Before Austin Powers, there was Matt Helm… a spoof secret agent played by Dean Martin. A hard drinking, womanising, wisecracking american counterpart to 007, Dino played it strictly for laughs, and took every opportunity to get his leg over. On this occasion, he’s given up trying to kick start the LD, and got his leg over a J Range… And riding pillion he’s looking for somewhere to hold on!
Monthly Archives: June 2013
Lambrettas in South Africa
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There’s barely a corner of the world without a Lambretta these days, if you look hard enough. Andy sent me this picture of this lovely little group of Lammies outside Café Sofia, in Greenside, Johannesburg, South Africa.They meet up there on a Sunday, for coffee and breakfast, which sounds very civilised! There’s some nice machines in that line-up too… a Series 3 TV 200 (I initially thought this was a150 Special – sorry Carlos), a TV2, Serveta (Jet 200?), and a couple of DL’s. All a long way from home, but looking good!
If you’ve got a Lambretta scene in your neck of the woods, send me a pic and let me know what’s going on, I’ll stick it on the blog.
Davida helmets
In my last post about helmets, I somehow neglected to mention Davida, as one of my readers, biker chappie and blogger The Ham & Eggs was quick to point out. And although I still think of Davida as a relative newcomer to the helmet market, they have been making quality, stylish helmets in the UK for over 30 years. They also are made to satisfy some of the Worlds strictest safety standards, which is nice. Based in the Wirral, England Davida still hand build their helmets, using the best quality material available. Check out their website here.
Their now iconic Davida Jet isEuropean Standard ECE R22-05 certified, and ACE Gold Approved for racing. It comes in a wide range of styles (below are some of my favourites), and can even be tailored to match the paintwork of your scooter. Custom designs can also be accommodated, and their design team will discuss the appropriateness of your design for a helmet. 
Quadrophenia LI150 fetches £36,000
The film Quadrophenia was a life changing movie for me, and many others. I can’t believe many people reading this blog would not have seen it, so I won’t bang on about it.
One of the iconic scooters in the film was Jimmy’s LI150 Lambretta… customised in full mod style (the other of course, being the Ace Face’s Vespa GS).
After filming finished, the ‘Jimmy Bike’ was sold to scooter dealers Rafferty Newman and put on display in the window of their shop in Portsmouth. It was later sold and used on the road, before being left to rot in the garden of a quiet suburb. In 1995, it was rescued and restored to it’s original glory. And, although it’s not my cup of tea, it epitomises many people’s idea of the classic mod Lambretta.
So much so, it has become a pop cultural icon in it’s own right. And, as the headline revealed, it sold recently at auction, at Bonhams for an eye-watering £36k.
A couple of videos from EuroLambretta 2013, Avignon
Posted by Enrico Brunello on YouTube. As one commentator posted “Bellissimo gruppo!!!”
Innocenti Mini
Browsing the Nerves Autos site I mentioned yesterday I found a couple of nice Innocenti items. A 1971 Mk2 Mini, and an Innocenti Small.
The mini is a lovely little car, resprayed in it’s original pea green colour, and restored to the high standards demanded by FIVA, and the ASI Targa Oro (Gold Plate) …only given to vehicles restored to original condition.
It’s in lovely condition throughout, I particularly like the original “Mille Miglia” wheels, and the small, Italian front number plate – I don’t know the rules of keeping this in the UK, but as a historic vehicle, your might be ok. I think it’s a bit of a bargain at €5.700. More here.
The other car an Innocenti Small – a 500cc dating from 1993. While not as immediately attractive as the Mini, it’s got a late 80’s/early 90’s appeal all of it’s own… a future classic, and an steal at €1.900. Maybe.
Unfortunately sold, and rather more to my personal taste, is a rather nice 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, but there’s a lovely 1970 Giulia GT 1300 Junior Scalino still available. And you won’t find many small, sporty saloons prettier than that.
Bit of a bitsa…
I found this for sale on Car & Classic, and this one had me scratching my head…
I thought it was a 50’s racer when I first saw it… but it didn’t look like any 50’s racer I’d ever seen before. And Model D based racers were either 125’s or 150’s surely… Closer inspection threw up more questions than answers…
The machine in described as a 50 DL… (I mistakenly thought the D bit of this referred to a model D) As you probably know, what was marketed in the UK as a GP was sold in Italy and other markets as a DL. So, at least part of it is from a GP as we know it. But DL/GP’s were 125/150/200cc… But, a Lui was 50cc… which brings me to the forks and wheels… which are distinctly Luna line.
So. It’s a bit of a mongrel, put together from different parts of different models. But it has been done rather nicely, and it looks pretty good, if a little underpowered at 50cc. Legal if you are 16 though… there’s a thought.
Personally, I’d lose the rack, it doesn’t work on a “racer” for me, but otherwise this is a good looking, fun scooter. Not for everyone of course. If you fancy a 50cc with a Innocenti heritage, and the ability to turn a few heads (and make a few people scratch theirs too), it’s for sale here.
The site that Car & Classic links to is Nerves Auto, an Italian site featuring some lovely sports and classic cars.
1954 Lambretta F on eBay
You really wont believe this.
Look what turned up at EuroLambretta in Avignon. I’ve seen it all now.
I’m not going to comment much on this, and the guys at Lambretta Club de France are going to post a full picture set soon… so just sit back, check out these few images and have your mind blown.
I think the technical term is Paramotor. Powered paragliding (PPG). Powered by an open framed Lambretta. My gob is smacked. My ghast is flabbered. Amazing. I want a go… I think!
Does your scooter smell of mint?
That’s because it’s a polo! Boom boom! Ok, dad joke out the way… here we have a very rare 1991 Lamby Polo, an Indian evolution of the SIL Lambretta. The seller reckons there are only 12 registered in the UK. I’m surprised it’s that many.
Because it may be rare, but it sure is ugly too. Some designs grow on you after time. But I thought the Lamby Polo was ugly “back in the day” and I think it’s ugly now. If you want an object lesson in styling …or rather how to take a classic design and wreck it, just take a look at this scooter. To put things in context, this was the era of the PX and PK V#spa, and the Polo was trying to bring a 1960’s design (well, late 50’s really) into the 80’s. But sticking on big ugly indicators, a horrible headlight and PX style horncasing, as well as a turning front mudguard (just use the lovely Eibar style one ffs!) and casting a bizarre, “go faster” shape into the sidepanel just doesn’t work.
Ok, it was for the Indian market, not here, but it didn’t cut it over there, by all accounts.
The best thing about this scooter, IMHO, is the seat. And that looks awful in this scooter. Who would put orange with lime green and turquoise. But it would look fine on another scooter.
Anyway, you probably got it by now that I don’t like this scooter very much. But it is a Lammy, sort of. And it might float your boat. Or you might be a collector who fancies it for rarity value. Or your Indian, and you want to relive your youth. Well, you can put a bid in on eBay, here.
If it was me, I’d buy it, take off eveything that makes it look like a Lamby (store all that carefully), stick on a standard S2 headlight and horncasing, and you’ve got a cheap(ish) Lambretta.
lambrettista.net 