More custom scooters from the 1980s

Here are more Vespas and Lambrettas from back in the day, including some familiar faces riding them!  Following the popularity of my last blog about 80s custom scooters, here are more grainy photos to take you back to a simpler life without technology, video action replays and driverless cars.  If you still go to rallies then my 2019 Rallies Page has all the info you need for rallies, rideouts and custom shows.

I do love a smallframe and this is a tidy Vespa Super Sport.

Here’s The Undertaker again, Rob Godden’s scooter.

A Lambretta chopper from Disc 85 at Donnington Park.

Anyone who has owned Vespas and Lambrettas can relate to the theme of this GP!  They do indeed cost a lot of time, trouble and money…

Lay Lady Lay, with Madame Medusa in the background,

This is the Butterfly Collector, owned by Dizzy, number 1 of the Midhurst Detours.  It was a super fast scooter with a Pinasco 225 and straight through Pitone.  Dizzy bought it from CMW Motorcycles in Chichester and the metalflake was sprayed by a guy from Fernhurst, near Midhurst in West Sussex. The murals were handpainted by a college student called Toby from near Midhurst.

A very young Dizzy!

Dizzy sold Butterfly Collector to Gary Brice, another member of the Midhurst Detours.  Gary wasn’t such a fan of The Jam so arranged to have it changed to a Sex Pistols theme, Frigging In The Rigging. Toby the college student repainted the panels, and did a great job, charging only £50!

Although this photo was taken relatively recently, around 2008/2009, these are original panels from an 80s custom scooter.  It was called Time Tells No Lies and was built by Richard Stewart, another Midhurst Detour in 87/88.  Dave White, an artist from Birdham near Chichester, did the airbrushing using various book covers as inspiration.  Rich sold the scooter around 1996 and it was unfortunately subsequently written off.  The frame sat in a back garden for years and it wasn’t heard of again until I spotted the panels at the Surrey Custom Show and realised that they had survived.  I sent the photos to Rich who confirmed they were the original ones from 20 years earlier!  It’s good to know that at least parts of some old Lambrettas and Vespas are still going strong.

Juicy Fruit was originally an Armandos scooter owned by Steve Bone from Staines, who had it resprayed in this distinctive yellow colour.

A lot of Vespas and Lambrettas in the late 80s had a stereo and speakers fitted. You don’t seem to see that as much these days which is a surprise given how much better the technology is!

This is Roy Bland’s AF GP.  Roy was also from the Staines Massive, aka Big Cock SC.

Here’s one of many Vespas and Lambrettas with a music theme.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I will be raiding the archives again soon. Thanks to Dizzy for providing many of these photos!

Here’s a link to my first 80s Custom Scooters blog.

If you’re interested in 80s scootering then you might like to read my First Rally series, featuring some great stories from well known scooterists I’ve featured

• Norrie Kerr, Vespa legend
• Sticky, scooter builder, author and adventurer
• Sean Robinson, chief Garagista
• Lee Richards, owner of Meat Is Murder and the unfortunate guy who is married to me!
• Jo Jackson, psychobilly queen and original Alcoholic Rat

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