Currently living in the Netherlands, VVC Italian member Auro Meotto, sent me these images he took of his copy of Motor Cycling, dated March 15th 1951 - a review of the first Douglas Vespa. Auro is a budding collector and I went with him when he came over from Holland, in November 2016, to buy and collect a 1953 Rod Model, the photos I took can be seen here.
Earlier this year in January, I got to visit Wessex Scooters who were working on one of, if not the earliest existing Douglas Vespas - No.495 which rolled off the Douglas Kingswood factory production line in Bristol in April 1951, just a month after the pictured review was published, link to VVC News Page feature here.
The next issue of the JOURNAL will feature another early Douglas Vespa, originally purchased in October 1951.
Thanks to friend and regular contributor Auro, for the great photos ; )