Came across this pic online… probably a delivery of machines from Italy to Lambretta Concessionaires… I wonder what the contents of that trailer would be worth today!
Lorryload of Lammies
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Flippin’ cold this morning
Minus 3. Both my throttle and gears were frozen solid on the handlebars… juducious use of teh old WD40 and a towel heated in the microwave did the trick. Mind you by the time I got to work my fingertips were like ice – despite my winter gloves. Anyway, reminded me of the Cold Weather Challenge run by the guys over at 2StrokeBuzz… Check it out, and if you’re one of my readers in ‘the colonies’, why not give it a go? But if you do… stay warm, scoot safe.
Btw… the blogs not dead… got lots to post, it’s just getting round to it between work and family.
Interesting post to come about the ‘new’ (when does it stop being the new Lambretta??) Lambretta LN, from someone who’s actually got one… and has had a long correspondence with the Lambretta Consortium over ‘brand Lambretta”. Which I’ll stick up when I get my arse in gear. Which is even trickier than getting my scooter in gear when it’s minus three. (see what I did there?).
Rare tartan ‘deerstalker’ helmet on eBay
You’d need to be a certain kind of person to pull off wearing this; and probably need a nice LD or Series I with period tartan seat covers and wheel covers to go with it. Personally, although a proud scot, I was never sure about the tartan accessories that you could ‘dress’ your scooter with, but it’s a look, and when it’s done well it certainly evokes the era of the scooter.
And I’ve never been convinced about deerstalkers. Unless your Sherlock Holmes, leave well alone. I know some of the original mods wore them (briefly!), and there was a bit of a fad for them in the early ’80’s… very much part of the “casual” movement… worn with belted, burgundy leather jackets, very pale jeans frayed at the bottom and kickers. Or perhaps I’m getting all of that wrong, the casual thing never really grabbed me, I stuck with my charity shop/carnaby street mod revival look. Anyway, if I was going to wear a deerstalker, one in Cameron tartan (which I think this is) would come close to top of the list.
But if you’ve got the cojones to pull it off, here’s the bash hat that will make you stand out in the crowd. Although I certainly wouldn’t reccomend it for everyday wear. Buy it now for £160 on eBay.
I reckon it will go to Japan. They like this sort of thing out there!
Lambretta model C bits on eBay
I don’t usually post parts I’ve found on eBay up here, but these are sufficiently rare… well… you don’t see Model C bits coming up all that often do you? A couple wheel rims, a hub and a shock, If you’ve got a “C” it’s probably worth snapping them up, even if you don’t need them right now. Fella’s also flogging a couple of LD carbs. Just a bit of a heads up! Link, or search for Morris5901 on eBay.
Lambretta LN to be manufactured in Sicily?
Rumours have reached me that the new, much debated Lambretta LN may soon be manufactured in the old FIAT factory in Termini Imerese, near Palermo in Sicily. The plant is currently owned by Chinese auto manufacturer Chery International who are in negotiations with the makers of the new Lambrettas, Motom Electronics.
What this means to UK Lambretta fans is uncertain… maybe one more tick for it being an authentic “Italian” scooter perhaps? I think it may be more influential factor in the home Italian market.
By the by, and apropos of nothing, the girls of Mansfield seem quite impressed with the looks of the new Lammies, for sale a the Two Wheel Centre in the town.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas guys and gals. Scoot safe. See y’al in 2012.
Get them young.
I think it is the Jesuits who say ““Give me the child, and I will mould the man.” With this in mind, and trying to keep the “Way of the Lambretta” alive for future generations… when my kids came home from school with the following note “We are doing a project on transport. If any parents or grandparents have any interesting vehicles and would like to bring them in, we would be very grateful” … well, I had to respond. So I turned up, on the day, with a couple of other dads (well, actually they were Grandads) to show off our vehicles. As well as my 1960 Series 2, there was a 1962 Singer Gazelle, and a proper Al Capone style Chevrolet from 1932.
Two classes of six year olds (split into groups of ten), meant 60 kids clambering all over my scoot, but it was worth it to see the excitement in there faces. And I’m officially the coolest dad in the year (this week, anyway). I made a little bit of Lambretta propoganda / colouring page to ensure the next generation of Lambrettisti.
What’s in the mags…
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.
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.
Lambretta Tyre pressures
Credit card sized tyre pressure reminder. Download it and keep it handy!
American girl in Italy, 1950’s
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.
lambrettista.net 