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.
Cards on the table… I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again. I’m not really into choppers. So I’ve ummed and ahhed about putting these two scoots in. They’ve been on eBay for a while, and the owner isn’t really bothered about selling them, unless he gets the right price. (£10k each) When you read the story that goes with them, you’ll understand why, and understand why I’ve written this post. Because, although I may not be into chops, I am into Lambrettas, a good story, passion, commitment and vision. And that is what it took Nipper to build ’em.
If they tickle your fancy, or float your boat, you can buy Skullduggery on eBay here or Egyptian Swan here
I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you which one’s which 🙂
Even if, like me, you don’t quite “get” the chopper thing, pop over to eBay and read Nippers story. You can’t help but admire the fella!
I had this fantastic sent to me by Carlos from the Lambretta Club of South Africa, (thanks Carlos!) It’s of a couple of French guys (although I think they actually may be from the french speaking part of Switzerland, from the writing on the ‘topbox’ flag on the laid down Lammie)… on route from Lausanne to “le Cap”. The pic was taken in the Sahara! That’s quite a trip! Carlos reckons it was sometime in the ’50’s. I love their style… baggy trousers, a pair of stout brogues, beatnik beards and a nice tweed sports jacket for when it gets a bit chilly. They bred ’em tough in them days.
Thanks again Carlos, and Andy for forwarding it on. If YOU have any old Lambretta shots, I’d love to see them, and post them up here.
Donnie Canning is a Bedfordhire based wedding photographer … so if your in the Bedford, Luton, Dunstable or Leighton Buzzard area, and your planning on getting hitched, check out his website here. But it’s not his Wedding photography that caught my eye on Flickr, it’s the great scootering images, including the ones of Donnie on his fantastic looking Eibar Winter Model. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll shut up and let the pictures do the talking.
Check out the Donnie Photography website.
© All Rights Reserved Donnie Canning
Reading in this article from India’s “The Hindu” online newspaper about the new found respect for Lambretta’s in India. SIL, (Scooters India Ltd) are still a going concern, still rolling out factory fresh GP200 engines like this one on eBay (I think they are still making them, they may have a big warehouse full of NOS somewhere!).
There are the usual newspaper inaccuracies about Lambretta history of course, but we’ll skip past them, to get to a nugget of info that stopped me in my tracks. Back in the day, the Lambretta scooter became the preferred personal transport of white-collar workers on the subcontinent, mostly government and bank employees. Soon, demand far surpassed production, and the waiting list for the vehicle lengthened. And lengthened. Mr Mr Raveendran, ex Superintendent of Government Gardens and Parks takes up the story;
“In the 60s, you could buy a Lamby only through the State Industries Department. One had to book the scooter and wait for a minimum of six years to take delivery”
Did you get that? A SIX YEAR waiting list! Although, as ever in life, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Mr. Raveendran managed to jump the queue, and get his scooter in two weeks.
The original article is here.
This is my third post about the work of The Rimini Lambretta Centre. I make no apologies for this, they produce first class work, and they are the acknowledged experts in the fine art of the “conserved restoration”. Coupled with there usually being an interesting story behind the work, and some great images, it’s a no brainer. So, on with the post, and what we have here is another fantastic job, on a small, but important piece of Lambretta history.
The owner, Marcello Taglialegne, picked up this machine, in a really sorry state, at a parts fair. Some nifty homework confirmed the sellers’ story that it was an Ancillotti original, and, although the bodywork was in a bad way, with a massive crack at the rear section of the frame, and the engine was missing, it was decide that this scooter MUST be saved! A ton of work was done. This included sourcing a NOS 200cc engine as originally used by the Ancillotti brothers, and a hand-made inlet manifold to house the unfeasibly large Dell’Orto that sticks out the side of this scoot like Satchmo’s horn. The other thing that draws your eye straight away on this unique Lambretta is the front mudguard, which looks like it’s on backwards! A point of ‘heated debate’ in the RLC workshop, it was the way Ancillotti originally did it, so it was going on like that. I kind of like it, and have certainly never seen anything like it before.
But my favourite part of this scoot is the seat. What a seat. Original to the scooter, and recovered, it sets the whole scoot of beautifully. The first time I ever heard the word Ancillotti was in relation to scooter seats (back in the day, it was that or a “Snetterton”) and this is the daddy of all Ancillotti racing seats. I want one like that!
For the full story of all the painstaking, period correct work that was carried out, and it’s quite a saga, but a good read; see the RLC website. There’s lots more pics of this fascinating scooter on there too.
This 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.
https://vimeo.com/83098639
Beautifully, really beautifully shot video of the Italian National Lambretta Rally. Lovely piano soundtrack, that really works. Stunning. Watch it in full screen, please. That’s it, other than I found it on Vimeo, and it’s by RDigital Salerno
After yesterdays contreversial post, which is splitting the scootering, blog reading nation even as I type (The internet is in meltdown, literally nine people have voted). I thought I’d post something nice, safe, and uncontroversial. So, Hot on the heels of this German NSU video… here’s a nice American chap, who owns and rides a Lambretta. A German one.
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