Lambretta Club of Gibraltar Relaunch

A Royal Navy rider’s Vespa breakdown sparks new friendships, a fresh Lambretta build, and the Lambretta Club of Gibraltar’s comeback. Fraser Brown from Animals Fea Naboombu SC explains…

I got involved with the Club in mid-2025 after some issues with my daily driver, a slightly tweaked Vespa TX200. I was told to take it to Steve Richards, who lived just across the border from where I worked and lived in Gibraltar. Although a dyed-in-the-wool Lambretta man, he often helped get ailing Vespas and Lambrettas back on the road.

Dropping the scooter off in his garage, it was clear he was more than just a shed tinkerer, and after chatting for a while, I found out he’d been involved with scooters, mainly Lambrettas, for years in the UK, Gibraltar, and Spain. He’d done all the usual rally stuff, raced them, and loved to design and manufacture his own upgrades.

On that first day, he showed me some carbon-fibre handlebar instrument mounts, airboxes he’d designed and 3D-printed, and additional cooling for the casings of his road-going Lambretta. Almost all necessities for riding in the heat of a Southern Spanish Summer. Like any good scooterist, his garage was an Aladdin’s cave of old road and race scooters, scooter bits, engines, and shelves full of goodies. With a common interest, we had the odd local ride up the coast to meet up with others, mainly ex-pat scooterists… all the time with him trying to convince me to get on a Lambretta after having Vespas all my scootering life.

Retirement present…

I was due to retire from the Royal Navy after nearly 35 years and had decided I deserved a retirement present. So, during a chat in his mancave, we agreed that he’d build me a scooter from some of the garage goodies he had, with my brief: “I’ve always liked the rat/rusto/patina look that’s really sorted mechanically.” So, after years and years of scootering on Vespas, most recently as a member of the Animals Fae Naboombu SC in Scotland, it looked like I was finally going to get on a Lambretta after all. The build began, and by that I mean ordering parts, picking bits off his shelf, and gathering together panels, etc., in the Summer. I’d made it clear I was in no rush, the Vespa was back on the road, and I was enjoying the Spanish summer riding.

Steve! Steve! Steve!

One of the biggest local Scooter Clubs – Los Motos Locos – was organising their rally “Meeting of the Clans” at Mojacar, a few weeks later, and this was due to be my first Spanish Rally. As our group was so spread out across southern Spain/UK/Gibraltar, a WhatsApp group was set up to get all the organisation in place for a few local scooterists to attend. I didn’t know anyone else locally except Steve, so it was good to make contact with other like-minded people, especially as I was in the process of moving just across the border to Spain at the time. Luckily for me, they were almost all called Steve, so that made it simpler, if not a little confusing!

Whilst at the Meeting of the Clans rally and full of scootering enthusiasm, a little paella and a cerveza or two, the three of us hatched a plan to revive the Lambretta Club of Gibraltar (LCG). Steve had been a driving force of the club back when it was established in 2000 and had seen members come and go over the years, many of whom were members of the Armed Forces spending a few years posted to Gibraltar. The other Steve attending the rally had a background in engineering and racing cars and had lived in Spain for years. He was a proud owner of two lovely self-restored Lambrettas. The LCG at the time had been going through, as many scooter clubs do periodically, a bit of a quiet spell.

Let’s do this…

Back from Mojacar and full of vim, we got the news out via Social Media that we were: “putting the band back together”. A lot of interest came from previous members and other Lambretta riders around Gibraltar and Southern Spain. Things were looking up for the club.

“So, after years and years of scootering on Vespas, most recently as a member of the Animals Fae Naboombu SC in Scotland, it looked like I was finally going to get on a Lambretta after all”.

The next rally on the calendar was Cadiz in November. One of the beauties of scootering in the South of Spain is the very long rally “season” with all-year-round scootering achievable even for the most delicate of scooterists! I had a trip back to the UK booked for the Cadiz rally, so I was going to miss it, but other club members attended, sporting the newly designed club merchandise and flying the flag for the LCG. Another get-together followed a few weeks later for a classic vehicle rally in La Linea, the town on the Spanish/Gibraltar border, which seen five club members attending. Already, the LCG was well represented at scooter events. After a bit of dialogue with LCGB, we plan to be affiliated in 2026 and build closer ties with Club Lambretta Espana over the coming years.

In true Santa style, Steve outdid himself and had my Lambretta, an Eibar Jet 200, ready as an early Christmas present for me. The build had evolved from “bolt it together and get it running” to a nice, tidy, fully restored, race-inspired paintwork build. One which I’m ecstatic with and plan to clock up many kilometers in the next few years (trouble-free, he assures me!). I also landed on my feet, and through the club, I met someone who was selling another Lambretta, a GP200 (TS1). To cut a very long story short, I got two GPs off him. So, at the risk of showing off, I’m now the proud owner of three Lambrettas, all of which are ready to do some mile munching in the Spanish sunshine… although I’ll be keeping the Vespa!

Check out the Lambretta Club of Gibraltar on Facebook, or even better, come and say hello if you are out and about at any scooter events in Gibraltar or Southern Spain.

Words & Images supplied by: Fraser Brown – LCG & Animals Fea Naboombu SC

Article originally appeared in Scootering Magazine March 2026 issue. To subscribe and grab some Meguiars cleaning freebies visit https://classicmagazines.co.uk/scootering?offer=SCOME2026