November 2009 Archives

Here we have a stock Lambretta Li 150.  It seems like you just don't see the stock ones too much any more.  From the seller's description, this one has some of the basic upgrades that one would want to have a functional vintage scooter, but didn't do anything to really mess up a basically stock bike.  He describes an electronic igition, new tires, cables, etc.  The paint appears to be original, but it is hard to tell from low resolution photos over the internet.  A quick email would confirm the paint status.  You can just see the running in sticker still on the legshield.  So either the paint is original, or who ever re-painted it took some care to make it look original.  The scooter is in Southern California, and the asking price is in the right ballpark at $2700.  Click here to contact the seller.

We here at Scooterlounge are very fond of original condition scooters, especially those that have low miles.  Here we have a '64 Cento with a purported 418 original miles in Kansas City.  Knowing the quality of Italian speedometers, I'd want to really check the bike over to verify the mileage... but knowing it is a Cento helps lend creedence to the claim.  Most Centos didn't get ridden much since they were slow, vibrated a lot, and were not all that reliable. 

The Cento, and the j-range in general, are probably our least favorite Lambrettas.  It was Innocenti's attempt at a "if you can't beat 'em join 'em" competition with Piaggio's Vespa.  Yet, the Cento was a poor imitation of a smallframe Vespa.  Nevertheless, from a purely collector's perspective, this one is intriguing.  They were not very successful sellers in the US, and not too many of them are still around.  This one looks to be in pretty good condition.  I'm not sure if the two-tone paint scheme is original, as all of the Cento's I've ever seen were one color.  The robin's egg blue appears to be the same color used on the Li's and TV panels, so it could be original.  The buyer should verify so they know what it is that they are buying.

In any case, the price seems right at $1200 obo.  The seller notes that it will take a bit of TLC to make it a reliable runner.  Even taking into account that this scooter was fairly crappy when new, it is a cheap way to round out your Lambretta collection.  If you're ready to bite the bullet and join the ranks of the j-range disaffected, email the seller here.  Click here for more photos.

This is a wonderful picture of an Italian road race in 1967.  The photo is of what appears to be a 90 Super Sprint at a check-point, with a motorcycle and Vespa behind it.  This one must be a late series 90SS.  The give-away is the spare tire mounted crossways across the legshield.  The early 90SS's had the famous dummy-tank and a spre mounted straight from the legshields to the front of the seat.  This scooter clearly does not have the dummy-tank.

Note the map strapped to the scooter rider's left thigh.  The man standing has a stop watch and the guy in the booth appears to be marking down time.  Great picture! 

Thanks to Racing Retro for finding this photo.

There was a time, perhaps, when this was sexy.  I'm not really sure about that...  I can say that I don't think this photo would have spurred me on to buy a scooter.  Oh the 50's, how quaint and buttoned up you were!

As you may have guessed, I have several scooters that I could ride at any given time... however, the one I ride the most is my "beater".  It is a Vespa P125 with a crappy flat black paint job.  I ride it to the train every day, and run errands on it frequently.  It looks bad enough, and it worth so little money, that I just don't mind if something happens to it.  Although it looks bad, I make sure that mechanically, it is in perfect condition.  I've done a lot of work to it over the years, but when you ride one of these things daily, dilligent maintenence is required.

Recently, my front shock gave it up, after 30 years of rough service.  For me, shocks, tires, and brakes are all very important safety issues to keep in perfect working order.  As soon as the shock seemed to get soft, I ordered a new unit to replace it.  A shock in good condition should rebound quickly, and have no bounce.  Mine was getting spongy and bouncy!  Time to dump it...

Here is one that you don't see every day.  It is a US market Rally 200, with very low original miles in Sacramento, California.  Only 517 original miles, to be exact.  Of course, I'd want more details to verify the milage claim, but in any case, the picture does show a very clean, very original scooter.  All the details are there, and correct.  The US scooters had a lot of odd additions that the Euro models did not have - things like the turn signals, tail light, headset, and reflectors. Many of those things were poorly designed, and were either removed, or broke and fell off of the typical 70's Vespa that you see.  Virtually none of the US only items are being reproduced.  So when they are off the scooter, they are gone for good.  It is nice to see one with all of the goodies still intact.

The price for all this originality?  Well, as they say, if you have to ask...  you can't afford it.  I'll tell you anyway.  Ten grand, in US dollars if you please.  Indeed the price is high.  However, if the milage is as stated, it is certainly in the ball-park for what it is worth.  Seriously, where else are you going to find an essentially brand new Rally 200?  With the dollar as low as it is, I would not be surprised if this scooter finds its way to a European collector.  If you think you have the garage to take on the awesome responsibility of such a rare scooter, you can email the seller here.

I came across this flickr photo stream from a guy who owns (or works at) a Vespa shop.  I'm not sure exactly where he is, but it looks like he's in the US.  Whoever he is, from the looks of his photos, he's a really good tech.  He's got a lot of really nice photos detailing a rebuild of a really old (first year) 1952 Vespa Allstate motor.  Those old wide-body motors are pretty archaic, and are set up a bit differently than the later rotary valve motors.  When you see them from the inside, you realise how utterly basic they really are.  Nevertheless, there are a few tricks to working on them, and it is nice to see someone go to the trouble of taking photos of many of the steps of the rebuild.  Kudos!

For those of you in the US, it is not news to point out that Piaggio pulled some funky shortcuts to comply with Federal law in the 1970's.  The list of silly, poorly thought out designs is long.  For this post, I'll just stick to one of them - the fuel lever.

There appears to have been some regulation which required that the fuel shut-off be clearly labeled and have the "off" position in the center.  Piaggio put special US-only fuel taps on US market scooters with "off" in the center.  All other markets had the "off" on the right "clockwise" position.  The way that they got around the labeling requirement was to make a special US-only fuel lever.  The problem was that the lever was made of plastic, and used a bevel gear (also plastic) to turn the lever in the scooter frame.  We all know where this ends up...

This picture is just great.  It shows a Lambro 175 three wheeler, and what appears to be grandma in the old country.  Love it!

See other cool vehicle pictures from the same set here.