What a cool sidecar rig. This photo was taken at Vespa World Days 2010 by Hugojcardoso.

Kristi, a friend of the site, sent us this great photo of her, a cute doggie, and a nice red Allstate Vespa. Thanks Kristi! She's involved with www.Americanpinups.tv, which you may want to check out. The photographer was Rene Soliz with Soliz Images photography. Rene did a great job, don't you think!

This is a nice action shot at a gymkhana event in the 50's. I'm guessing by the stylish dress of the spectators that this was photographed in Italy. The scooter is a GS150 VS3 or VS4.  It really is amazing to me that there was a time that gentlemen would go out to an event like this in a suit and tie.  La Dolce Vita indeed!

This is a really rare photo of a MV Agusta scooter. MV Agusta were a manufacturer of some pretty serious racing motorcycles up to the late 70's. Though they made many street-going motorcycles, I guess even they could not resist dipping their toe into the huge scooter market in Italy after the war. They made a few different scooters starting around 1949.  This appears to be an early 50's model called the "Ovunque."  Not the sexiest name...  It had a 125 two stroke motor with a three speed gearbox.  Power was around 5 hp.  This scooter was made with either one, or two exhausts.  This is the one exhaust model.  Note the accessory child seat located just in front of where the kid is sitting.  Safety was a top priority!

This Lambretta used to be owned by my friend Scott V. He sold it probably 10 years ago. I have no idea who owns it now, or who took this photo. It still looks pretty much how it did when Scott was riding it around San Francisco. This was originally a police scooter in New Jersey. There were just a handful of these D.L.'s sold in the U.S., and from what I can tell they were only sold to municipalities.

The May 1960 issue of Roller-Mobil-Kleinwagen. On the cover is German version of the GS 150. You can see some of the details, like the trim on the cowls, the Denfeld seat, the Hella horn, and the Hella "swan-neck" tail light.

Sure, Ewan and Charley famously filmed their ride around the globe.  And some crazy guys from my area rode mopeds from San Francisco to the Tierra Del Fuego.  But really, what is a rally that isn't held at 17,000 feet?  This really seems like the sort of thing that begins with a dare after a long session at the local pub. 

unreasonablejourneys.com

I can't wait to see if anyone takes them up on it.

My friend Nick had me take a look at his Lambretta awhile back, and I realized that it essentially had no brakes. So I ordered up some new brake shoes and got to work! I'll focus on the rear brakes now, and show you the front brakes in a later post.

This is one of those jobs that just about anyone can doe with some basic tools. The only real special tool you need is the rear hub remover.

This is a pretty rare period photo of a very stylish woman and an early Vespa 90. I believe that this first version of the Vespa 90 was only sold in the U.S. for one year, 1964. It came in this red color, and a powder blue.  Note the leather camera front cover sitting on the scooter floorboards - you don't see those anymore!

When hunting for vintage scooters, always follow up on every lead, no matter how unlikely it may appear.  Yeah, most of the time it's a wild goose chase, or a some old guy's moped. But every now and then you strike gold. You never know what it is until you see for yourself.

This particular find was described to me as "a rusty old thing, kinda tapered at the back . . . doesn't look like your Vespa there."  Lo and behold, it turned out to be a 1948 Salsbury. Rusty, damaged, missing engine, but an honest-to-goodness holy grail of American scooters - a Salsbury Model 48, sitting quietly in the woods behind an abandoned house.

Sadly, this tale doesn't have a happy ending. What happened next? Loaded it on my truck. Cops came; said I was trespassing; had to unload it. Tracked down the property owner. He told me in no uncertain terms that he didn't want me (or anyone) on the property. Time goes by; I approach the property owner again; he had sold the property; I track down the new property owner. He gives his blessing for me to remove the old rusty thing (also tells me if the cops show up tell them to call him so he can confirm he gave permission to me); I drive over to pick it up and it's GONE. Scrapped, most likely.

But hey, I owned a Salsbury for 5 whole minutes! I'll find another someday. And until it does, I follow up on every lead.

Velocette made some pretty great motorcycles. They were famous for their middle weight singles, and their high quality construction. Alas, in the post-war period, they had some pretty major styling mis-cues. Their biggest was the Velocette LE motorcycle, which was a sort of cross between a motorcycle and a scooter. It was homely, and quite expensive. Those were bad qualities when competing with the Italians, who made beautiful and cheap scooters.  The LE almost bankrupted Velocette, but luckily for them, municipal governments bought them for police use.  Velocette also made the Viceroy scooter, as seen here.  I'm sure this scooter was well made... but boy was it ugly!  I think it remained a secret, as the brochure says, since I doubt many were sold. 

This last Sunday was the annual LALO Rally in San Francisco. LALO - the "Loose Association of Lambretta Owners" - has a rally that is really low key and always a ton of fun. Last year, we hosted part of the LALO across the bay in Oakland, but this year was San Francisco only. It is always great to see old friends, since this is usually the first scooter rally of the year. The weather this year was typical for SF. Half of the city was sunny and wonderful, and the other half was foggy and cold.

The photo above (taken by Pelayo L.) was a shot of us riding over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco into the Marin Headlands. You can see the fog totally covering the bridge... which is pretty normal. I'm the guy on the right side of the photo on the white Lambretta

Ford M., had a camera strapped to his helmet, and got a nice video of the ride across the bridge. I have it linked below. You can get a sense of what it was like to ride with the 40 or so of us die-hard Lambretta folks. It is hard to imagine how there can be such a huge amount of nice open space just 10 minutes outside of San Francisco. The video below gives you an idea. As we get over the bridge, we ride into the Marin Headlands, which used to be a military base, and is now open hiking trails and wonderful vistas.

Tons and tons of photos of the LALO below the jump

So I had made some progress on the orange GP, and gotten the old girl running.  However, when I took her out for a test ride, she was having trouble.  The scooter bogged at high rpm's.  I'm thinking that it is a fuel starvation issue.  So I pulled the fuel tap, and installed a new one.  This is one of those jobs that is dead easy.  The only real trick is that you pretty much have to pull off the carburator to get the fuel rod linkages connected.  Here is the new one on the scooter.  I had just enough time to get this on before I left for my vacation.  However, I didn't have the time to actually put some fresh gas in and test it out.  Maybe this weekend!  

Here is one that I've never seen before. This is a Moto Guzzi scooter. I'm thinking that this was a prototype, and never actually went into production. It is a more fully formed scooter than the one that Guzzi is known for, the Galetto. This scooter is located at the Moto Guzzi museum in Italy. Does anyone know the story on this scoot? What is it? Was it ever actually put into production?

Photos by Scott Burton

This post card was sent and had a stamp cancelled in 1956. Some nice accessories are visible on this scooter!

Vintage vehicle ownership is not all about full restorations and making things shiny.  No, it is mostly an exercise in keeping entropy at bay.  Often, it is the really small things that end up taking much, much longer than you anticipated that end up being the focus of your efforts. 

As a case in point, I give you my recent job of replacing the center stand rubber feet on the orange GP 150 that I've been working on. 

Above, you see the existing feet as they were when the scooter was wheeled into my garage.  The rubber was all rubbed away, and it the metal on the feet was starting to get ground down.  Clearly, way past time for replacement.  I figured it would take me about 15 minutes to pull these off and put on some nice new feet that I got from Jet200/Casa Lambretta. 

I was wrong.

You know, although scooters are pretty small, they do take up some space in the garage. At some point, if you are not Jay Leno, you max out space for storage. At that point, what do you do if you still are crazy for scooters? Well, you start collecting scooter-related memorabilia. I've been doing it for years. I was inspired by a good friend of mine, Ansgar Fulland in Germany, who built one of the best alltime scooter sites, Vespa Das Archiv. He had collected brochures, and when I saw his collection of memorabilia and it really impressed me with its quality. He was also one of the first to scan brochures and paper material and put it up on the net. Well, I took that inspiration, and have built my own modest collection.

Here is a photo of one of my most recent aquisitions. It is (obviously) a Lambretta dealer sign. There are a few things that set this sign apart. First, is the fact that it is a US market only sign. There are quite a few of the big heavy porcelain European Lambretta signs that I have seen, but very few of these lighter US signs have survived. Second, is the non-obvious fact that this sign is NOS, or "new old stock". This sign has never been hung. It was in the original packing cardboard box from the manufacturer up until about six months ago. There is a slight bit of edge damage from storage at one corner, but otherwise this sign is perfect. It would be hard to find a better one. I'd been looking for one of these signs for at least a decade, and I'm happy that I finally found this one!

So before I left for vacation, I did some work on that orange GP150 that has been in my garage for awhile.  I got it to the point where I was trying to get it finally running... and discovered that it was giving no spark.  Sure, I could have futzed with it a bunch to try to coax some fire out of the old girl, but really, why bother?  So I ordered me up a shiny new electronic set-up from Jet200/Casa Lambretta and pulled the old stuff for posterity. 

Above, you see a shot of the old Ducati points stator while I had everything apart to clean out the top end.  It looked fine in there, and there was no obvious reason why it would not spark.  In the age of good quality and reasonably priced electronic ignitions, there really is no rational reason to waste time troubleshooting a Lambretta points igition - so I didn't!

Here is a shot of the new unit while setting up the timing.  Everything fit pretty well with a minimum of fuss.  This scooter was originally a battery model, but I set up the electronic as a AC unit.  Don't fret you trainspotters... I kept all the original components should some new owner decide to do a 100 point restoration on this scooter.  I also did absolutely no modifications to the wiring.  It was all just plugged in to the new setup.  Everything I did would be easily reversible in a matter of hours. 

After I got it all on there, the scooter fired up for the first time in at least 10 years!  It has been a lot of work on my part to get to this point.  I basically had the motor apart to clean and check the top end, and replace the stuck clutch plates.  It also now has a new exhaust as the old one was really rusty.  My plan now is to get it finally dialed in as I'm able to ride it on the street.  My vacation stopped me from finalizing the scooter, but I expect to have it in the hands of the expectant owner at some point this month.  Stay tuned!

I had to spend some time digging around in my storage a few weeks ago. I had to move a bunch of stuff out to get to something tucked in the back of the storage. This is my 90SS. I found it when I was living in Germany in the mid-90's, and shipped it back with me when I returned to the US. It has been living in my storage for a long time. Shuffling things around, I had to pull the 90SS out of where it was squeezed between a motorcycle and a scooter. It has not seen the light of day in at least 5 years. It is one of those scooters that I have on the "list" to do a full restoration. You know the old saying "when you have the time, you have no money... when you have the money, you have no time." Well, that is the case with this thing. I've been planning to restore this scooter for at least 15 years now... someday I'll get to it...

Sorry for the light posting the last couple of weeks. I've just gotten back from a nice vacation in Mexico. I'm tanned, rested, and ready to get to work on the site!

I hope he still likes scooters and comics ten years from now... that is going to be a hard tatoo to cover up.

Via: Today's Doodle.

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.

I don't know a lot about this manufacturing plant, except that it was in Columbia. Clearly there was a facility in Columbia that was building Lambrettas. These are clearly GP's. I'm not sure whether they are of Italian or Indian origin, but I'm guessing that they came from India. I have no idea how much of these scooters they actually built there. I suppose that they were just "kit" scooters, and some of the final assembly was done in Columbia. However, it could be that these guys simply pulled them from the crates mostly-assembled, and they just got them ready for the road.

Anybody know anything about the Columbian Lambrettas? Email me!

We're having some technical difficulties with the blog at the moment. I have the crack team of IT professionals on staff at Scooterlounge looking into resolving the matter. As soon as they give me the go-ahead, blog posts will resume.

In the mean time, go out and ride your scooter!

Via CrocodileJock.

Gary from the Isle of Wight emailed us with photos of his Lambretta LD 150 Avv. He just rescued it from a friend's shed. Just in time, from the looks of it. The Avv is a bit of an odd duck. Innocenti decided that they wanted to make a bit of a "luxury" scooter, and adapted the LD. The Avv added electric start to the LD, along with 12 volt electrics. Gary's scooter has the accessory clock, but I'm not sure if that came standard on the Avv. What I am certain of is that the Avv was very expensive when it was new. It cost about as much as the hot rod TV 175 Series I. Consequently, very few were sold. I've seen a few for sale around the US, but not more than a handful. I sure would love to own one!

See a few more photos of Gary's scooter here on the main site.

Photo by Ansel Adams

Permit me to geek out on you... This is a photo of a very rare Vespa badge. It is from a 1952 Allstate. I believe that this is a reproduction, but this gives you the idea of what they looked like.

Update 02/26/12: Friend of the site Johnny Maw sent in some very detailed information about the early Allstates. I'm going to post it here. Information about these really early Allstates is very hard to find, so enjoy!

It is my understanding that the first Allstate scooters were imported November of 1951. These scooters were made up of the common Vespa parts from that time, both frame and engine. The Allstate Chevron you have pictured was made to fit in the slot in the center of the leg shield, where the normal Piaggio tag would have been mounted. The VIN numbers for this first batch of Allstate scooters begins at 1000, and ends at 2000. These were model 788-100. I know of 3.

The next batch were model 788-101, for 1952. People often refer to these as the 1951 model, but it is not the same scooter, although they are quite similar to the 100 series. Like the 100 series, the cowls, front mudguard are all aluminum. It is the aluminum horn cast that confuses people, as it is mostly associated with the 1951 model. There are mere months that separate the two models, so when people refer to the 101 as the 100 or 1951, I generally agree, but they are indeed two different scooters.

The TA17B carb and the 12 & 6 hole pattern to mount the air filter were the same as well. The engine VIN was VA32M, where as the 100 series was something different (I will remember shortly). The VA32M engine was used for the rest of the pre-55 models. It is unknown exactly when the badges changed, but it is generally agreed that the Chevron may have made it on to a few of the 101 models, and then the Allstate Country-wide badge was placed into drilled holes on the leg shield. I have a bit of an oddity, a 2200 VIN that has neither the Chevron or the Allstate-Country badge, and no holes for either of them. Original paint and no visible body work. I am still investigating this.

The 788-101 models changed sometime in the middle of production, although they were still sold as 1952 model year. The most notable difference is the horn cast goes from the aluminum to a stamped metal piece. Assuming the 101 model started at VIN 2001, the aluminum horn cast made it at least through VIN 4400, as I have one in that range with the aluminum cast.

The 788-102 Model for 1953 remained mostly the same, although I believe a different switch cover was used, moving from metal to plastic. At some point in this production, it appears the fan cover moved from a louvre type, to an open center design. The carb and air filter also move to an 11 & 6 mounting pattern.

The 788-103 remained the same to my knowledge as well.

So with that bit of history, you have some background on why this badge is not one you often see. The only few that I've seen have been attached to scooters. Cool!

I've been working on getting the orange GP 150 back to running shape.  (See Part 1, and Part 2).  I previously replaced the stuck clutch, only to discover that the top end was locked up solid.  It is time to investigate further.  First, I took off all the extraneous body parts as well as the carb and exhaust. I removed the rear shock, so I could get the motor to pivot lower to allow me easier access to the top end.

Click below the jump for more exciting motor repair action!

Gary sent me some photos of his really nice Lambretta TV200. It took a bit of work to get it to the condition that you see here. He didn't do a full-on restoration on the scooter, but rather, did what I would call a "refresh". He painted some of it, but kept other parts original. You can see evidence of that with the old stickers that are still on the headset and tail light housing. Gary mentioned that it took a bit of fettling to get the motor dialed in, but that it is quite fast now. You can see a bunch of pictures on the main site here.

My friend Richard has owned quite a few really nice Lambrettas. Several were restored, but he was an early adherent to the concept that original condition scooters were the best to have. One of the really nice original condition scoots that he owns is this GP125. It really is in fabulous un-restored condition. You can see more shots of it on the main site here.

This winter has been really mild, even for the always nice San Francisco Bay Area where I live. I ride my scooter to work every day, except when it is raining hard. And this winter, there has been virtually no rain. So I ride a lot... but there are some times that a scooter just won't do.

My friend Andrew called me up and asked if my son and I would be up for a drive up the Sacramento Delta to a train museum. Well, my four year old is train crazy - as are most boys of his age. So I packed him up in the Alfa, and we headed up to the levies along the Sacramento river. It was a nice day out, and it was fun to drive around with another Alfa. (My car is the blue GTV on the right, and Andrew is standing by his red Giulietta Spider Veloce)

When I first saw this horncasting badge come up on ebay, I thought to myself... "wow, now there is something that I've never seen before!" I couldn't recall seeing one of these in any vintage brochure, or on any scooter. Then, as I read further on in the ebay listing, I realized why. This is a new part, and it is super cool.

The part was created out of the fertile imagination of the shop Brezelwerks (a friend of the site). You can't really call it a reproduction part, but something truly new. This is the sort of thing that Ulma certainly would have made, if they would have had the imagination to think of doing it. They didn't, but Brezelwerks did. This thing look like it is really a superior quality part, probably nicer than Ulma would have done if it was in production back in the day. It looks like Brezelwerks is going to sell only one, so bid like you mean it! It is already at $150 with six days to go, I wonder how high it will sell for?

Surely everyone who reads this site knows about this iconic photograph. It is by Ruth Orkin, and is entitled "An American in Italy." It is, truly, a great photograph. From the composition, to the setting, to the expressions on everyone's faces... this photo tells a story.

I've often thought that this photo was staged. To be honest, I never thought that anyone could get this shot without carefully setting it up.

Well, the truth is, it was not staged. You can read the background from the woman in the center of the photo here. It is a good story!

Go buy a print of this photo. It is Valentine's day, and you know this is the only scooter photo that your wife/girlfriend is going to let you hang in your living room! Now you know the story behind it too.

One other interesting thing for us scooterists: After this photo was taken, the guy on the Lambretta gave her a ride, and Ruth Orkin took some shots of it.

This pickup is only slightly larger than the scooter*. You know you want it. Go ahead, your wife won't care...

*Scooter not included.

This is how you push product to the demographic that wants a Cushman scooter. The only clue that this is a recent photo, and not from back in the day, is the brand new truck in the background. Too bad they didn't take this shot from a slightly different angle to get the truck out of the shot. Still... I'm a sucker for a beautiful woman on a rusty scooter.

This is a '52 Cushman Eagle. The second year that Cushman made this model. Note the differences in the fork with the later model Eagle on the right. I'm no Cushman expert, but I gather that any Eagle this early is going to be rare. You can see a video of this actual scooter here.

Via: CrocodileJack.

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!

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.