We’ve all been there. Your Lammie always starts first or second kick. Unless there is somebody nearby that you want to impress, or you’re selling it, and somebody has come for a test drive. Temperamental beasts, Lambrettas… they don’t like being taken for granted. Not even by Dino!
A couple of dudes on LC’s
On a Lambretta, of course. Love these old ads. I’m going to post a bunch more, when I’ve got them scanned in.
Badass modified LD… Somehow somebody has managed to shoehorn a 450cc, race tuned Banshee lump into a Lambretta LD frame. And then ride it. On the road. In the rain. Hope the brakes have been uprated! Loving the twin pipes… and the noise it makes!
Thanks to my Twitter buddy and fellow Series 2 rider Stuart @stuartbumford for the heads up.
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!
• 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.
I found this fella via the Lambretta Club de France Facebook page, he would appear to be;
A) French. B) A photographer C) Intersted in Lambrettas D) Also interested in young ladies with a ‘well turned ankle’, usually wearing stockings. Nothing wrong with that.
Nice images anyway… some great quirky shots of the scooters at the “3 eme rassemblement national Lambretta”. Check out his Facebook page here.
(I know the last one’s not a Lambretta).
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.
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!
Links: LD & sidecar, LD & Girl, Model D, Lancia Lambretta Service Van.
Merry Christmas guys and gals. Scoot safe. See y’al in 2012.
The government has launched a consultation to decide whether or not pre-1960 cars, bikes and scooters should be exempt from the annual MoT test. Pre 1960 is fairly old for a Lambretta, but there are tons of Series 1’s (and maybe some very early S2’s) and earlier Lammies on the road. Maybe it’s another reason to look at getting an LD!
It’s beeing done on the basis that owners of classic bikes and cars are more likely to look after them properly, that they’re involved in very few accidents and account for a tiny percentage of the vehicles on the road, plus the fact that much of the modern MoT is not suitable for older vehicles anyway, the idea is to leave the responsibility for checking they’re well maintained up to their owners. The evidence shows that classic vehicles are more likely to pass the MoT than average.
Under the proposals, the test for pre-1960 cars and bikes would be ditched but there would still be a legal requirement to make sure they’re safe and ‘in a proper condition’ to be used on the road.
I’m not sure about this. I do keep my scooter in good condition, as I’m sure the majority of owners of classic Lambretta’s do, but in my mind, the MOT fulfils a couple of useful roles… it makes you do those annoying little jobs that you sometimes “let ride”, and it flags up things that you may never have spotted. Mines a 1960 vintage anyway, so it probably doesn’t apply to me!
What do you think? Let me know in the comments (you may have to join Posterous to do that, but, hey, it’s free!). Or if you feel strongly about it, let the government know. There’s a public consultation that will run until January 26, and can be found here.
Via Visordown. Read more here.
For many riders, we are approaching the end of the scootering season. Owners who have decided that they’ve done their last rally, are working on a new project or realised that they are never going to get their project finished are selling their scoots… so it may be a good time to buy… I always keep an eye on eBay, (not that I can afford another scoot, but there’s always my “fantasy garage”!) and there seems to be a glut of good Lambretta’s on there. My taste these days seems to be going further back down the Lambretta lineage, it seems the older I get, the older the scoots I like. I’ve got a particular hankering for Series 1’s, and LD’s at the moment. Here are a couple I’ve found on the bay. As with anything that I post up here, I’m not recommending, just highlighting… go and take a look and make your own mind up before you part with your readies.
This one isn’t your everyday LD, and that’s refelected in the price. Although it looks pretty authentic, and the two tone turquoise and cream paintjob screams 1950’s, it’s an Auto conversion by renowned builder Dave Briggs – those of you who’ve been paying attention may remember I mentioned him in a previos post on auto conversions – and it’s fitted with a modern Typhoon engine with a 172 conversion kit, upgraded clutch, gearbox, exhaust and brakes. Apparently it will “beat anything off the lights, sits at 70-75mph all day and still has more”. So if you want classic style, with auto performance and reliability, check it out on eBay here. I must admit, if I had the cash I’s be sorely tempted by this one.
But maybe originality is more important to you. Well, this little beauty certainly looks the part, and has an MOT on her until March next year, and has been lovingly restored from a ‘basket case’ with all Italian parts. Lovely. Here’s the eBay link.
They’re not the only LD’s out there, theres everything from fully restored £4k (Plus!) scoots to bare frames… and spares seem easily sourcable. So if you want a Lammy, and you want to look proper old school… maybe an LD’s worth a look.
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