A restored Vespa scooter which featured in The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour will take pride of place at a fundraising gig in Brighton on Easter Sunday.
The original 1964 GS Vespa was ridden on stage by guest star Billy Idol as popular Mod icon Ace Face during the 1996 tour.
Next weekend, it will be on stage at Concorde 2 for We Are The Mods. The Mods Aid gig is raising funds for Sussex Homeless Support.
The scooter was stored in the garage of The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey until the 79-year-old – who is an honorary patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust – gave his son-in-law Des Murphy the green light to try to restore it to its original working condition.
Murphy, 56, told the PA news agency: “It was a stage prop when The Who toured Quadrophenia and Billy Idol was the guest vocalist. He appeared as the Ace Face and he was on stage with it singing the song from Quadrophenia.
“So it travelled with the band on the tour and then, after the tour was over, it went back to Roger’s farm and it was slowly rotting away in the corner.
“And we kept saying we know we’ve got to do something with it because it’s an iconic scooter.”
Murphy enlisted the help of Aaron White, from South Coast Customs, and additional support from Pro Design Scooter Works, who helped to restore the scooter which was in pieces and rusting after its time in Daltrey’s garage.
White, 49, restored the scooter free of charge and using original Vespa parts to have it ready for A Special Gala Evening of Music with Roger Daltrey and Friends of Teenage Cancer Trust, which took place at the Royal Albert Hall last Sunday (26 March).
Murphy also explained how the fundraising plans for the scooter came about, adding: “Halfway through the process I went down to see Aaron to see how he was getting on and he said: ‘It’s going to look amazing and it’s going to look beautiful but it’s just a shame …’
“Because the idea was to auction it. And we still are going to auction it at some point. But he said it would be a real shame if it ended up just gathering dust in some private collection somewhere.
“Because these things are supposed to be ridden and enjoyed. It’s almost like a living thing. It’s a real beauty. Which then got me thinking, why don’t we do that? Why don’t we make it available for people to sit on, have their picture taken, experience it as a real thing?”
