May 2015 Archives

(05/19/15 Update) Holy cow! Sold for $6,700! If that is a bonafide sale, that is utterly astonishing for one in that condition. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Wow, coming on the heels of the SX200, we have another holy grail of the Lambretta world popping up for sale, a Lambretta TV 175 Series I. You can find it here on Ebay. These are among the hardest Lambrettas to find anywhere. I've seen a handful in the US, but I suspect that most of the ones sold here eventually ended up on the scrap heap. Their motors are just different enough from all the others, that I imagine most of them met an untimely demise when something gave out on them. Who would have parts for one of these in the 70's or 80's? Well, this one is rough for sure, but certainly worth saving. Sure, bits are missing. Sure, it will need a complete restoration from top to bottom. But when you're done, you have a very rare and valuable scoot. Maybe if the bidding remains sane, you might even not spend more money to restore it than it is worth. Maybe.

Here is something you don't see every day... an unrestored original Lambretta SX200 on the open market. You can find it here on Ebay. Mostly these are in enthusiast hands at this point. When someone finds one like this, he or she usually covets, keeps, and restores it for their very own. It is not very often that one comes up for sale on ebay like this. I think the last one I can remember was in slightly better condition than this one, and was bid up to $9,000... but that was years ago. I really wonder where this will end up. Yes it is rough. Yes, it needs absolutely everything. However, there are just so few around that I can see this going for a lot of money - it is already at $5,000 and lots of time to go.