Steve Adair’s own opinion of his scooter is that it’s ‘an ugly fat bastard’ but one that he loves, most of the time! This scooter is the result of a great deal of trust. Trust between Steve and John from Clan Customs. John is an old biker who runs Clan Customs out of a rundown building with hardly any modern facilities and certainly no spray booth, just some plastic sheet covering the roof. John is, however a bit of a genius and has produced a string of show-winning scooters for Steve and his mates from the Animals Fae Namboombu SC such as the Lambretta ‘Nightmare’, a Vespa P210 called Scary Stuff and a T5 based on the film Sin City. So, when Steve got a rusty beat up old Vespa T5 frame off a pal for beer money, he took it to John. Steve’s only brief was that he wanted ‘something different’. “Extend the frame, chop it, whatever, just do something different,” was his only direction.

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I like the simple things in life me, such as a classic Lambretta or Vespa with just half a dozen wires or so protruding from the stator plate. Not only that but the scooter will often run with only a few of them connected. Simple but effective, unlike the modern autos where the wiring loom can be as thick as your arm – urgh!

When I first saw pictures of Kelvin’s Lambretta I was immediately drawn to its apparent simplicity, which has obviously resulted in a strikingly effective finish. For me one of the nicest touches is the use of black rather than chrome or polished metal for pretty much everything beneath the side panels, as well as pieces like the horn grille, switch, kick-starter and sprint rack. Kelvin explains that this is a continuation of the F1 race theme, following the finish of the race cars.

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SCOOTER DETAILS

Name of scooter: Stuff of Legend – inspired by my great grandfather who was a lifeboat man on the rowing lifeboat and took part in the Rohilla rescue.
Date purchased: Owned it from about 1989- 2000, sold it to a mate then swapped it back for an SX 150 in 2007.
Inspiration for project: James Middlemass– my great grandfather.
Time to build: Seven months by me.
Specialised parts: Legshield bib and seat made by Alan Best of Wellseated auto
trimmers, Bridlington.
Engine: AF Rapido matched to case, JL exhaust,30mm Dell’Orto, strengthened
clutch suspension etc.
Other details: Seat was designed by Dave Dickinson and covered by Andy.
Paint work and murals: Dave Dickinson.
Chrome: Some off the shelf, some from Karl Russell and some by London Chroming.
Hardest part of the project:The research and finding pictures. Pash Howard came
through for me on this one as he works in the Whitby Archive office, many thanks.
Favourite dealer: AF Rayspeed, Mike Phoenix – nobullshit just good solid advice.
Thanks: Pashy Howard for help with the research; Dave Dickinson, a true artist; Alan, the master craftsman, for the seat; the staff at Whitby Lifeboat Museum, and last but not least Geoff Estill at Whitby Archives, without his help this project would never have got started.

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Lambretta 250 cross project

In 2006 I remember visiting a certain garage in Ulm twice within the course of three months or so, and every time I saw this motorcycle engine equipped Lambretta GP project hiding in the corner. When I asked my club mate Fuellboy about the scoot he replied, “oh that’s Marko’s scoot, he will finish it soon.” Yeah right, I thought, but was soon proven wrong… And here is the full story.

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