September 2011 Archives
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
I just rocked this scooter at Run From The Sun, the Willamette Valley's annual run to the Oregon Coast for camping and partying. Between the hills, the long ride and the sprint home on the freeway, this rally is hard on our little mopeds. Out of 35-ish scooters, six went home on trailers. This one, however, ran flawlessly.
Continue reading Marketwatch: th' Capn's Lambretta RB200 Special.
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.
Continue reading The Ultimate Scooter Accessory.
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.
Continue reading From the Archives - Lambretta Motorcycle.
And I quote: "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly suggest you pick one up..."
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.