First time I went to Chinatown in Bangkok I was shocked at the nmber of Vespas and Lambrettas still alive and kicking.
Confession time.
I did actually make an attempt to port my mates vespa. We got a noisy pipe and I did some filing on the exhaust port and slowly but surely lapped about 0.2mm off the head using his old man's valve grinding paste against the shed window. It did go better, but it might have just been the pipe. I was spotty and 17 at the time and was the Wendover Two Stroke Guru!