Actually in lot of movies and commercial ads, very often are shown wonderful vintage scooters. For this and many other reasons, lot of people are looking for an Italian vintage scooter. Personally I think that there isn't nothing better than restore an old bike and drive it daily. But if you aren't an expert it takes a long tìime and you caoul make several mistakes. To begin correctly your restoration , I suggest you to ask to the manufaturer (Piaggio S.p.a. for Vespa) a certificate of production. Is an usual after sale service and it cost few dollars. The manufacturer company will send you an offical certificate and copy of the omologation papers with all informations and technical draw about chassis, engine and electrical diagrams.

About paint codes, you should use "nitro" (PPG standard ). This kind of paint was used since '40 to latest 70'. This paint has to be polished by the bodyshop. It is the correct one but consider that the solar rays action will have a strong action on this paint. Acrylic is a modern paint  and is very easy to mantain.

You can find all Vespa paint codes on Vespa Club Roma website (just type  "Vespa Club Roma" on Google and you'll find it).

Personally for vintage scooter I prefer Nitrosintetic paint, but for a daily use scooter I prefer an acrylic paint.

About original spare parts and mechanic help I'll write very soon a new guide.