Monthly Archives: January 2014

Great AF S-Type Replica

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Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 09.51.05It’s been a long time ambition of mine to own, and ride, an AF S-Type, or a faithful replica of one. Seen by many Lambrettisi as the pinnacle of what you can do with the Lambretta, I think they are pretty much the perfect balance between performance, reliability and style. I’ve even got my colour scheme and sticker placement already planned out. But there’s a couple of points I’m unsure about. Would I have two pathfinders, or just the one? I’ve always thought two… but this scoot looks so right with just the one. And would I have an inline spare wheel carrier, or tuck it behind the ledshields? Decisions, decisions. Well, as I’m potless at the moment, these vital choices can wait. For now. But when I get that windfall…  there are tough choices to be made!Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 09.31.34 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 09.31.21 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 09.30.23Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 09.30.54

This glorious S-Type Replica is owned by Stefan, who is behind the excellent Get Around Better Lambretta Photoblog. Another great blog to follow!

UPDATE: Stefan has been in touch with a  few more details about his pride and joy. But first I’ll fill you techy types in on what’s under the panels. The engine is a TS1 225, with a Mikuni TMX 35mm carb and Taffspeed road pipe. A front hydraulic disc, Raydot foglight and Smith speedometer and Ancilotti seat all give it the authentic AF Rayspeed look. But putting together a UK ‘dealer special’ replica in Germany wasn’t all plane sailing, an iIt’s the little details that caused Stefan the biggest problems. On a scoot like this is all about getting the details right… the rubber for the Raydot took some tracking down, and he had to persuade the guy who’d commissioned 100 “225” badges just to get three for his one scoot to let him buy some! Still, it has all come together to produce a first class machine. Nice work!

Series 2 & Daisy Dukes.

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Girl-on-aS2After those last few posts, I thought I should just stick up a pic of an Innocenti machine with two wheels. Ands what’s better that a Lammie with a leggy young lady astride it? Very few things in my opinion!. And kudos to this young lady… because it’s one of those very few pics like this where the scoot isn’t on it’s stand 🙂

Spiders even an arachnophobiac would love…

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Spider 3 280510 resizedMost Lambrettisti know about the Innocenti Minis, which I have posted about before. Well, while Innocenti were making deals to manufacture British cars, they also had their eye on the blossoming Italian sportscar market. They wanted to make a small sport car, along the lines of the Frogeye Sprite… but thought that it’s rather distinctive look would not go down too well with Italian buyers. They commissioned Carrozzeria Ghia to design new bodywork based on the Sprite platform, but more to Italian tastes.

I think the results speak for themselves, a very elegant vehicle with shades of Triumph, Healy, MG, Alfa Romeo and even Ferrari about it, depending on the angle you look at it from. The Innocenti 950 Spider is a very handsome sports car.950 Spider (b) Spider just before doing Buttertubs resized

Innocenti Coupé
As well as the Spider there was also a Coupé version. Known as the Innocenti Coupé, or simply the Innocenti C, these had the larger 1098 engine. These little beauties are now extremely rare… with only 795 examples built… and all in one of the three colours of the italian flag. They were also pretty expensive at the time, due to their low production number, and the high quality, ‘hand-built’ finish.  At first glance, the Coupé seems like a Spider with a roof, but virtually all the body panels, including the bonnet, are completely different from the Spider. It is in fact a bigger car all round than the Spider, 4″ wider and 6″ longer. The width produces a roomier cabin, whilst the extra length is all between the rear edge of the door and the start of the rear wheel arch which proportions the car nicely, and helps give the Coupé it’s elegant ‘rear end’.
3 Coupes l to rAuto Italia Brooklands Flying Lady Copyright Ian Hunt Digital Photography resized White Coupe b

All four of the cars shown above, the Spider and three Coupés, make up the Collezione Innocenti. Further details of these four wonderful vehicles, including the various books and magazine articles they have appeared in, and the many concours d’élélegance competitions they have won are on the Collezione Innocenti website, here. And now, after many years in the same ownership this group of four unique cars, is for sale. Well, since I started typing this article, the red coupé has been sold, so if you’re interested, you’d better be quick. Email info@innocentispider.co.uk or call 01943 608900 for more information.

© All information and photography  is copyright of Collezione Innocenti 2014

Minky business… The Lambretta Bubblecar(s)

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1012826_673766576009250_100253005_n 1607062_673789286006979_1068466953_n 1525577_696661540364494_261322690_nRight. I like Lambrettas. I like bubble cars. What could be better than a Lambretta Bubble Car? Well, there was one (or more than one)… or there nearly was one; The Lambretta Mink. Above are pics of a one-off prototype, developed in the 60’s. Details are lost in the murk of history, but we do know it’s powered by a SX200 engine, and is capable of 60mph. The current owner is now looking to sell, so if you’ve got £20k knocking around, contact Ian Frankland (of Taffspeed fame) and he’ll forward you the details (Like those warnings on the +1 channels and iPlayer …if your reading this “in the future” this post was written in January 2014 – don’t pester Mr Frankland).Lawil_s4_berlina_250ccAlthough a complete ‘one off’ the Mink is not totally alone in the Lambretta microcar stakes. There is the previously featured Lambretta Willam… (above) a boxy little car, but with a certain childlike charm about it… it looks like it was designed by a seven year old, in a good way. There’s even a video if you follow the link.

Avolette-1 Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum / RM AuctionsAlso from France, and slightly smoother Lambretta like curves, more along the lines of the Mink is the Avolette. A proper “bubble car” almost of bumper car proportions and appearance. There were several incarnations of this little beauty, with power units from Sachs and Maico. One of the key features of this little gem was the single “cyclops” headlight. The “New Avolette” was a Lambretta engined variant shown at the Cycle-Salon in 1957, but never making it as far as production. The pics come from the Glumso Smart Drivers blog, which has much more info here.

There are of course, the successful Lambro range of commercial vehicles from Lambretta, but these fall into a slightly different category of “micro-commercial” in my book.

Chromeo, Chromeo…

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Where for art thou, Chromeo?
Lovely chrome and candy TV2 on eBay. All the extra bits are either Vigano, Fiiam or Ulma, which will mean a lot to you guys into your original accessories. It’s starting at £4,750, and it’s in Crewe. Here’s that eBay link again.Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 11.56.01 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 11.55.46 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 11.55.19 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 11.56.40 Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 11.56.15

Double Bubble

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attica1I’ve got a bit of a thing for microcars, or ‘bubble’ cars if you will. You may have spotted a couple of posts, spread through blog. It’s a bit of an odd fixation…but I suppose I look upon bubble cars pretty much like the Germans do when they call them Kabinenroller – which translates as “Cabin Scooters” …and that’s pretty much how I see them, rather than cars, scooters with roofs. And when my waterproofs are leaking (again) they seem eminently sensible!

Anyway… there’s the usual suspects of Messerschmitts and Isettas, which are probably the best known of the bunch (The Lambretta & Vespa of the microcar world, if you will), but, as with scooters, there are a whole bunch of lesser known marques… including the next rank, Heinkels, Subarus (Post coming soon on these) and even one from Piaggio, the Vespa 400. One I had never come across before though is this Greek bubble… (hence the Double Bubble title for those of you who know their CRS).

It’s called a Attica 200, and was produced in Greece from 1968 to 1971, with a fair degree of success in the greek home market. To my mind it’s got some nice lines, kind of like the offspring of a Heinkel Trojan and an old Saab 93. Which is a good thing. Should you wish to know more, Wikipedia provides a few facts as usual, I won’t trouble you with them here. I will give a shout out to the excellent Sake Racers blog, where I found the image originally, and just to get things back on track, here’s a link to the Lambretta Club Hellas, our Lambretta riding friends in sunny Greece. So that’s two Greek flavoured posts in one week… funny how things work out.

High mileage S2

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Screen Shot 2014-01-14 at 17.54.29This Series 2 is just about the opposite of the immaculate TV175 I featured yesterday …but the beauty of Lambretteas is, I like this one just as much! It’s taken it’s rider, Roger, who goes under the twitter handle @redscootdog, a good few miles… including Spain, France, Holland, Germany and Belgium… and he’s heading out to Switzerland on it this year. Even in this pic, he’s off on a ferry somewhere. He’s been wet, tired, had back ache and a sore arse from putting all those miles in… but enjoyed every minute of it… Because he’s riding the worlds finest motor scooter.

Greek style TV

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GreekTVAnother fine restoration from the esteemed Rimini Lambretta Centre, this time of a highly desirable Series 3 TV175. Despite being such a desirable scooter, this machine had received less than perfect care over it’s lifetime (it could have made certain Vietnamese bikes look ‘reasonable’ was the way they put it at the RLC), until it’s current owner, Nikos, from Patros, in Greece… decided it needed some TLC from the RLC. (That’s rather good, that Dean… you should use that). Anyway, they did their usual first class job, and you can see the results below. For the full story, and all the ‘before’ pics… head over to the Rimini Lambretta site, here.
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Lambretta’s at the Wild Bean

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tumblr_mkevmpb4Bp1rdk2efo1_1280Great pic from the excellent BrettaPower Tumblr blog.

The amazing cardboard sculptures of Chris Gilmour

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This post is reblogged from http://crocodilejock.wordpress.comZoom_17a

Well, after a couple of posts about wooden Vespa’s… I thought it was time for a cardboard Lambretta!

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It’s kind of hard to believe, but this beauty is made out of two things only. Cardboard and glue. And that’s it. No wooden frame. No hidden supporting metal structure. It’s one of the self imposed restrictions artist Chris Gilmour adheres to when creating his art. And it art, of the highest quality in my opinion. There’s something about taking cardboard, that humblest of materials, so often overlooked and discarded and creating something beautiful. Something that makes you look afresh at the original objects too. I don’t know if I’ve got Chris’s vision… but that’s my personal take. And it’s not just scooters and other vehicles (although they are my favourites) … Chris has created everything from wheelchairs to typewriters… microscopes to lifesize sculptures of Queen Victoria. Amazing stuff. Find out more on his website.
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