Always an interesting story……..
I saw this Lambretta on ebay. It was described as in Italy but could be deliver to the UK. Umm I thought, maybe a scammer. No one had put a bid on it. The description was okay – all there – all original – but painted over! As most are any way!
I put a cheeky bid which I thought was fair and I won. It was dually delivered right on time by the seller who was heading to his brother not far away who ran an Italian restaurant.
When it was dropped off I ask does it start? He said ‘I guess so’ and started kicking, and kicking and kicking – it was very obvious he wasn’t used to starting a Lambretta. When he went I just walked up to it and it started first time – unreal how these things happen after never been run for years!
I got it for myself to replace my Series 1 that got burnt in our fire in the late 80’s. When we took the panels off it was very good, no rust, no dents and nothing missing, just painted over including the rubbers!
And so it sat in the shop, a few asked is it for sale and the answer was no every time. Then one day our customer Razi from Indonesia called on a yearly visit and saw it. One year later he called in again on his touring holiday with his wife and 3 kids. When he returned he emailed and said I want that Series 1. And he emailed again and again. In the end he asked a price, we agreed a price and the deal was done.
Then we had to crate it up and ship it to Indonesia.
Again a year later Razi called for his 30 minutes meeting and photos. I asked how the S1 went, he told me the value of that bike was something like £10’000 to his customer and it needed restoring! And I thought I had a good deal.
I was then on the hunt for another S1 to replace the Red and Grey one which was to replace my Blue and Blue one from the late 80’s.
The money I made on this one I had to add £500 to find another one – so lost out – such is the demand for certain Scooters models.
