version was later studied in exhaustingly preliminary detail, however the added complexity and inefficiency of the 1970s era fuel-cell technology (and a minor industrial incident) discouraged development beyond the prototype stage. Various hybrid petrol-electric, petrol-human, as well as human biomass and nuclear powered versions were also developed to varying degrees of completion, but these were later abandoned for technical, judicious, or commercial reasons. Several of these prototypes are known to survive, including a particularly fine and well preserved example held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

An self-driving, all electric version of the Vespa Carriola is rumoured to be in development through a joint venture between Piaggio, Apple, and Disney's Clowncar, Inc. subsidiary. A source at the company who was not authorised to speak publicly is quoted in the New York Times as saying that the vehicle, codenamed vPääD, will be fully autonomous and equipped with code developed for Apple's advanced sentient AI codex, codenamed Mona Lisa Overdrive. The same source also confirmed industry murmurations that the proprietary Apple code, control electronics, and depleted plutonium nitrate-ion batteries would be ethically sourced, sustainable, and socially-responsible.

In popular culture
In cinema, a young, scantily clad Sophia Loren famously made her debut performance riding through a field of barley while sitting in the aptly named double-bubble bed of a specially constructed alpine spruce Carriola in the classic Italian neorealist film The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'Albero degli zoccoli). This early cameo appearance quickly led to the actress being signed to a multi-film contract with Paramount Pictures. The Sport Carriola also features in four James Bond movies: You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker, as well as the films Emmanuelle and Carry on Camping.

Other pop-culture icons of 1960s and 1970s who were devotees of the Carriola include the Wheelbarrow Olympic gold medallist and gameshow host Steve McQueen, English avant-garde experimental string quartet The Dave Clark Five, and Nobel laureate and harmonica virtuoso Robert Zimmerman. Boy Bands such as the Beach Boys, Boyz-n-the-Hood, Beatles, Monkees, Backstreet Boys, and the Vienna Boys' Choir were also variously photographed in front of, behind, in proximity to, or in a Carriola. The English super-model Twiggy had a Carriola GTS in her collection of Italian sportscars (which also included a rare Lamborghini Se/X and several delicious late 1960s strawberry Ferraris with crème chantilly), however she rarely used the augmented wheelbarrow due to the incompatibility between its heavy, backpack-mounted V-12 engine and her stick-like frame.

Two decades later, in the early 1980s, the French animal-rights activist and political wanna-be Bridgette Bardot was pictured driving dogs to distraction in Saint-Tropez while simultaneously at the wheel of both a Carriola and the similarly iconic Mini Moke. This led to a resurgence of interest in the legendary mono-axle icon and several abortive French attempts to revive the classic design, all of which ended very badly (très mal).

In 2023, a restored barn find 1969 Carriola GTS (originally owned by the renowned Italian artist and composter Piero Manzoni) was sold by Silverstone Auctions in Warwickshire, UK for slightly less than two billion Pounds Sterling.

Legacy
Although the Piaggio Vespa Carriola of the 1960s was ground-breaking in its day, power assisted wheelbarrows are now cheap and widely available from a number of different manufacturers, and are used in a range of applications. The technology has improved exponentially and modern power assisted wheelbarrows are now relatively fool-proof, making them suitable for both utility and recreational use, while further enabling the near frictionless transmission of implausibly abundant payloads of Mediterranean risus communis, unbridled Scandiglee (skandinaviskglädje), and mid-Atlantic mirth.

Also see

 * Rinaldo Piaggio
 * Vespa 150 TAP
 * Vespa 400
 * Vespa (historic models)
 * Piaggio Ape
 * Moke (revival)