# Find of the Day: 1960 NSU Prima Scooter Marries Audi Enthusiasm with Vespa Fetish



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

We'll admit, we've got a closet fetish for vintage scooters like Vespas. We're not alone. Former Audi board member (now Porsche board member) Wolfgang Hatz once told us he'd had a modded custom Vespa built by a Munich scooter builder for summer vacations in Tuscany. We're jealous. Well... we're kind of jealous. Our scooter focus tends to revolve around the NSU Prima.

Built by NSU, one of the dormant brands under Audi / Auto Union, the Prima was arguably the brand's most elegant take on the scooter/moped business. NSU is likely better known for its motorcycle racing Isle of Man exploits or pioneering rotary engines in cars like the Ro80 but the Prima remains one of our most favorite of its products and, in our opinion, is way cooler than a run-of-the-mill vintage Vespa.

The Prima (actual scooter not shown above) was a 175cc scooter that featured 12V ignition, electric start. The seller, Sportique Scooters in Englewood, CO, points out that the Prima was designed to compete with the Lambretta TV175 and Vespa GS 160 in its time and is rated 5 (out of 5) stars by the Motorscooter Buyers Guide.

The particular 1960 model in question, plenty of pics after the jump, appears to be in well maintained and original condition albeit with a few dents, scratches and oxidation. It reportedly runs well but the clutch is starting to go. We suspect it'd be a cool original piece or great for the basis of a restoration.

As we stated above, we've got a bit of a fetish for the Prima. We tend to search for them from time to time and we've seen well restored versions going well above the $2,700 starting bid (buy-it-now is at $3,500 and there doesn't appear to be a reserve).

As of right now there are no bids, not terribly surprising given the Prima isn't nearly as known as vintage Vespas. Also, the auction's up in about 4 hours so if you are interested you might want to move quickly.

* Ebay Listing *


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## breefu (Mar 15, 2011)

Nsu is one of the pioneers in the motorcycle industry, and a blog posting like this will really help the future motorcycle enthusiasts to know more about the history of this premier rides. I have a project NSU right know, and even though the nsu parts are hard to find, I always strive to bring it back to its original glory.


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