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.
]]>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.
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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.
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.
]]>First things first, I got out my trusty respirator. Brakes often have asbestos in them. Some do, some don't. I don't take any chances, and ALWAYS wear a respirator when doing brake work. It is cheap insurance. Cancer sucks.
Here is a shot of the rear hub/brake drum, and my nifty rear hub removal tool. I just hooked it into the lock washer screw holes on the hub, and it just pops off.
Now time to survey the damage. Yowch! The brake shoes are in bad shape. You can see gouges in the shoes. These are set for the garbage.
Now the brake drum. See the deep gouges? Yeah, hard to miss. Some metal or other debris got in here, and basically destroyed the drum. It looks like this is set for the garbage as well.
To get the brake shoes off, first, you have to remove the circlips that hold the front pin.
Then, you remove the retaining plate, and simply lever the shoes off. It helps to press the brake lever so you can get a screwdriver in between the shoe and the cam at the rear.
Here is the backplate with the shoes off. Note the large amount of brake dust and grime.
I cleaned all the stuff off with brake cleaner. The photo makes it look like it is still dirty, but that is mostly a trick of the lens. Trust me, this is pretty clean.
The new rear hub and brake shoes. Nice.
The new shoes are on. Nothing tricky here. Note that I fit the new rear hub cone to the rear axle.
I used a thread tap to clean up the threads on the new rear hub. They had some paint or powder coat on the threads, so I cleaned them up so the locking bolt would slide right in.
And here it is, all done. Rear nut torqued to spec and locked in place.
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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.
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