Friends of Lambretta Obsessions are aware of an Olympic connection. Steve’s wife, Tash, is an Olympian, representing Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Weightlifting (placing 10th). Knowing the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome used a collection of 80 Lambrettas in the opening ceremony and seeing one of those scooters at Casa Lambretta in Milan during a visit in 2012, Tash decided she wanted her own.
Others have created replicas before. When deciding to set about this project for ourselves, we didn’t want to copy what they had done, we wanted a slight difference. In the Rome Games the scooters were all numbered from 1-80. During a conversation with a friend about our plans, an idea formed to use number “00” on Tash’s side panels as homage to her being a 2000 Olympian.
It’s been a long, slow process, due to other priorities, plenty of interruptions and a few decision changes along the way. Here is the progress so far…
First we had to find a suitable Lambretta to restore. In 2014 we located a tatty LI 125 Series 2 in Ohio, USA which was asking a good price. It was the right production period that the original Olympic ones were made in. We bought it.
We sent it to our friend, Eric, at ‘2nd Avenue Scooters’ in Arizona, USA. Eric is well known for his genius in the Lambretta community, particularly his skilled panel beating and paintwork. Eric discovered a bad twist in the frame and sent it to Casa Lambretta USA in Denver so Jon Kroge could perform a miracle. Together they would work their magic on the bodywork to bring this scooter back to life. We were sent photos of the process as it was stripped and prepared:
Paintwork followed:
By April 2016 it was ready to be packed into a crate and shipped to its new home in Sydney, Australia. When it arrived in May, Tash excitedly watched as Steve opened the crate and then opened the carefully wrapped parts.
The bodywork was stored away carefully as Steve set about rebuilding the engine. From this:
Commencement of the build occurred at the same time:
Tash helped a little building the forks.
Check back for more updates later…