I feel privileged to post this image from my new online pal Steve Morris – of his Mum and Dad on their Lambretta. This photos captures a perfect instant of joy! Steve has a fantastic Lambretta collection that I’m going to post more about soon!
Not much to say about this pic – and I’m not exactly sure she is a WPC – or as my granny used to say a lady policeman… but that’s my best guess! Know more about this pic? Let me know in the comments and I’ll update the description.
Thanks to Darrin Slack for sending me this one.
Lambrettas were modified for sporting use – almost from day one. There are a few Racing D models out there – I featured this stunner from Dan from Switzerland a while back.
Now, Racing D’s are pretty rare – but as you go back through the alphabet, the models get even rarer. The one featured here is 1951 Lambretta Model C 125 Racer – finished in the classic racing red!
She has all the bits you’d expect to see, such as:
A lovely piece of Lambretta racing history which has been “ridden in anger” many times, this scooter has featured in Italian magazines. It’s being sold by Parrspeed Scooters – a long established Lambretta specialist based in Chorley, Lancashire. They purchased the scooter from a private collector in Italy who had owned and raced her for many years. The scooter is now UK registered and comes with a new UK V5.
It’s for sale on eBay for a fiver under £6,500 here – which, with Lambretta prices the way they are, seems a pretty good deal for something so unique.
or give Parrpeed a shout on 01257 230221
Spotted this stunning Lambretta tin toy in near mint condition… although it’s missing it”s rear seat.
It’s not cheap – on for $2,153 – not so long ago you could pick up a real LD for this – if you shop around maybe you still can.
On eBay here.
Love this period pic from the ’50s of people turning out to watch some kind of motorcycle, or possibly scooter race. I love the way all their bikes, and scooters are ‘parked!’
Thanks to Daz for sending me the pic
UPDATE: I’ve been informed, in the comments that this is a pic of the 1954 Moto Giro d’Italia – which certainly fits with the Lambretta models on display. If you’ve got any further info on any of my posts – I’ve missed something out, or got something wrong, let me know in the comments, and I’ll update it!
This is a fantastic story of the restoration of a Lambretta FC, built to sell ice-cream – and now magnificently restored to it’s former glory. And what could be more Italian than Lambrettas AND Ice Cream?
Firstly, a bit of background. As well as providing affordable, stylish post-war transportation, the Lambretta was an exceptionally versatile ‘platform’ for small commercial vehicles. In addition to – and before we saw the Lambro range of light commercial vehicles – that I’ve written about before here – there was a wide range of “cab-less” vehicles – these date back to the earliest days of Lambretta – The first FA’s being exhibited at the Milan trade fair back in 1948. The “F” designation stands for “Furgone” (Italian for van) – and here things may get a little confusing – as Lambretta later launched a “F” model, in line with their alphabetical naming policy – but these early commercials (the FA, the FB and FC) preceded that, and were based on the Model A, B and C’s respectively.
The FC was a bit of a hybrid of the C and LC model – the scooter body basically a model C, but with the engine and cooling systems from the LC. As with the FA and FB models, the FC was configured with a ‘box’ at the front, with two wheels either side – with the power from the 125cc engine going to the single wheel at the back – the later Lambro’s adopted a different layout (single wheel at the front, cabin, box behind the driver, power going to the two rear wheels.
Enough background information. More than enough. Back to this particular machine! This magnificent scooter (a FC) is owned by Bruno Strigini – a lifelong Lambretta enthusiast – who discovered it and restored it to it’s former glory.
Bruno bought the Lambretta FC 1998. It was the second of four three-wheelers owned by the Galbiati family, the previous one, an FB model is now in Vittorio Tessera’s Lambretta museum. In the original documentation he got when he bought it, it shows it’s intended use was always to sell ice-cream – and it was approved as such. As you will see from the image above, it was in reasonably complete condition, just a little the ‘worse for wear”.
What was intact though was the fantastic original signwriting – including the name of the town the “Galbiati Brothers” were based – Perosa Argentina (a municipality near Turin in North West Italy, and not the South American country!). Galbiati’s plied their trade between Perosa Argentina – a municipality near Turin, and the Italian ski resort of Sestriere, about 40km away.
Bruno was lucky enough to meet the original owner, Sr. Galbiati, and stayed with him for an afternoon in 1998. Since then, he’s been in contact only with his daughter, who gave him the original photos featured here, and the original cork tubs where she made ice cream. Originally, the ice-cream was kept cold with a mixture of ice and salt, but Bruno designed a modern cooling system that preserved the original wooden box. It can now hold 32kg of ice cream in four flavors, and is equipped with a battery-powered compressor that can maintain -20 degrees Celsius for two days independently.
Bruno has done a done a magnificent job restoring this wonderful machine to it’s former glory, and it’s fully functional as it’s original purpose. It’s clear that he really cares about the story of the machine – telling me he regards it as ‘part of the family’. It’s great to see a machine with such a heritage of the scooter, an important, slightly forgotten part of Lambretta history.
I’ll close this post with apologies to Bruno, who sent me this story and the fabulous pics, some time ago now. While Lambrettas are my passion, and I love working on this blog, between work and family commitments, I sometimes I just can’t seem to find them time to update it as often as I would like to! Bruno also owns the “daddy of all Lambretta commercials” an FA model, but that’s another story for another day, and another post!
I’m sure many of you will have heard of the tragic passing, in truly shocking circumstances, of Lambretta enthusiast Tik Tester. Tik leaves behind a young family. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help them out at this awful time. All funds will go directly to them.
Here’s the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-brothers-family-at-this-sad-time
Here’s the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-brothers-family-at-this-sad-time
Regular contributor Darrin Slack sent me these great pictures of some Spanish Police Lambrettas… Look carefully at the first couple of pics, and you’ll spot some modifications to the standard Eibar models… firstly the additional (flashing?) light mounted on the headlight. The second, and more structural change is adding a siren, (clearly visible on the picture below) with a grill built into the side-panel to accommodate it. I’d imagine there was a fair few of these made… I wonder if any have survived intact? I’d love to see one!
The final picture is later, and features the Scooterlinea (or Slimstyle) Series 3 Serveta. They don’t appear to have front dampers, or disc brakes, and the front one seems to have a “Special” badge, rather than a “Jet” one. The obvious addition is that large flyscreen, this tiime with a (presumably) blue light built in.
If you have any further info about these Spanish Police Specials, I’d love to know!
Also, if they’re your images, I’d love to credit you properly, and give you a proper link. Of course, if you’d rather I took them down, I will.
I know that Serveta exported scooters to the US, and were used by the NYPD… but that’s another post for another day
As Monty Python used to say, “Now for something completely different!” – The Lambretta del Mare – or “Lambretta of the Sea” . Now I’ve featured various “amphibious” Lammies before (here and here) but never a fully fledged Lambretta powered boat before!
The Lambretta del Mare was a pleasure boat built by SARA of Rome. It was shown at the 1950 Milano Fiera trade show in the Montecatini Pavilion. The pleasure boat was powered by a LC 125 Lambretta engine.
Described as ‘elegant and easy to drive’ and ‘the most comfortable and most modern motorboat’ ‘The Lambretta del Mare allows navigation even with very rough sea. The great maneuverability, the shape and lightness of the hull give it remarkable stability and safety qualities. I used an innovative “Peralum” aluminum body produced by Montecatini making it extremely resistant to corrosion.
Those of you with better Italian than I can probably discover more from the brochure featured above… but it starts off saying something like… “Today, for the first time in the world, we are presenting a nautical vehicle; the “Lambretta del Mare” which allows a large number of the public to achieve an aspiration considered unattainable so far due to the high purchase price and the difficulty of transport and shelter” So – I’m assuming it was quite affordable – easy to transport – and to store – as it goes on to say the boat would fit in a standard size garage.
I wonder if this actually made it into manufacturing? And if so, how many of these actually made… which begs the question… do any still exist? It would be the ultimate addition to any Lambretta collection!
Thanks again to regular Lambrettista contributor Darrin Slack for finding and sharing these images!
I have a credit for the top photo… if I have to credit anybody else, please let me know.
I last wrote about the EBretta – an electric conversion for your classic Lammie – way back in 2013. Since then, things have move on – with Pat at the Siagon Scooter Centre (SSC) continuing the development of the classic E-Conversions and also developing a new range of Buzz EScooters.
For the classics what they have been aiming for is a complete bolt-in kit – with NO frame modifications required. The bolt in kits proved a big challenge – but, of course these days with the spiralling prices and users wanting to keep their classics original – offering a “reversible” kit for daily commuting etc, with the option to convert the it back to the original engine – either for touring, or just ‘originality’ provides the best of both worlds.
An electric Lambretta enables drivers to still drive in cities like Milan (of all places!) which have pretty much banned 2 strokes (except for weekends). With many other cities following these restrictions and this is only going to accelerate over the coming years.
Tino Saachi is one of our first appointed distributors; you can find some of his test videos on our SSC FB Buy and Sell page.
The latest version of the kit (specs below) uses the existing tank/filter area for the clamp-on battery tray. The lower junction box again clamps on – and houses all the electrics. With the kit SSC supply a 12″ Brushless hub motor, controller and 72v 3000w Lithium ion battery kit as standard. Other parts – like the modified rear mudguard – bolt onto the existing chassis mounts.
The new kits are now offering a good range and great performance on 1 charge which until recently with the older battery technology wasn’t anywhere near possible.
SSC Trademarks for both EBretta and VTronic. We currently have international distributors for the new kits in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Belgium, the USA and New Zealand with Australia and Japan pending.
As well as the kite, SSC are still offering complete fully restored italian Lambretta’s with e-conversions
Current EBretta specs are:
Performance:
What about the Vespas?
SSC’s latest VTronic Vespa large frame kit is under testing now – but it has been much more difficult to incorporate a decent size battery due to the bodywork design. They’re still working on 3 options for this either to reduce the battery size down to a 27amh battery which means they can install a drop in single Lithium Ion battery in the fuel tank area or refabricate the inner tank area wider to offer multiple linked batteries.
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