This photo must show the Innocenti production line just as it was switching over to the GP scooters.  I'm guessing that this lot of scooters was destined for the UK market.  You can tell these are the last of the SX150 and SX200 because they have the "square" horncasting badge.  You can also see that the white SX150 in the middle of the photo does not have handles on the cowl.  If you look at the far right, you'll see the tell-tale stripe of a GP sidepanel poking through between the legshield of the red and white SX.  Is it me, or does it look like all these scooters had silver wheels and brake drums?  That would make sense, as the GP's had those painted silver.  Also, note that the horn cover is polished silver and not painted on these scooters.  Kind of flashy!

Photograph shows some of German lads in Miltonberg, Germany - taken in fall 1951 or spring of 1952 . Written on back is: "German boys on motorcycles. I took the same picture for them with one of their camera's. Miltonberg, Germany. I know the date from other images of his from this trip- err tour..."

Via: The Scooterist.

Wow, this scooter on ebay has got to be one of the absolute worst bodge jobs that I have ever seen.  It really is a sort of "greatest hits" of all the ways that the supposedly "restored" scooters coming out of Vietnam go wrong.  Let's start with the picture above.  You can tell just by the look of it that something is very wrong.  The side cowl just looks totally off kilter.  It looks like they took a VBB body, and then hacked off the back of it to make it look like an earlier 50's Vespa.  They must have modified the cowl to fit, but it just makes it look like it was put on at the wrong angle.  How many rusty/beat-down Vespa frames went into the building of this particular scooter?  The world may never know... 

Of course, the handlebars are all wrong, and likely home-made, as is the "fender light".  The chrome just looks garish.  A chrome expansion chamber (also likely home-made and probably doing nothing for performance)... why not? 

Here you see the abomination at the front end. The legshields look far too upright.  That is clearly a P-series fork, and it looks horrible. Not only that, but you have to question how they modified the fork to fit in this frame. Some cutting and welding was certainly required. Would you trust your life to that?

This thing is just horrible.  They even didn't bother to take new pictures for the ebay listing.  This is clearly shot in the old country, and they were too lazy to take off the Vietnam license plate.  The ebay listing says Miami Florida, but the photos say Ho Chi Minh City.

The January Auctions in Las Vegas are over.  There were a few (probably) bad scooters that made it to the auction block, and brought way more than they should have.  There was a really bad Vietnam restored Vespa, and a Series II Lambretta that looks like it was an A.P.I. Indian-made Lambretta that was "restored" there.  Both buyers are likely to be very dissapointed.  As expected, the TWN and the Salsbury brought big money.  They looked like they were quite nice.  Here are some of the notable results:

• Vietnam "restored" Vespa VBB in horrible pink- somebody got snookered!: $3800
• Lambretta LI125 Series III, refreshed in good shape, someone got a good deal: $2000
• Cushman 52A Pacemaker, restored: $2100
• Lambretta LI150 Series II, looks to be from India: $3400
• Cushman Series 60, older restoration: $3900
• Cushman Super Eagle, restored: $3900
• Misubishi Pigeon/Wards Riverside Nassau, unrestored excellent: $4250
• Harley Davidson Topper, restored: $4250
• Mustang Thoroughbred, restored: $5750
• Mustang Thoroughbred, restored: $7250
• TWN Tessy, restored: $7500
• Salsbury 85, restored: $11,750

Friend of the site, Horacio, from Argentina, sent us this photo of his Siambretta LD. It sure looks nice! Siambrettas were Lambrettas built under license in Argentina. They built LD's, Series II's, and their own version of a TV175 Series III that looks very different from the standard Italian TV. The Siambrettas were never sold in the US, so I've never seen one in person.

Feel free to send us your photo, we love seeing scooters!

"Since no country has control over the place it is full of smugglers, illegal money changers, blown up vehicles, land mines, cars left here from various insurance scams and piles of trash. ATTENTION! There are no police or military here. There's no law. However, there are plenty of mines. Always stick to the dirt track."

Three Norwegians are driving Vespas from Morocco to Guinea Bissau as part of a sort of time trial race. Yes, they are crazy. We here at Scooterlounge wish them well, and also wish we were 1/100th as brave. You can follow their exploits on their blog here.

We here at Scooterlounge don't just blog, we also run a scooter website... Life has been pretty busy for the last year or so, and we have not had a lot of time to push updates or additions to the main site. All our efforts have been mainly going to keeping the blog going.

Well, that is changing. We're working on a bunch of new content for the site. Some of it based upon things we've done for the blog, and others are just nice fresh pages.

The first thing we have for your is Dano's amazingly detailed story of how he restored his Lambretta SX200 (pictured above, after restoration). This is the good stuff. You want to read it, I know you do. Head on over to the main site and check it out!

Do you like this blog, but are too enfeebled to navigate to it on a regular basis?  Well then, have we got a deal for you!  The technical wizards who work in the Scooterlounge.com IT development department have come up a nifty new 'Atom' feed for the blog. 

Just click the orange RSS feed button at the top of your browser, and voila!, you are subscribed.  New posts will fly through the interwebz tubes directly to your computer.  No pesky clicking, no annoying thinking, it just magically shows up there.  How, you ask?  I don't know.  The eggheads in IT explained it to me, but all I heard was "bleep, bloop, blorp, nerd, nerd nerd".  No matter... subscribe to our new RSS and I'll promise to pet my cute and fuzzy doggie for you.  My dog thanks you in advance.

What a great photo! Dean Martin, in what looks like the height of his Rat Pack, swingin' 60's powers. I'm not sure who the starlet on the Lambretta Cento is... but you can bet that she had some fun with Dean later that evening.

The auctions are starting this weekend. This Lambretta Li 125 is up for auction at the Mid-America motorcycle auction in Las Vegas.  It seems like a reasonable scoot.  I can't asy for sure, but I think I've seen this one for sale before... maybe on ebay?

More photos of this toy below the jump.

This Mitsubishi Pigeon is up for auction at the Mid-America motorcycle auction in Las Vegas.  You don't see many of these for sale in any condition.  This one is advertised as being in original condition.  It looks great.  The Pigeon is certainly an odd-ball scooter, and there are quite a few other brands that are higher on my "want" list... most notably a Fuji Rabbit.  However, if you are in the market for one of these scooters, this looks like one you should have a look at..

For a little background, here is a small article I did on the Wards Nassau/Mitsubishi Pigeon.

Well, I finally got some time to dig in to that tasty Lambretta GP150 that I featured last month.  I had tried to kick it over, but the clutch was clearly stuck.  Time to crack the cases and put in some new clutch plates!

More Lambretta clutch goodness below the jump

This Lambretta Li Series II is up for auction at the Mid-America motorcycle auction in Las Vegas.

This scooter looks very much like an Indian "restoration". These Series II scooters were made and sold in India for a while before SIL bought the presses for the GP models. Whoever buys this scooter is likely to be very disappointed.

The Salsbury is my favorite scooter. I've never had the pleasure of owning one, but I did come close once... they just don't come up for sale often. This one has been restored, and looks great. If I had the cash, I'd be bidding on this scoot for sure!

The Salsbury is up for auction at the Mid-America motorcycle auction in Las Vegas.

The big Las Vegas motorcycle auctions are coming up. I don't have the kind of cash to be a player there, but I can drool over the bikes via the magic of the interwebz. As usual, there are a smattering of scooters mixed in amongst the Vincents, Triumphs, and BMW's. Over the next few weeks, I'll highlight the ones that I find.

This TWN Tessy is up for auction at the Mid-America motorcycle auction in Las Vegas.

Compare it with this TWN that sold for $3300 at auction last year.

I can't say that I find the Tessy a very interesting scooter myself... it is pretty strange looking, and quite rare here in the US. Will this restored one bring as much as the tatty looking one from last year?

Happy Holidays everyone! I'll be on vacation for the next few days, so this will be the last post for about a week. I hope Santa brings you the scooter you've been hoping for. I know you've been (mostly) good this year...

Wondering what to get your scooterist friends for Christmas? Well, there may just be enough time to get them this DIY painted scooter bank. The best part, it is only $5! Check it out here at Mindware.

It looks like a Lambretta Model A in the foreground, and a Model C in the background... plus a Fiat 500 for good measure. Don't they all look stylish?

Thanks to friend of the site, Nick G., for sending this photo our way.

A friend of mine has some really nice Lambrettas, and is slowly downsizing his collection. I recently helped broker a sale of this really original and tidy GP150. This is an original Italian one that was first sold in the UK. Note that the Italian market version would have the "DL 150" badge, rather than the GP. I'm working on making a gallery for this scooter, and once I get the time to build a page, you can find other photos here.

I agreed to help the new buyer of the scooter by getting it running for him. The GP is in great shape, but it has been sitting in my friend's collection for many years. He guessed that he had not started it in at least 10 years. So there are certainly going to be some cobwebs to clear out.

Things I immediately noticed were that the tires were dry rotted, and the clutch was stuck. Opening the gas tank released a toxic brew of fuel gone bad, so that would need to be sorted.

More below the jump.

Your San Francisco welcoming committee says: "Jump on the back!".

Via Dottoressadania.

Made by artist Eugene Tan.

Via: JackIsNotDull.

Walt Disney's Goofy riding a scooter, by Marx toys (circa 1970).

Lambretta LD ad from 1955

Art by Mark Handforth. Via: Hammer.

This is a real for sale ad. Not a joke. Just to preserve this gem for posterity, I give you the ad text...

Up for sale is a 1958 Vespa project scooter round tail. The frame has been cut in half by a previous owner. I have no idea why they did it. The frame can be welded back together. Comes with headset bottom (do not have the top), fork, and front fender. I also have a Vespa motor or two that can go with the bike. Motors aren't complete, but can be pieced together for a complete one. I am selling several other Vespa projects. Buy them all or more than one and I will cut you a deal. Not interested in trades.

"I will cut you a deal"... get it? Oh man, this is awesome! Anyone who buys this and tries to weld it should send me pictures. Also, let me take a life insurance policy out on you first, ok?

Let's say, for sake of argument, that you like scooters. Let's also assume that you enjoy a slice of pizza now and again. Check, and check. Ok. So really, what you need is a pizza cutter in the shape of a P-series Vespa. Yes. Yes, you do.

Sadly, this is not available in the U.S. However, our UK readers can hop on over to the Dwell website and pick one up for your next pizza party.

(October 1958) "A three-wheel convertible passenger vehicle, which deivers over 75 miles per gallon of gas, the Lambretta "Surrey" has just been introduced into the country by the Innocenti Corp., 45 Columbus Ave., New York City, distributor of the Itailan-made Lambretta motor scooters and commercial utility vehicles. Built upon the same rugged chassis that supports the popular three-wheel Lambretta commercial vehicles and powered by the same 150cc two-cycle engine, the new Lambretta "Surrey" is equipped with a beutifully designed body built by Ghia, the famous Itlian custum automobile body manufacturer. Although intended primarily for use at resorts, airports, amusement centers and other places where pleasnt short-haul transportation is required, the new Lambretta "Surreys" have already been adopted by several golf clubs as golf carts."

1950's Hong Kong movie star Mai Ling with her scooter.  I have no idea what kind of scooter this is.  Any guesses?

Via Softfilm

11/02/11 Update: My good friend Andrew took one look at this magazine cover, and his eye was drawn not to the Doris Day look-alike... oh no, it was to the BUS in the background! Hah! He thinks the bus may have been made by Alfa Romeo. You see, Andrew is an Alfa Romeo guru, and helped me immesurably in buying my own Alfa. He forwarded on two old Alfa Romeo bus brochures. All of you fans of fast cars and stylish public transportation - rejoice. The brochures are available below the fold...

(1971)

Here is a website that gives some basic instructions on how to make a neat wooden Vespa/sidecar combo.  This site is for pinewood derby competitions, but I think this would be great to use to just make a cool toy for a kid, maybe yours!

Children's record - I can't imagine that many of these survived the abuse of a kid's record player. Peter Pan Records (1964). Made in USA.

While the Italians would never pass up the opportunity to put a scantily-clad woman astide one of their scooters in an advertisement... the Japanese had a very different approach - SUMOI!!

Friend of the site, Paul in North Carolina, emailed me awhile back when he found a Sears smallframe 125. He ended up buying in, and got it going with a little tinkering. As you can see in the photo above, the Sears 125 has some unique features. It was a one-year only model for Sears, and was sold the last year that they sold Vespas. It has the "mickey mouse" tail light that was produced by Siem to comply with US regulations for that year only. All in all, it was a great find, and you can follow Paul's adventures riding it on his blog.

This nifty card can be found here at 1973. It is a UK based shop, so I'm not sure if it is available in the US

From Cycle World Magazine, 1962

Via: Silencetv, hat tip to Ride the Machine.

Red Bull did some sort of promotion in Italy where they allowed a bunch of Vespas and Lambrettas to ride on Fiat's strange test track in Lingotto, Italy. Motoblog.it was there, and got some great photos. This one is my favorite.

This ad was in Cycle Magazine in 1964

"Shown here picking up her groceries for the day is Mrs. Sandra Schefer of Scarsdale, New York, with her dog, Herman. Convicted of drunk driving in an unfortunate incident that involved a '59 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible, a country club bellboy, and a rotunda fountain... she needed to find a vehicle that would allow her to drive, despite her suspended license. Mrs. Schefer applied her considerable reasoning ability to her problem. She found just the ticket in this nifty 1961 Lambretta three-wheeler. It seems that this not-quite-a-motorcycle, not-quite-a-car contraption, fell through the laws of New York State, and did not require a license to drive. Not only that, but she found that it could easily carry a case of whiskey, some vodka, and all her bloody mary ingredients while still leaving room for her dog."

Excerpts from Cycle World July 1968

Those of us who like accessories have our favorites. On my Series 2 TV175, it's the floorboard extensions. On my Starstream it's the rear rack/spare carrier. For my Series 3 Li Special it's that goofy little headlight stone guard.

It is not clear whether this is an original Vespa racer, or a re-creation. In either case, it is an amazing scooter!

Via: Team Vespa Barcelona

This is a photo of the prototype Lambretta twin cylinder motorcycle built in the early 1950's. This motorcycle was never actually put into production. One or two of the prototypes were made. At least one has survived, and is in a private collection in Italy. It was 250cc v-twin motor with a set-up like a Moto Guzzi. I believe that the bike was raced at some point.

Up for sale on Ebay is a fairly rare Vespa Sprint, sold by Sears department stores. As we all know, Sears sold Vespas for about 15 years. Mostly they sold bottom of the line 125cc models. However, for the very last year that they sold Vespas, Sears sold the Sprint 150. They sold it along side the VMA1 Vespa 125 smallframe. One often sees the smallframes, but rarely a Sprint. These scooters had a few small unique things on them. The seats were the early Spint type, and they are small and narrow. They had a small "Sears" badge at the back of the seat. The legshields had a very nice blue metallic sticker that said "Sears" in gold letters. This scooter appears to be missing the un-obtainium sticker. And finally, they all had the "mickey mouse" Siem tail light. This particular scooter looks to be a good restoration candidate. Hopefully it will go to someone who will really fix it up. Right now the bidding is hovering around $800, I'd expect it would be well-bought up to around $1200... I guess we'll see!

Can you think of a good caption for this photo?

This photo was in the September 1956 issue of Vogue magazine. The model looks very 50's, in a good way!

For the scooter collector who has everything... a rare Eastern European scooter trailer. I've seen these things from time to time, but they are certainly few and far between. The prices on them seems to be going up, and I'm pretty surprised that this one has gone as high as it has. $1200 USD at the time of this writing! You could certainly buy a whole running scooter for that much money. I wonder where it will end up. If you want to make a play for it, find it here on ebay out of Ohio.

You could buy both and fit them in a one-car garage with room to spare! It is hard to imagine what one of these Vespa 400 cars must have looked like to the average American car buyer in the late 50's. Park this next you your 1959 Cadillac... it would probably fit in the trunk.

Last month was one of my favorite scooter rallies, the San Francisco Classic. This used to be the biggest scooter rally in the country. Around 2000, it was pulling over 300 scooters! It is not that big anymore. The Classic sprung out of a tradition of having a big scooter rally in San Francisco in August beginning at least in the early 90's. I know I've been going to them since then. In any case, this rally used to be called King's Classic when it was put on by the Rally Kings SC. Now that the Rally Kings are no longer, it has been taken over by the Black Sheep SC. They do a great job. Barry from the DNA Lounge always hosts a great party at his club for the custom show, and the crew from Black Sheep put on an amazing picnic for the Sunday event. Some of our Oakland club members participated in the now-traditional Sunday dodgeball tournament... but we got trounced. All in good fun! Here are some photos from the Sunday picnic.

It is hard to tell when this photo was taken.  I'm guessing it was during the first mod revival in the late 70's. The big tell is in the far left of the picture, the distinctive outline of a white P-series Vespa. That at least dates the photo to post-77. Clothing, hair styles, and helmets look more 70's than 90's.

This odd Lambretta turned up on my local Craigslist in San Francisco. It is a Lambrett GP200 that has been totally chromed. As you can tell by the photo, this scooter was all done up in India. The seller has not even bothered to take a photo of it in the US. That tells you something right there. In any case, why anyone would want to do something like this is beyond me. Of course, doing this much chrome work would cost a fortune in California. Good thing they did it in India, where presumably all of the toxic sludge will end up in thier rivers... ugh! However, if this sort of thing is your taste, you may want to investigate further. I'd be a bit cautious though. Is it in the US? Is it a scam? Will you have a blown up motor in two weeks because it was put together poorly in India? Who knows! One thing is for sure, it will blind all passers by...

For all you scooterists who are also quilters (and you know who you are)... I give you this quilting pattern. You're welcome.

via craftzine blog

The comic below tells a story. It may tell that story a little crudely for some people's taste, but considering the subject I think it illustrates the point well and with appropriate tone. If you use online forums much then you will know exactly what I am talking about. If you don't then please allow me to explain.

Here we have a pretty rare bird in the US, a Lambretta 48 moped. These must have been sold in the US in very small numbers, because I've only ever seen one other one in the flesh. That said, even though they are rare, I don't think they are particularly valuable machines. This one appears to have had a very long slumber in a very disorganized garage or basement. There is a lot of crud, dirt, and grime on this little 'ped. However, it is a pretty interesting machine, and would appeal to both scooter folks and moped folks. If I found one near me, I'd certainly pick it up, just for the oddity appeal. This seller, however, thinks he has solid gold on his hands. I think this moped would be a fair deal if the seller lopped a zero off the end of his $2250 asking price. As it is, I is going to stay in the seller's basement to be resurrected another day...

August 3, 2011 Update - I just took a look at this auction again, and the scooter made $5,000 USD. That sure is strong money for a scooter that is in boxes and needs a full restoration. It goes to show that the TV Series I is probably the most collectable Lambretta out there.

July 26, 2011Here on eBay, we have something of interest - a Lambretta TV175 Series I. Only the most serious, and perhaps foolhardy, scooter restorer need apply. The TV Series I is certainly one of the most desireable Lambrettas. For their time, they set the performance and comfort standard, along with the Vespa G.S. The Series I design was short-lived, however. The motors were needlessly complicated, and very different from the Li Series I. Innocenti quickly realized that they could improve reliablility and rationalize production by basing the TV motor on the Li motor. So by the time the TV 175 Series II came out, there were only a few styling cues to differentiate the outside from the Li 150, and only a few internal differences in the motor to increase performance. Because many parts are unique to the TV 175 Series I, it is really important when restoring one to have one that is virtually complete. Is that the case here? Who knows! Do you feel lucky? Well do ya? The photos give one hope that nothing major is missing, I see a lot of parts there.

The possible reward for the daring is great... the possible pain of a long and expensive parts search is also great... Who will step up?

Click through the jump for a photo of what it COULD look like when this scooter is restored!

I was working on getting this scooter ready to drive after a long hibernation, and found that the clutch was stuck.  The plates must have gotten gelled together, which is not totally uncommon for scooters that were sitting for a long time.  Time to pull the clutch and replace the clutch plates!

First, I got the scooter up on my lift.  I put the centerstand on a two-by-four to get it lifted up a bit, then I clamped the front wheel in the vise on my lift.  With the rear wheel up in the air, I could start working.  I pulled the bottom rear shock bolt from the motor, and let the motor drop a bit. Then I removed the rear wheel.

Continue after the jump for the rest of the story... 

A friend just got some new tires, and asked me to help get them set up.  This is a pretty easy job, that you should be able to do at home.  However, there are a few tricks.  Let's get started!

The first thing you want to do is to get everything ready and set out.  If you are using a used rim, you'll have to get the old tire off.  That can be a major pain, and will likely be the topic of another post.  For now, I'm going to assume that you have a bare set of rims, a new tire, and a new tube. 

Via: the Vespa Club Roma.

After yesterday's post about the project TV175, I figured I'd pull out an old photo of one all together! Here we have a Lambretta TV175 with a lot of neat accessories, from a 1958 magazine advertisement for a women's clothing line

Here we have a scooter that ticks me off... It is a Vespa Sprint, that was very obviously done up in Vietnam. You can see all the hallmarks of the Viet-disaster all over this scooter. Shall I tick them off for you? Ok... 1) Glovebox: Sprints didn't have one, 2) chrome doo-dad at the top rear of the steering column, 3) bent chrome tip on exhaust, 4) chrome license plate surround for Viet-size plate, 5) odd color floor strips, 6) chrome seat grab handle, 7) chrome rear tray, 8) odd color seat covers, 9) crappy repro tail light. On the other hand, it has some nice looking rear crash bars, so it has that going for it! You say you still don't think this was a mass-produced Viet bike? Just type in "Vespa Union Jack For Sale" in google. I found this scooter, that looks pretty much the same, for sale in the UK.

It's done. Finished. The scooter rally I have been planning (with the help of others, of course) for the past ten months, the Lambretta Club USA's 2011 Lambretta Jamboree, is over. The weekend that at one time felt like it would never come, July 8^th through 10^th, has come and gone.

(Logo design by Tom Carey.)

I've been a bit slow on posting recently, mainly because I've been so busy going out and having fun. One of the fun things I've been out doing is riding on the Moto Melee.

The Moto Melee is one of the highlights of my year. It is an 850 mile ride over three days for vintage motorcycles and scooters. I've ridden it many times, and it always blows me away. This year was no exception.

While I could regale you with stories of motorcycle bliss, I won't. This being a scooter publication, I'm going to focus on the scooters. Two of them to be exact.

Cesare Bartolini racing in the 1969 Moto Giro d'Italia on a factory-sponsored Lambretta SX200 which was race-modified by the Ancilloti firm

Via racinglambrettas

This is one of those rare Ebay moments, when the quickest draw gets a super deal. Here we have some longtime owner who didn't know what he had, and put, what could be described as a "barn find" Lambretta SX200 up on Ebay. Now normally, if the seller knew anything about how Ebay worked, he would have just run a normal auction. However, for some reason, he put a Buy-it-now of $1500 for this scooter. What a deal! What strikes me as totally insane is that you can see that there were a total of five bids on it. So that means that four people saw the ad, and did not hit the $1500 buy it now, but bid below that. I think we can safely classify those people as dumbasses. I feel sorry for the seller, who if he would have run a normal auction would likely have gotten around $4000 for this scooter.

I've been riding my trusty PX200 daily for the past year. I've had it for around 8 years, but really only started commuting on it when I moved, and added some fairly significant highway driving to my commute. In any case, it has been a good scooter, as one expects from a late model P-series. However, in the last month, I was smelling gas frequently when I stopped. At first, I thought I had a leak at the petcock under the tank. I looked under there, and I found no leak. Then I thought it was the carb. So I replaced the carb float bowl and needle, but I still smelled gas. At some point, the leak got so bad, that I could physically see fuel coming out of the bottom of the scooter... ok, time to really hunt it down!

After pulling the tank again, and finding no fuel, I felt behind the motor for the fuel line. It was wet. So I figured that I should pull the entire fuel line to see if I could determine the cause of the leak.  When I pulled the fuel line out, I could see that it had gotten hard, and had actually cracked in several spots.  The cracks must have been getting worse slowly, and eventually gotten bad enough to leak.  Time to replace the fuel line!

I had the idea to write this Guide awhile back when it came to mind that potential Lambretta Club USA 2011 Lambretta Jamboree rallygoers ought to know about the possibility of rain during the rally. Yeah, I know, rain in mid-July. That's Portland for ya. Then I thought about riding over light-rail tracks in the rain, which can be hazardous. Then I thought about some of the complications we've had to deal with around planning for serving alcohol at the Saturday night party.

And there was more. After awhile I had a list of stuff I felt people might want to know about when making plans to come to Portland for the 2011 Lammy Jammy. And thus the concept for th' Capn's Guide To Rallying In Portland was born. I hope you find it useful.

Innocenti stopped producing scooters in 1971, but they did not go out of business. Rather, they focused on building other products. Innocenti had been building cars, alongside the scooters, for a long time. They had aquired the license to build Austin sedans in Italy from BMC in 1960. Shortly thereafter, they started building the car you see pictured above... the Innocenti Spider. This car was based on the Austin-Healy Sprite, which shared components with MG's Midget sportscar. Eventually, Innocenti moved on to make their own version of the Austin Mini, which was quite popular in Italy. In fact, it appears that their sales volume in Italy in the late 60's was second only to Fiat. By the time Innocenti stopped making the Lambretta, it seems as though they decided to halt all vehicle production, and focus on their other manufacturing lines. Their whole car production line was bought outright by British Leyland (the manufacturer of most British cars at that time) in 1972.

Turning back to the Innocenti Spider - While the motor and undercarriage were the same as the Austin-Healey, Innocenti changed the body design. They contracted with Carrozzeria Ghia for the new body, with quite spectacular results. The Austin-Healey is a good looking car (especially the early "bug eye" version), but there is little doubt that the Innocenti Spider is simply beautiful.

I have seen this particular car in person at the last Alameda Italian Day show, and I can tell you it is as nice in person as it looks in the photos. You have to be very confident of your bodywork to paint a car black, and the panels on this car are great. If you'd like this car, it is for sale right now at the well-known collector car dealer Fantasy Junction. It is not what I'd call cheap, but at $25,000 USD, it is not totally out of reach either. I must say, it would look good in my garage next to the SX200!

Wow, this place is lousy with Super Sports these days! Right after the original-condition one we found up in Seattle, here is another one in my own backyard. This Super Sport, for sale in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the opposite of the one we featured the other day. It has been totally gone through. It looks good, and has really shiny lusterous paint. They were certainly not that shiny from the factory, but boy does it look good! The owner/seller has a scooter shop, so he has gone through it to make it run as good as it looks. A cool $5800 will put it in your garage... not cheap, but a really nice scooter.

This 1965 Super Sport is for sale right now in Seattle. It certainly has seen its share of use/abuse. However, it has the original paint, so you can easily see every blemish. That is a very good thing, because there are going to be no hidden surprises. It probably looks a bit worse than it actually is. This would make a very good basis for a restoration. One fairly minor drop on the right side looks like the worst of it. The price of $3500 is on the high end for a solid project, but the seller is a well-known and very reputable scooterist - that adds confidence and significant value. You can be sure that there is nothing that won't be disclosed. Given the fact that this is in the Pacific Northwest, the lack of significant rust speaks volumes for the overall condition. Honestly, you just don't see these things come up for sale in oringinal condition much anymore. If you've been waiting for a good SS180 to take to the next level, this is going to be it. Move fast and make a deal!

Vespa rider Vito Campobasso Italy performs a test jump in Romes Stadio Flaminio on Thursday 30 September 2010 in Rome

First published in the LCUSA members' magazine, the Specialist, April, 2008.

Many of us know of Vittoria Tessera. He owns Casa Lambretta near Milan, Italy. Many of us also know Alex Mackenzie, one of the owners of Vittorio's United States distributor, Casa Lambretta USA.

Greetings and welcome to my first installation on Scooterlounge.com! I will probably post something every couple of weeks, so don't get too excited and go thinking I'm going to be taking over for Paul. My entries are going to be of the same type of stuff that I've been writing for the Lambretta Club USA in my column in the members' magazine, the Specialist and the monthly members' newsbulletin, the LambrettGazette.

A scene from an episode of the old TV show Starsky & Hutch. Huggie Bear rolls a Series I Lambretta. Ya Dig?

This Lambretta Model C is up for its second go-around on ebay. The C's are very rare in the US, since they were never originally sold here. This one seems to have had a good restoration and has been kept in good shape since then. These scooters appeal mainly to serious collectors. They are not very amazing on the road. I own a D 150, and it feels like riding a moped, both in terms of size and performance. However, you sure are a hit showing up to the rally on one of these ancient Lambrettas! I'll be curious to see if this very nice C sells, and for how much.

I'll admit, here is something that I have never seen before... a set of original Vespa accessory goggles. I will have to look through the old accessory catalogs to see if I can find these. This is really cool. (Yes, I'm a nerd for liking them) I'm sure I'll never see another one again.

Via: New Cafe Racer Society

Angie Dickinson was in "Jessica", a pretty well known movie that featured her in Italy riding around on a Vespa. This photo must have been from that era

Last weekend was the "Loose Association of Lambretta Owners" (or LALO) ride in the San Francisco Bay Area. This year was a bit different than previous years, in that there were two separate rides. One in Oakland, and one in San Francisco. Family committments meant that I could only attend the Oakland portion. Convenient, since that is the Scooterlounge base of operations. Above is a photo of the scoots lined up pre-ride.

A lot more photos below the jump

This is a decent summer project scooter on Ebay in Minnesota. Anyone in the area should consider picking it up. I'm guessing this will go cheap because there is no reserve, and only someon local would have any interest. The scooter is in surprisingly good shape for having been in a Minnesota barn since 1965! It does not look very rusty. That must have been a nice barn, because it snows a lot up there. The cowls are missing, and it looks like it was laid down on the right side. Other than that, it looks like this is a good starting point. Someone buy it for $250!

Here is a good project scooter for someone on Ebay. This is the kind of scooter you want to be working on. The VBA's are not fast, but they have the iconic Vespa shape. I love the way they look.

This one has a lot to recommend it. The body appears to be perfect, with no major dents, and no evident rust. The front fender looks perfect. All of the parts are still there, including the speedometer and the amber-lens tail light. The only things that are obviously missing are the floor rails, the "Vespa 150" badge, the front fender crest, and the front suspension swing arm cover. The legshield trim looks great. This would be a very easy bike to restore and make really nice... or just ride it as-is. I like it. Right now, it is at only $650 USD with four days to go on the auction. I would expect this to end up around $1200-1500. We'll see.

This is another in my period installment series calling out the horrible bodgery that passes for a "restoration" with some people.  It really disturbs me to see these things, and many a budding scooterist has been turned off to scootering through having been duped by one of these deathtraps.  I just noticed a pile of them on Ebay, so I figure, let's call 'em out!  Here is numero uno...

There is a lot going on here.  This scooter is purported to be a Vespa G.S. 160.  Take a look at the "before restoration" photos in the listing.  They purport to show a nice complete VNA, though the photos look like they are of two different scooters.  I would have to say that it is highly unlikely that the "before" photos show this actual scooter. In any case, you end up with the horridness what you can see in the picture above.  There is a P-series front fork, P-series center stand, oddly upright looking legshields, and all of the home-made Viet-chrome add ons you can imagine.

This photo, though, tells you a lot.  They cut a hole in the back of the frame, in order to make it look like a GS 160 Series 1.  But they added a glovebox (like they do to all of the Viet scooters), which is correct for a Series 2.  However, the glovebox is not even close to right, and is way too small for a GS glovebox.  They appear to have cut the bottom and smoothed over the top door of the glovebox cowl, if they truly used a VNA as the basis for this monstrosity.  In a nod to "originality" they did install a P-series key to the top of the headset, instead of where the Viet-bodges normally put it, near the fuel lever.  Wow, this one really takes the cake!  I don't think I have seen this particular version of the disaster before.

Let's move on to some more convential death traps, shall we?! 

This post is for all of my San Francisco area readers.

LALO (Loose Association of Lambretta Owners) Lay Low....

April 30th
-Oakland Rally 11am Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Cafe 300 Webster st. Oakland. (City to Hills Rally)
(SF toOakland departure: meet 9;30am Grand Prix Coffee Bar 1 Tillman Pl. @ Grant ave. depart 10:30am)
-San Francisco All vintage rally 8pm Orbit Room 1900 Market st. @ Laguna st. arrive Azul bar 1 Tillman. (Cocktails,Music & LALO visuals)

May 1st
-San Francisco 7th Annual Lambretta Specific Rally 11am Pier 30, (May Day City Tour)
Rally ends at SF Scooter Centre parking lot for hosted BBQ & Vintage Scooter + All Moto parts swap meet.
(Locations departure & arrival times posted by April 17th)

Lucky 7 experience. Limited edition Lambretta artwork and GOODS for attendees.

Look for me on the white SX200 - come and say hi!  I'll have photos posted next week for all of you who can't attend.

This is a good example of very poor advertising. Why is the Washington Monument in this advertisement? Is the huge phallic symbol supposed to make up for the small car? This ad was produced during the highwater mark of Freudian analysis, you be the judge.

Via: the Vespa Club Roma.

A friend of mine has a VBB with a newere LML motor in it.  It is a Vietnam resto, but surprisingly, it is one of the only ones I have seen that was actually pretty good.  He's been riding it around for a year or so as a "Sunday driver".  Recently, he took it out and noticed it was making a funny sound.  Shortly thereafter, the motor siezed up solid.  Not a soft easy sieze, but a "something mechanical broke bad" solid sieze.

So, he hauled it over to my garage, and I proceeded to try to determined what happened.

First, I got it up on the lift.  I figured I'd look for the easy stuff first, and slowly dig into the motor. I suspected something in the top end, but I want to be thorough.  So I'm going to start with the clutch, since that is easiest to get to.  I pulled off the rear wheel, to get access to the clutch cover, and then pulled the cover. 

I'm back from a vacation... so let's begin the blog posting again with another caption contest!

I had an old Vespa seat lying around for a long time, and decided that I should put it to some use.  The problem was that the seat cover was trashed.  However, the rest of the seat was fine.  A new seat now costs around $140 USD, so time to fix this one!  This is an easy project that you can finish in an hour or two.  All you need is an old seat, and a new seat cover.  The covers are not too expensive, and should only cost around $60 USD.

So the first step is cleaning all the old seat bits from the existing seat.  First, remove the seat lock by taking off the three small screws that hold it onto the seat frame.  Then remove the rear "Piaggio" badge from the seat by pulling off the two retaining screws.  Then pull the seat cover clips from the bottom of the seat frame, and take off the tatty old seat cover.  That leaves you with the metal frame, as shown above.

This photo comes from Thomas in Sweden, a friend of the site.  He's showing off his very rare Svalan scooter.  The Swedes make all kinds of good stuff from solid Volvos, quirky Saabs, wonderful wood furniture, and neat objects with great design.  The Husqvarna motorcycle is known worldwide, and up until the 80's (I think), they were made in Sweden.  It is not surprising that someone up there decided at one point to try their hand at making a scooter.  From the bits of information on the internet, Svalan was a Swedish motorcycle manufacturer that used imported motors with home-built frames and other components.  Though they appear to have used imported motors for their motorcycles, they used Swedish motors for their scooter and moped.

You can see a nice scan of the inside of the 1955 brochure above, including the Svalan scooter, if you click here.   Would this goofy picture on the cover of the brochure entice you to buy one of their motorcycles?

This is a scooter that does not seem to come up for sale very often... a Silver Pigeon.  It is for sale right now on ebay.  You may remember I did a post about the version of the Pigeon that was sold by Montgomery Ward through mail order.  This one is a C-110, which was only made for a short time (1960-1961, I think).  It has a 175cc four stroke motor that put out a mighty 8.3 hp and had an automatic transmission.  That is pretty good, considering the biggest Italian scooter at the time was the Lambretta TV 175 Series II, which had virtually the same power, but with a two stroke motor. 

When last we talked about this project, I had removed all the old original parts, and it was time to start putting all the tasty new bits on the scooter. 

Here we have the heart of the matter - the stator.  I got this stator from Jet200.  They have gotten a line of new stators made by BGM in Germany.  As you can see in the photo, these things are just great.  Having used the Indian-made electronic stators that have been available in the past, I can say with certainty that these German ones are light-years better in terms of build quality.  You can see that the coils are very nice and evenly wound, the ignition components are very high quality, and the solders and connections are just top notch.  We'll see a bit more as we move through the installation.

So, I installed the stator as you see above.  I just loosly put it in place, as I'll need to adjust the stator as I get to the timing later on.  I pulled the wiring loom through the hole in the flange at the top, and used a bit of WD40 so it slid through the rubber grommet with ease.

This vintage magazine advertisement is too funny... can anyone come up with a good caption?

A friend has a Series III Lambretta that has been nothing but unreliable.  My stock query in those situations is "Have you installed an electronic ignition yet?".  I'd have to say that 90% of the problems that stock Lambrettas have can be traced to their crap ignition/electrical system.  So here we are, replacing the stock Ducati system on this scooter, with a nice, shiny, new electronic ignition I sourced through Jet200 Performance in Seattle.

I must say, the parts I got from Jet200 were great.  I've done quite a few electronic conversions.  All of them were with Indian made components.  They have have been fine (apart from a few faulty components out of the box)... but the German made stuff that Jet200 stocks is just head and shoulders above what I have used before.  The stators look OEM quality.  This is especially in comparison to the Indian stuff, which often look like a blind guy soldered the connections in a back alley sweat-shop.  I'll discuss each of the components in detail as we get to insalling them, but suffice to say that I'll be using these German stators from Jet200 every time I do this job again!

So, now, let's turn to the job at hand.  I got the scooter up on the lift, and took off the sidepanel to survey the landscape.  It all looks pretty tidy and stock in there - time to dig in! 

A very playful rendition of the feeling we all get when riding a scooter.  I think Stefan Rohrer's piece is pretty fabulous.  If you happen to be in Germany, you can see it in person at the Museum Biedermann.

em>Billed as The Picture of the Week... from p.707 of the 1st April 1954 copy of "Motor Cycling", the text says....