Category Archives: Ephemera

Lambretta scooters, clothing, shoes, watches, aftershave, deodorant, hair products… now… Coffee!!

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Came across this the other day, on a brand identity website (that’s my day job). I’m not against the extending of the Lambretta brand, and coffee seems to me to be a better fit than, say, underpants (though others may disagree!). I do object when it’s not done properly however… like here.

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Using a classic Italian scooter brand to sell classic Italian coffee doesn’t seem such a bad idea.

It looks like there may be Lambretta cafés (or Caffés… two f’s?) appearing soon, going head to head with the likes of Starbucks, Café Nero and Coffee Republic… it’s a crowded, some would say saturated market… but I wish them well. As long as they do it properly of course.

Branding by Creative Inside

Model Lambrettas

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A bit late for Christmas, but here are a couple of Lambretta models I found on Amazon. I was in two minds about posting links to Amazon as I had bit  had a bit of a run-in with them before the festivities, regarding Vittoria Tessera’s Lambretta book… but I’ll post about that another time. And on balance, I thought you, my fellow Lambrettisti, would be interested.

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Although you can find plenty of model Vespa’s out there, model Lambrettas have always been harder to find, and especially the more popular models… you would have thought there would be a good market for TV175’s, SX’s and GP’s; I’d certainly buy them!

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Links: LD & sidecar, LD & Girl,  Model D, Lancia Lambretta Service Van.

Lambretta Brand Identity

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As previously showcased on here, range of print and digital material created by Bologna agency Life, Longari & Loman.

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Let’s get back to some PROPER Lambretta’s

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Right, just in case anybody had stumbled across my blog for the first time and was worried it was all about NEW Lambrettas… here’s a nice bit of pure nostagia. Come September, a film from 1961, stars Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin and a brace of rather fine Series 2 Lambrettas. I must admit, I’d never heard of this movie until it was flagged up on the rather good Vietnamese  “The Scooterist” blog. I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of the story, suffice it to say A) It’s got Rock Hudson etc. in it, B) It’s set in early sixties Italy and C) They ride Lambretta’s. Now what more could you want from a movie? Ms Lolobrigida, in typical Italian fashion even rides pillion ‘sidesaddle style’, It’s on my list of DVD’s to look a out for!

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What’s in the mags…

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A new feature this, maybe a regular if there is any interest. A bit of a rundown on what’s in the scooter mags on the shelfs, and in the bi-monthly LCGB mag Jet Set.

Scootering

I’m not pushing Scootering, but it’s a must buy for me, alway got a fresh bit of info. This month’s is the second or third after a bit of a facelift, and the mag looks all the better for it. The content is pretty much the same though, just presented in a bit more of a contemporary way.

So in addition to all the regular features, there is a nice article on a British ‘oddball’ the Pheonix, with some beautiful shots of frankly, quite an ugly scooter. As usual there are a couple of nice featured Lambretta’s, taking Disney’s Cars movie, Pirates of the Carribean and Baileys cream as their inspiration respectively. There’s also a cracking 1958 Douglas Vespa.

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On the techy side there’s an in depth article telling you everything you ever needed to know about the humble nuts and bolts that hold your machine together. There’s a nice feature on the Troglodytes SC from down in Cornwall. 

Events wise, there’s rally coverage of Woolacombe BSRA Rally, The Ribble Valley Mod and Soul Weekender, Jersey’s “Strickly Scooters” Rally, The “Ride for your Rights” protest, and a Rally in Belgium to Liege Chateau. 

For the more cometitive souls, they also cover scooter racing at Cadwell Park and sprinting at Elvington. 

There’s also a nice double page spread on the “A-Z of the Lambretta”. 

Phew. 164 pages this month… a lot of ads… including a couple of really dodgy ones from “Bradford Exchange”, but also a lot of good content.

JetSet

JetSet, the club mag of the LCGB, which you can only get by signing up… has also had a bit of a revamp lately, and is an extremley well produced, well presented publication these days. Clearly it’s going to be more focused on the Lambretta rather than scooters in general, and it does that from a quite authorative, knowlegabel position. A lot of the features cover the same ground as Scootering… the mechanical section is known as Oily Rag, features ten tools as you can trust in your workshop, there’s a featured scooter club, (Redcar Frontline), and Rally reports… Isle of Wight, York Inset, all with more of a Lambretta owners slant.

One nice feature is a tribute to the late Dave “Iron Arse” Jackson, a reprint of his account of a year on the road in his bid to become LCGB’s best supporting member. He’s not the only one recounting tales of epic journeys on a Lammie, there’s Eden who recounts a tale of the 2011 Coast to Coast ride, lets just say… it wasn’t all plain sailing… or should that be riding. Putting a few more miles on the oddometer was Pete Orchard… who rode his Series One back from Istanbul!

I’ve only just scratched the surface of JetSet’s content… it’s 48 pages packed with Lambretta relevant content. Worth the £21 a year it cost to join the LCGB alone, without all the other benefits you get for joining… (discounted insurance, parts discouts, expert advice, access to the forums etc, etc.)

I haven’t done the other mag, Classic Scooterist Scene yet… as it’s bi-monthly and been out a while, I’ll review it when the next edition comes out. 

Must do better

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“The new Lambretta fragrance, L47 takes its name from the first year the world famous Lambretta scooters coasted off the production line.”

Now, I’ve got no problem with taking an iconic brand, and (marketing speak coming up, apologies) ‘leveraging’ it into different categories. The owners of the Lambretta brand name have clearly made quite a few quid from doing just that.

What I do object to is prostituting a brands heritage… some superficial research has come up with the fact that Innocenti made their first Lambretta model in 1947. Can’t be bothered to find an image for that original, “Model A” Lambretta? Not a problem. Use a silhouette of a generic, modern scooter instead. No one will notice. Hmm. Doesn’t quite work. I know… take the front wheel off, and replace it with a ‘mod roundel’. There we go… perfick!

Now I know, Lambretta riders aren’t the target market of the people making this product, but with a little more research, and a little more thought, this packaging could have been a lot better. To those that own and love the Lambretta, the vast majority of these ‘brand extensions’ are simply a joke. They offend me as a Lambretta rider, and it offends me as a designer. It’s just lazy, if you are going to play the heritage card with your brand… for goodness sake get it right… or at least tell a consistent, congruent story.

I may well get one of these sets for Christmas (I got some Lambretta socks last year!), but I know one thing… I’m chucking the box away.

Sorry for the small picture. If I find a bigger one I’ll post it.

EDIT: Just a thought… if anybody involved in Lambretta branding wants a “sense check” on this kind of stuff, I am available… I’ve got a pretty unusual skillset – for my ‘day job’ I am Creative Head at a Design and Marketing agency specialising in Branding, Corporate Id, and Packaging… So I’d be happy to be involved (for a small fee, naturally) in helping you make sure future faux pas such as this one are avoided. The email is crocodilejock@gmail.com 

Starbucks Ad

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Lovely ad for Starbuck Dark Italian Roast coffee… more of an ad for riding a classic scoot though really. Nicely done. 

Found via the  Basque Radical Mods blog

More Lambretta art

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Here’s a wonderful Lambretta illustration I stumbled across on Flickr, by smallish fish. There’s a load of rubbish scooter art out there, but this would look great on a canvas on any Lambrettista’s wall. Yvie is the talented designer behind the drawing, get in touch, and bung her a few quid, I’m sure she’ll be happy. And if you like her style, you can by her little book of nonsense poems, drawing and photographs, for the heady sum of £2.50 from here.

Lambretta Fine Art

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Bit of culture for you, Lambrettaphiles… some fine art Indian artist Haribaabu Naatesan. “Using mostly electronic waste (e-waste) from gadgets and gizmos like motherboards, floppy discs, CD drivers, cellphones, CDs, etc, artist Haribaabu Naatesam reassembles them together to create incredible works of art. Aiming to liberate waste from its lowly condemned position, Naatesam breathes new life into junk pieces turning them into everything from birds and crabs to shoes and transportation.” Call me shallow, but I like it ‘cs it’s got a scooter in it! 🙂

 

American girl in Italy, 1950’s

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When I’m not riding a Lambretta, I’m either at home with the wife and kids, (usually doing homework), or at work being a graphic designer. One of the design blogs I visit, Design You Can Trust, recently featured some wonderful photography by an american photojouranlist Ruth Orkin. 

A lot of her most arresting images come from the ’50s and ’60s, and there’s a lot of New York scenes, celebraties and musicians. Fabulous stuff, if you’re interested there’s a great online archive here. The image that caught my eye though was “American girl in Italy”, initially because of the rather cool couple of gents, astride a Model D. I thought, what a great image… how cool are all the guys in the image, so well dressed… and then you see the girls face. She’s obviously not happy with all the attention she’s getting. Looks pretty scared in fact. Maybe the good old days weren’t quite as rosy as we like to think of them.

EDIT/UPDATE: I’ve just found out that this is an iconic image, that nearly everybody in the world had seen! It’s even referenced on the Lambretta Wikipedia page. Oh well!

I do love old pics of scooters though, even better when the scooters are quite incedental to the image. If you’ve got any old Lambretta shots, I’d love to see them.