Told you there’d be scooters. Amazing vid from one of the lucky few who rode around the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night.
The London 2012 Olympic Ceremony – from the back of a scooter
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Tag Archives: Lambretta
Lambretta from the 1960 Rome Olympics
While we are engrossed in the London 2012 Olympics, there are not many Lambretta’s on view… (UPDATE: A secret source tells me that classic scooter fans may be in for a pleasant suprise at the closing ceremony. I’m saying no more!!) unlike the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where Innocenti supplied 80 scooters (as well as 20 Lambros and 2 Helicopters!) for the use of athletes, officials and the press. This must have been quite a coup for Innocentini …the Vespa marketing department must have been kicking themselves! I wonder if Cassius Clay rode a Lambretta before he went on to win his Gold medal… no there’s a picture I would like to see!
Of the original 80 scooters (LI 150 Series 2’s) only 3 are known to have survived… and one has been loving restored a few years ago at The Rimini Lambretta Centre.
More (or less) than a “standard” restoration, it was deemed too historically important for that – this was a “conserved restoration” where as much of the original scooter as possible was preserved. The full story or the restoration, and some pics can be seen here. Those in the know in Lambretta circles recognise that Dean Orton and Paolo Catani at the Rimini Lambretta Centre as one of the few places on the planet capable of work to this standard.
The whole story featured in Scootering magazine a few years back, and additional information for this article comes from the excellent MandM Lambretta blog. More pics, and a link to the Scootering article there.
This almost unique scooter is now in the hands of US Lambretta collector Robbie Morelli. There is another at Vittorio Tessera’s Lambretta Museum, just outside Milan.
Interestingly, Rome are in the running for hosting the 2020 Olympics… I wonder if there will be any LN’s (or there succsesors) supplied to the athletes… I think they should all have these electric Lambrettas for getting around!
EDIT: Just found another great pic on t’internet. I’ll add any more as and if I find them.
(Belated) Congratulations, Mr Wiggins.
I’ve been meaning to put something up about Bradley Wiggings for a while, But with Team GB doing so well in the Olympics, it’s been hard to tear myself away from the telly. Anyway, it’s about time I gave a bit of Lambrettista recognition to one of Team GB’s greats, and indeed one of our greatest sportsmen:Bradley Wiggins.
The Tour de Fance and Olympic Gold within days of each other is an achievement that is unlikely to be matched, and certainly won’t be at a ‘home’ Olympics. But what’s that got to do with Lambretta’s?
Well Mr Wiggins (and athough there are calls for it to be SIR Bradley, I think he’d be more comfortable with Mr – after all he doesn’t even use the OBE he already has) musical taste has been well documented. Getting into the mod scene through Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene, he has also acquired a taste for vintage guitars and classic scooters. And although the only picture I’ve got is him on a V*spa, I’m reliably informed he is a “Lambretta man”. I’m told he owns a couple of Lammies, including a Series 3 TV175. Nice.
So I’m (finally) adding this blog’s humble congratulations to the rest of the adulation Wiggo is receiving. And as a mark of respect, I’m suggesting all of us fellas of a certain age who sport similar sideys to Wiggo’s iconic ones, christen them “Bradleys”. Next trip to the barber “No. 2 at the back and sides, a bit longer on top with the scissors, and just thin out the Bradleys”. Works for me
Check out Wiggos collection for Fred Perry here, and listen to him on the Modcast with Eddie Pillar here.
The illustration of Wiggo astride a Lambretta is by top artist Pete McKee… who is deserving of a Lambrettista blog post in his own right. If you”re reading Pete, it will happen! And if you can direct me in the direction of the artist(s) who created the illustrations, I’ll give them proper acredititation.
Finally, if you get to read this Mr Wiggins, get in touch and send us some photos… I’f love to talk scooters with you!
Lambretta collection for sale on eBay.
Ok, we’ve all been there. You’ve got a few spare qiuid jangling round your pocket and you fancy a Lambretta. But which model? Descisions, descions. Well, worry no more cash rich scooterist, there’s no need to make those hard descions. You can buy an entire Lambretta collection on eBay, here. Eight scooters, from a Model D 150 thru to a Lui 50… all restored six years ago and dry garaged since then. Most of them seem to have won awards at various European Lambretta events of the years, and each comes with a dossier documenting their restoration, and some original brochures and other collateral. Nice. Only wish my numbers had come up on the lottery the other night!
The models are:
• 1956 Model D 150
• 1956 LD 150
• 1961 Li 150 Series 2
• 1964 LI 125 Series 3
• 1967 J 125 (Starstream – or Stellina in Italian)
• 1967 Lui 50
• 1970 J50 Special
• 1971 Dl (GP) 200
They are for sale for €76,900.25 No, I don’t know why the 25 cents.
That’s about £56k in proper money. Which works out a shade under £7k each if you divide them equally. A tad pricey I would have thought, although some of the scoots have some nice original period accessories. If you are interesed in purchasing this collection, they’re on eBay, here.
Rallymaster replica on eBay
One of my favourite old skool cutsom machines, the Rallymaster was a special build by Lambretta Concessionaires for sporting UK scooterists competing in rallying/scrambling type events.
At the time, it was probably the best Lambretta built, this of course would make it the best scooter in the world. There were quite a few variations from the standard Series 2 Lambretta… all of which have been faithfully reproduced on this fine replica, now for sale on eBay.
You can get all the details there of course, but check out the Eibar style turning front mudguard (with horncasting to match), the working Raydot spotlight, and the rear grab rail… epsecially usefull if the back wheel gets stuck in mud; and, my favourite feature, the intrument panel with a stop watch, map light and rev counter.
Check out the full details here.
Lambretta Ladies
I’ve posted some pics of Lambretta’s with young ladies draped over them before… recently featuring the work of Laurent Callot, and a collection called SX Appeal… but as you can never have too much of a good thing, here’s a few more. Very sexy shots, and the ladies aren’t bad either. I don’t know where these come from originally, but these come from a collection on the excellent “The Sooterist” blog. Check it out, he always posts good stuff.
Lambretta Video
Don’t know much about Dario Todisco who created this vid, but he’s done a nice job. If this is 25%, I can’t wait to see the other 75!
Via The Scooterist
Lambretta used in shoe ad…
Never mind where she got the shoes… where did he get the scoot?
If you want to make your ad sexy and stylish, just add a couple of pretty girls and a Lambretta. Nerver fails. Nice Lammy, used to flog footwear.
Via the Scooterist blog.
Fine filmage
I came across this movie on Da Nguyen’s “The Scooterist” site, a fine blog which comes out of Vietnam. Nicely shot, it’s clearly a promo for the premium harrington (and other stuff) brand Baracuta, though the promotioanl element is fairly subtle… just the riders standing around in various pastel shade harringtons around the 1minute 10 mark! Nice selection of Lammies on display… although I must admit I lost interst a little during teh surfing segment… not quite my bag! I’m all for packing as much fun into a weekend as possible, but I must be getting a bit old, but a ride down to Woolacombe, a spot of surfing, a bit of Northern in the evening and a ride home the same day would probably be too much for my old bones!
Nice movie by Polymath Films, good soundtrack too.
J50 Restoration video
Haven’t posted for a while, will do soon, with an explanation! In the meantime, here’s a vid I found of a nice restoration of a J50.
lambrettista.net 