Centrespreads
AVAILABLE IN STUNNING 10" X 8" prints

We get lots of comments on our classic centre spreads, taken from our unique 4 million image archive, and we are now offering you the ability to buy a glossy 10x8 print on Fujifilm paper - created in a photolab - for yourself. Ideal as a gift or just to hang on your wall. Prints are £10 inc. P&P (UK).

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This month’s centrespread comes again from the Morton’s archives and was first published in The Motorcycle on 9 April 1953. On the reverse of the photograph we found a press release from NSU in Germay dating from the 1st of April of that year, which Christoph has kindly translated for us all:

“To reduce the costs of the municipal fire brigade, the city council of Düsseldorf decided upon the acquisition of 24 Fire-Lambrettas. These are derivatives of the well-known NSU Lambretta motor-scooter. Instead of a pillion seat, a 60-litre water tank is installed whose capacity can be used in the absence of a direct water supply. A rotary pump, powered by the scooter’s engine, delivers the necessary pressure. The extendable ladder is supported by two poles to provide sufficient stability. The Fire-Lambretta is employed in house fires up to the first floor. Higher and bigger fires remain reserved for the common fire trucks.”

So readers, what do you think?

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Back in the day, Lambretta Concessionaires actively supported owners carrying out their own maintenance on their scooters, either through local dealers, or even specialist staff from HQ attending club meetings.The photograph is dated 19/3/59 which if correct suggests that the Series 1 Lambretta was well established by now (note diagrams on the wall behind), so maybe this class in the London area was for 'shaft drive' models only?

For more details, call 01507 529423 - Ref Scootering March 08 centrespread.

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The Singing Nun was a 1966 ‘semi-biographical’ film about the life of Jeanine Deckers (aka Sister Luc Gabriel), a Belgian nun who recorded a chart-topping hit song in 1963, ‘Dominique’. It starred Debbie Reynolds in the title role, as pictured here in a promotional photograph of the time (riding a Lambretta Li Series 3 with an apparently loose side panel), and was described as a ‘work of fiction’ by the nun herself. Whether the Lambretta bit was part of the ‘fiction’ I don’t know, although I know that nuns are not a common sight on any of the scooter rallies I attend…

For more details, call 01507 529423 - Ref Scootering Feb 08 centrespread.

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Pictured here in 1961 is Mr G. Boiling, an Auto Cycle Union (ACU) instructor, putting a pupil through her test on a Dual-Control Lambretta. The scooter was donated to the Harrow Corporation in Middlesex/ North West London by Mr E. T. Pink of local dealer E.T. Pink (Harrow) Ltd. One would suggest that as a 'Learner' machine the front crash bars were in fact more 'practical' than 'decorative' in this particular instance!

For more details, call 01507 529423 - Ref Scootering Nov 07 centrespread.

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At the 1959 Isle of Man Scooter Week a British made Bond sits on the starting line, followed by what looks to be a German Triumph/TWN Contessa, stopwatches at the ready!

For more details, call 01507 529423 - Ref Scootering Sept 07 centrespread.

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1957 Saw the launch of the American Cushman 720 Series of Scooters, ideal for picking up young ladies in New York.
Whilst still angular, they were certainly a vast improvement over their predecessors that long-time readers of Scootering may remember in relation to a certain Herb Singe and the throwing of pegs into buckets!

For more details, call 01507 529423 - Ref Scootering Jan 07 centrespread.

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For the last issue of 2006, the 60th anniversary of the Vespa, we bring you an image of the Vespa Club of Great Britain Rally to Woburn Abbey in the summer of 1957 which attracted almost 1000 scooters. Activities included gymkhanas, trials, and a ‘consumption’ test where competitors turned their petrol-taps off and then rode as far as possible. The winner of the ‘Gran Sport’ Model class was R Brady from Lea Valley who, with the help of a slight decline, managed an impressive 2268ft!

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A Lambretta Li 150 being prepared for the Scottish Six Days Trial of May 1959. Geoff Parker, Alan Kimber and Louis Moore were the team, and modifications to the scooter here included an oversize two-gallon fuel tank, skid trays from 14-gauge steel, Li 125 gear cluster, and the light, mudguard and legshields apparently from a D model.
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Over 200 scooters crossing the Magdalen Bridge by Magdalen College in Oxford, at the British Lambretta Owners’ Association (BLOA) Rally of 1956.
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Taken in February 1966, this pictures shows one Vivian Jones (aged 16), taking part in Moto Baldet’s ‘Scooter & Holiday Show’ in a town hall, presumably near the shop in Northampton.
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From 1966 Jane shows that if you add an 'E' ro SX you get 'SEX' - if you're lucky!
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Winter sports on the streets of London, with Shirley Collis (19) and Jean Sewell (21), during the 1954/55 season. Who knows, one of these could have been Eddie the Eagle’s mother!
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The Sheffield lads getting ready to burn spuds and sausages, as reported in The Motorcycle, September 1961.
Is there anyone out there that can give us a little more information about this picture or the people in it? (Contact us)
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"Finalists in the ‘most attractive couple’ competition, National scooter rally 1959.”
No, dear reader, we kid you not, this is the actual caption that goes with this photo from The Motorcycle in 1959. We think the rally in question was St Albans, held in September of that year. Any contenders out there for ‘most attractive couple’ at the IoW this year?
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