Just a simple shot of a brace of lammies… A TV and a couple of GP’s… but sometimes simple is best!
Candy coloured lammies
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Monthly Archives: October 2013
Hot Shots! Part Deux – Topper Harley
This films been around since 1991, and I’ve only just noticed that the main character, Topper Harley is probably a scooter reference. Duh! Now, I was sure I’d written a Harley Topper before, but I was probably thinking about the other indigenous US Scooter, the Cushman (post here… worth checking out… oh, and this one). Anyway. I hadn’t.
Topper Harley
Harley Topper
The Topper was the only scooter Harley Davidson every produced. Made between 1961 and 1965, and despite it’s squarish, “50’s American Refrigerator” lines, it’s certainly not a bad looking scooter. (That last sentence just shows how much my aesthetics have changed over the years… I remember when I first saw a picture of a Topper I thought it unbelievably fugly!). Let’s just say it’s “of its time”.
There’s an owners club, with a ‘virtual website’ (a tautology surely? perhaps an ironic one) here.
In a postmodern twist, Topper himself has his own Facebook page, here.
Anyway. Back to Hot Shots, and my favourite line:
Topper Harley: You’re the only one that knows how to get to the ‘copter pad. If I’m not there in 15 minutes, you know what to do…
Colonel Walters: Yeah, get the hell out of here!
Topper Harley: No! Wait another 15 minutes!
Mystery Scooter ID’d!
Kudos to Yasin, who Identified the mystery scooter above as a KTM Ponny. A Ponny II to be exact. KTM, or KTM Sportmotorcycle to give them their full name, is a long established (founded in 1934) motorcycle, scooter and bicycle manufacturer from Austria. If you haven’t heard of KTM in relation to scooters, it’s probably because your more familiar with their modern off road bikes and racing sponsorship… you may recognise their livery of orange, black and silver. The Ponny II dates back to 1962, and is, in my humble opinion a good, solid looking scoot. While it may not be as pretty as a Lambretta, (or even aV*spa), it certainly holds it’s own against other scooters of the day.
The Ponny II, superseded the original 1960 Ponny scooter (funny that), itself a good looker. In fact, it’s a shame they didn’t keep the twin headlights… that’s a good look!
KTM carried on making retro looking scooters right into the late 70’s, and while they are pretty much unheard of in the UK (to my knowledge anyway), they have built a cult following in mainland Europe. As you’ll see, the 1979 KTM Hercules pictured below is virtually identical to the 1962 Ponny, with the obvious addition of (rather ugly) indicators. Big, solidly built machines, I don’t know what the performance was like, but I can’t imagine it was blistering with a 50cc engine. I’m not sure if they made a bigger capacity, but it would suit the bike. A quick search of eBay yielded no complete Ponnies or Hercules’s… but a few parts. But it’s one I’ll watch out for in future.
This is not my first KTM post, by the way… regular readers may remember my post about the radically styled KTM Electric Scooter… straight from the future of scootering. Check it out here.
If this post has piqued your interest of the KTM marque, you can find out more, below.
Blue Ashtray – the story of a Lambretta DL125 in NYC
So… the second New York post of the week… This one is a blog about the purchase and restoration of a Lambretta DL in “Mexican Ashtray Blue” in New York CIty. An image heavy blog, said images being really evocative of NYC… often shot with a twist of wry humour… it’s a great read, with great imagery. Check it out here, and added it to my growing Links page.
lambrettista.net 