Dick's Lambretta adventures - identify the mystery car?

[Dick Longbridge]

5 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Italia 61 is a district of Turin

It is named as such because the 1961 Expo was held there

Italia '61 - Wikipedia

Brilliant, thanks for the heads up. I can see the text says Italia 61 now! Interesting reading  - I never knew about the exhibition and the significance.  So it looks likely the Lambretta is an ex-Turin scooter as I thought. Looking forward to digging a bit deeper when it arrives next week!

[Dick Longbridge]

The '60 Turin import Series 2 Li150 sold this weekend. Prior to selling, I fitted a tidy, period correct seat and gave the scooter a decent clean up. Photos below are from my sale ad. 

The new owner plans to keep the scooter as original as possible which is good news as it's way too nice to repaint. 

[Dick Longbridge]

I've got some updates for WU, my 1960 series 2 Lambretta which I'll add soon.

In the meantime, the daughter of the original owner has been in regular contact. She's just sent me this photo of a bike outside of her grandfather's place from back in the day. I've had to explain that it's 100% not a scooter 😅. Could anyone identify the motorbike though? It would be nice to let her know, regardless. 

[RayMK]

4 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I've got some updates for WU, my 1960 series 2 Lambretta which I'll add soon.

In the meantime, the daughter of the original owner has been in regular contact. She's just sent me this photo of a bike outside of her grandfather's place from back in the day. I've had to explain that it's 100% not a scooter 😅. Could anyone identify the motorbike though? It would be nice to let her know, regardless. 

 

My best guess is that it's a 1960s Velocette Venom or Viper based on the following features:-

1. Round tank badge which was fitted to some of them.

2. The rear telescopic suspension units had a slider adjustment at the top which I have not seen on other marques. 

3. The headlamp support.

Being a single, most photos are of the more photogenic exhaust side.  I could not find a round badged Venom's other side.  Edit: Found one & added below.

 

Edited March 16 by RayMK
Added Viper and a photo.

[Dick Longbridge]

8 hours ago, RayMK said:

My best guess is that it's a 1960s Velocette Venom or Viper based on the following features:-

1. Round tank badge which was fitted to some of them.

2. The rear telescopic suspension units had a slider adjustment at the top which I have not seen on other marques. 

3. The headlamp support.

Being a single, most photos are of the more photogenic exhaust side.  I could not find a round badged Venom's other side.  Edit: Found one & added below.

 

Thanks chap - brilliant sleuthing.

I've fed this back to the granddaughter and she's impressed that her grandfather owned such a cool looking machine 😅

[Dick Longbridge]

Hateful Italian biaatch. Something like replacing a throttle cable should be straightforward in my eyes. No chance when working on a Lambretta. Beyond fiddly. Even refitting the horncast is ridiculous  - trying to keep the grey edge trim in place underneath it when refitting is nigh-on impossible.

After lots of dicking around, the new throttle cable is fitted and the cable outer has now pulled through the headset. I've downed tools gently, closed the garage door and will revisit another day. Swine. 

[tom13]

This thread is making me want a scooter again. I wonder if @Fabergé Greggsstill has that LML?

[Dick Longbridge]

2 hours ago, tom13 said:

This thread is making me want a scooter again. I wonder if @Fabergé Greggsstill has that LML?

Do it! His is the earlier two stroke if I remember correctly which is a bonus. They're a proper bargain for what they are. 

[Fabergé Greggs]

6 hours ago, tom13 said:

This thread is making me want a scooter again. I wonder if @Fabergé Greggsstill has that LML?

I do! I’ve made no further effort to put it up for sale yet, but I would let it go to a shiter 

[Cavcraft]

Sod changing any cables on any manual Lambretta or Vespa, tbh. Seven full hours doing the inner/outer throttle on a VBB was enough, we even had to cheat and use a pushbike outer, too. Luckily there's a bloke down the road who's a whizz with them.

[Dick Longbridge]

34 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

Sod changing any cables on any manual Lambretta or Vespa, tbh. Seven full hours doing the inner/outer throttle on a VBB was enough, we even had to cheat and use a pushbike outer, too. Luckily there's a bloke down the road who's a whizz with them.

The problem is here in Cornwall, there aren't many choices of people locally who know their way around them. Anyway, I reckon I've got it sussed for when I do it again next week. I'm waiting on delivery of a new throttle cable - the one I fitted was a second-hand one from my parts stash and it wasn't great. The design of where the cables route up through the headset is utter dogshit - Lambretta designers clearly put all their efforts into making the panelwork look good and the engine sit properly for decent weight distribution. The hidden bits look more like afterthoughts. 

You can just make out where the bastard outer cable has pulled free from where it should locate behind the horncast and is now floating in the headset.

I'll report back here next week!

 

[Dick Longbridge]

I had a spare evening so cracked on with trying to sort the knackered throttle cable. My mistake last time was loosening off the horncast which in turn allowed the outer cable to move around and come away from where it sits in the underside of the headset. I've since read the easiest* way of replacing the cable is loosen off the handlebars, lift everything up a few mm and then feed the end of the cable in that way. I'm not convinced it's any easier to be honest. 

So, first job, remove the mudguard and horncast in one go so I can see what we're working with. Everything is pretty solid under here. When it was given a tidy up in 2015, the fella coated the underside in waxoil which looks messy as it's attached a load of dirt, but it's ultimately clean underneath it.

Sure enough, it was clear to see the cable was floating around and needed reseating. Easy job. 

The new cable was sourced from Beedspeed. I've used them a few times over the last 18 months since getting back into doing some work on Lambrettas. They often get a bad rep from the scooter community but apart from one cock up, they've been spot on, and have delivered parts quickly. They were quick to sort the issue when I spoken to them as well - personally I'll continue to use them as they're fairly priced and parts seem pretty decent quality. 

Outer cable on the left just before being properly reseated (it pulled up slightly further than this)

and new inner in situ.

Adjustment is then from the carb end.

I then spent a fair while trying to free up the throttle grip itself. It doesn't return particularly easily - looking at it more closely I think the shaft itself has a slight bend to it. Something to investigate in more detail another time. In the meantime I've fed plenty of grease into the mechanism and it's definitely moving more freely than before.

I fired the old girl up for the first time in at least six months and was well impressed how easy the startup was. It's sounding sweet.

Then it was a case of refit the horncast and mudguard. This was a twat of a job as the grey rubber gasket kept moving every time I lined things up and started to tighten bolts up. I'm sure there must be some trick way of doing it but I chose plenty of swearing, gnashing of teeth and eventually got there.

Finally all back together and ready for more service jobs another day. 

 

 

 

[Dick Longbridge]

Not an update as such, but an interesting spot all the same. My Lambretta still wears its original registration 5554 WU - first registered in West Riding/York back in February 1960 and then resident in Wath On Dearne for a number of years.

I spotted the photo below on social media just now - the car in the foreground only is only 23 characters away from my plate.  I haven't seen any other 'WU' registrations since owning my Lambretta so it's nice coincidence to see another local vehicle which was likely registered on the same day and at the same place as mine.

On a different note, who knows the make and model of the car? I know, after spotting the details in the comments just now, but wouldn't have had a clue otherwise! Guesses to the ready...

[Pieman]

I was going to guess a Standard of some sort, but the lights look too big.

[ETCHY]

Is it a Simca ?

[EyesWeldedShut]

 

Wot @ETCHY said - Aronde by Simca (not sure what the 2 door one is classed as but here's a price list)

[Dick Longbridge]

Spot on! Simca Aronde P60. New one on me. 

It looks like West Riding had a range of registration options at the time. 

[Pieman]

I'm annoyed I didn't get that as I saw a pic of one of those on Facebook the other day, but only showing the front!