A bit of nostalgia for you… whenever I was off school back in the ’80’s…there wasn’t much telly on… I remember stuff like Crown Court and General Hospital… and then, at lunchtime, there was always Pebble Mill. Here’s an episode from the 80’s featuring Lambretta legend Mike Karslake, and some of his extensive Lambretta collection, including his Lambretta based fire engine and Wolfie’s Lambretta from Citizen Smith! He makes quite an entry on a Series 2 sidecar combination!
I think the LN looks pretty good next to the LI… obviously I’d go for the original every time… but the more I see it, the more convinced I am that the LN is a good ‘cover version!’. Originally posted on Facebook by the Mystyle Scooter Club Lambretta Pattaya Thailand.
Just in case you need another reason to get down the pub, some clever person has found a way to engineer a beer pump from a Lambretta engine/crankcase… I found this on Facebook, on the Lambretta Photography page, who are well worth a follow if you do the FB thing!
If anyone has more information about this, including the drinking establishment where it is located, please let me know, I’d love to give them a shout out!
I can’t find out much about Globester scooters on the web, but the one thing that stand out from these pics is that they are so ahead of their time… Found via the excellent Retronaut site, (one of the non-scootering blogs that’s on my regular reading list), they date from 1946… I think that just relates to the top pic though. I think that’s pretty amazing, I would have guessed the fifties at the earliest. When you think that Innocenti’s Model A, on the face of it a much less sophisticated design, dates from 1947, you get the impression that American scooters had a definite head start on those from Italy!
The ad above does come from the nifty fifties, and the one thing that strikes me from that is that is the price… the Globester doesn’t strike me as a cheap scooter! I don’t know why the Globester wasn’t a bigger success, maybe it comes down to engineering, reliability, price or fashion, but it’s certainly not as well known (this side of the pond at least) as that other iconic US brand, The Cushman. As an aside, did you know you can buy a brand new Cushman today? Here’s the link.
The other Cushman link on the blog worth checking out, if you like this kind of thing, is a beautiful custom job, check it out here.
Trawling the web for Lambretta images, I came across this freshly restored, and pimped up LD in Indonesia. Sitting rotting in a shipyard, it was rescued and given the full treatment by XXX, including the unique colour scheme, which it wears well. Very funky!
I even like the red carpet… although whatever material it’s made of – in the UK it would just soak up rain, maybe you can get away with it in Indonesia!
Found on the Vietnamese Xe Va Phong Cách blog, which Google tells me translates to “The Car and Style” although it originally comes from the Indonesian automotive blog dapurpacu.com. From what I can make out the work was done by these guys in Jakarta: Alamat Bengkel Primo 116 Werx
If you’re reading this in the mystic orient, and you’re english is better than my (or google’s) Indonesian and/or Vientnamese, and I’ve made any glaring errors, please put me right 🙂
I’ve just noticed this is my 444th post which is simultaneously pleasing and, for some reason, a bit spooky… If you’re new to the blog you’ve got 443 other posts to check out, please do!
“Frank Aberdean” is an online video series, following the adventures of a mysterious masked dude. Set in 1988. It’s not the normal sort of content I feature on here, but it’s fun, and it’s kind of cool. It’s got a Nightmare on Elm Street / Friday 13th sort of vibe about it… to me anyway. The twist is, at the end pf each video chapter, you get to vote on what happen next. Does “Frank” travel by Lambretta or Bronco SUV? You choose.
You know what I want to see… but the only way to be sure of seeing the dude in the red leather jacket, yellow lid and skeleton mask zoom off on a Lambretta… (or is that a Serveta, not that it matters), is to vote. Here. And you just know somewhere there’s a Bronco blog urging their readers to do the same thing.
Lets make sure he makes the right choice 🙂
The whole project is the brainchild of Mako Miyamoto, a Portland Ohio based designer, art director (and I suspect Lambrettista).
Found via the Portland Monthly Mag
There’s a nice NSU Prima on eBay at the moment… and while the Prima was no longer officially a “German Lambretta” as NSU’s licence to build Lambretta’s expired in 1955, you can clearly see the Lambretta DNA in the Prima.
Completely redesigned, a Prima shares few Lambretta components. The bodywork is a development of the LD,with more curvaceous, flowing lines if anything. Elements such as the speedo show a marked difference to Lambretta ones of the time. The engine is also a development of the Lambretta unit, tweaked and refined in NSU’s Neckarsulm factory. The Prima was a well regarded machine, and relatively expensive in it’s day, and still has a strong following today, especially on mainland Europe.
If you’re a fan of the LD Lambretta’s but fancy something a little different, this beautiful Prima may be up your street. It’s up as a “Classified Ad” at £5,000. Here's the eBay link.
Video about the road trip written about in new scooter travel book ‘Frankenstein Scooters to Dracula’s Castle’ Italy to Istanbul on 400cc Suzuki-engined Maicoletta, and a couple of Lambrettas …by Martin ‘Sticky’ Round… watch out for a review of the book soon!
My good friend Tone posted this pic of me and a couple of pals back in the day… that’s me, centre, astride my first scooter, a Serveta 150 Special. Complete with stalk indicators… well, one anyway. Althiugh I look about 12, I reckon I must have just turned 17. This must have been fairly early in my ownership, as I took a hacksaw to both of them shortly after! The Vespa boys are Rob on (If I remember correctly, a Primavera) and Mike on a (again, I think… ) a 50 Special in a gorgeous shade of pale Aquamarine, the photo really doesn’t do it justice.
Tony was a Lambretta man at heart, like myself, having a great old beast of a Series 2 before succumbing to the lure of the Vespa, having a P200E, a T5 and a Corsa.
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