Vilar Cucciolo

The Cucciolo was a 4-stroke clip-on engine conceived during and shortly after World War II by Aldo Farinelli, and Aldo Leoni, produced by the firm Siata (Societa Italiana per Applicazioni Tecniche Auto-Aviatorie) The first tests were made on the streets of Turin in 1944. The sound of the engine's short stubby exhaust inspired the name Cucciolo ("little puppy").
After the end of the war, Siata started to sell Cucciolo engines. Many companies and entrepreneurs bought the little engines in quantity and installed them in all kinds of frames. Soon the demand was to high for the existing production line. Siata found a manufacting partner in Bologna. Ducati was seeking new business opportunities, so a licensing agreement was reached. Production rose from 15 units in 1946 to over 25.000 in the following years, when Ducati reached an exclusive agreement. The Cucciolo engine production was dropped in 1958.
There is no way of telling exactly how many producers or brands made Cucciolo based mopeds. In Portugal dozens of small workshops and factories made small series of Cucciolo models. Vilar was one of the most famous and reliable.