Big Chris reports: When it comes to vehicles, I love collecting documents. I have every brochure for all the motorised transport we own as a family, even the four-wheeled kind. When it comes to the scooters, I’ve old tax discs, registration documents, sales leaflets, everything; all the bumf and paraphernalia associated with our obsessive love affair with our beloved classic machines. To be honest, I’m pretty obsessed with it all. But I’m not a patch on Pete Davies!
Mr Davies
For those of you who may not instantly recognise the name, Pete is responsible for helping to keep hundreds of Lambretta scooters on the road, from a registration point of view anyway. He was once the official who supplied dating certificates on behalf of the Lambretta Club of Great Britain.
Enjoy more Scootering Magazine reading every month.
Click here to subscribe & save.
He is now, and has been for some time, doing this in his own capacity as the British Lambretta Archive and is partnered by Mr Johnny Walklate in running the outstandingly good Lambretta Frame Check website. This is a wonderful free resource for all things Lambretta and is a wonderful place to visit. Virtually, that is, you can’t actually go there as it is up in ‘The Cloud’ somewhere.
So, when Pete gave me a shout to say he’d turned up something a little bit special and out of the ordinary, I was obviously interested in having a nosey. As Pete is so knowledgeable and knows this story first hand, I might as well leave it up to him to tell you all about DRX 19C.
Over to you mate
The current owner of this lovely little Lambretta Cento is Gill Beecham of the Leicester Lambretta Club and British Lambretta Archive. But how did Gill end up with this machine?
It was spotted on the Lambretta J Range Club of GB page on Facebook, where it had been listed for sale by its owner at the time, a guy called Mike Bowker from Leeds. He provided lots of photos of the scooter and videos of it running. Along with this, Mike also provided photos of the paperwork that accompanied the scooter.
A few questions revealed that Mike had bought the scooter from Keith Webb, who had applied to retain the original registration plate. This was a simple enough procedure as the scooter came with its original green logbook.
This is a Cento that was originally purchased out of necessity and as a form of transport rather than for pleasure.
A deal was done and the scooter headed south from Leeds to Leicester and at last Gill got a scooter she had always wanted.
Background checks
The little scooter was built in August 1964, one of 1040 that month, and eventually found its way to the UK. The machine was first registered in Berkshire by Bob White & Co in Maidenhead, receiving the registration DRX 19C.
The logbook front shows the date of first registration as February 1, 1965. However, the Berkshire stamp shows the date of January 31, 1965. But hey, what difference does a day make? This was more than likely done for tax issues.
The first owner is shown as Joy Dillaway, who lived in Maidenhead. In fact, a Google search found that Joy Dillaway was still living at her Maidenhead address, the same one as on the logbook, in 1986 when she was employed by V J Stannet Ltd, a business dealing in hardware, paint and glass. She would remain with this company until 2000/2001 when the company was dissolved. She was still listed as Miss, even in 2000/2001.
With the scooter were a number of wonderful accompanying documents, such as the original logbook and guarantee, an information sheet for joining BLOA, the precursor to the LCGB, and an assortment of leaflets on tyres, spark plugs and accessories. There was even one for Exide batteries, even though this scooter doesn’t have one, and never has had a battery fitted.
On the rear of the frame, where the number plate is fitted, the original cardboard frame number tag was still attached. The scooter still had its last tax disc, which was dated December 1966 and valid for 12 months, so I think it is safe to assume that at some point in 1966, Joy decided that she no longer wanted to ride her scooter, but more on that later.
Instead of getting rid of her little Lambretta, she kept hold of it and its original paint, original tyres and tool kit remained as they were when she parked it up, and the Ceat tyres look almost brand new. The mileage, which is presumed to be correct, is only 1616 miles, and that includes Mike’s journey to the MoT station.
A second chance
Prior to Mike owning the machine, Keith Webb had unearthed the Cento through a friend called Steve, and it was his Auntie Joy who was the original owner of the scooter. When she died, Steve was tasked with sorting out her estate. He told Keith that he had found an old, rundown shed in the garden of the house and it had some bikes in it. Mike went for a look, found an old army scooter — I’m assuming a Brockhouse Corgi or similar — a motorbike and the Cento.
Keith had owned scooters in the past, so he bought the Cento and took it home. Once back home, Keith discovered that the original petrol tank had a hole in it and the engine was, unsurprisingly, seized. The seize was freed up by putting WD40 down the spark plug hole and leaving it for a while. After a bit of time had passed, he put the scooter into third gear and rocked it backwards and forwards. Thankfully, it freed itself up. A new tank was fitted, and with the carb cleaned out, the little Cento started up and ran, even after being dormant for so many years.
The rear carrier that can be seen on the scooter is the only original accessory that was on the Lambretta when Joy owned it. The other accessories were fitted by Mike, and as they have that aged look, they don’t look too blingy or out of place. There has been some discussion over the footboard extensions, but Mike assures me that they are J Range items.
Finally, as to why this little Cento was laid up for so long, having been put in the shed and forgotten about, not having been ridden after 1966. This was apparently because Joy deemed the Cento too dangerous to ride, this would certainly explain the reason for such low mileage. Apparently, she had only ever ridden it to and from work in Maidenhead. This is a Cento that was originally purchased out of necessity and as a form of transport rather than for pleasure.
One must wonder what she would have thought about the amount of traffic on the roads today, with the poor standards of driving and far too many fools still using their mobile phones while in charge of a motor vehicle!
Thanks to Pete for the heads up and sharing a little bit about the background of a wonderful little Lambretta Cento scooter. I hope Gill enjoys her new, wonderfully original condition machine and rides the little wheels off it.
Words: Big Chris, Pete Davies
Images: Big Chris
Thanks to Pete for inviting me down to do the feature on this rare find. If you do get the chance, check out the BLA and www.lambrettaframecheck.co.uk; it’s an amazing free resource for all things Lambretta that’s powered by passion, not pound signs.
