Pure Acid: Power, performance and paint

Groundbreaking scooters don’t come along very often, but this scooter might just be one of them…

Richard Coveney advertised a Lambretta frame and bodypanels in primer for sale on social media. The price also included a spray job of the buyer’s choice, which Richard would complete. Having seen the advertisement, Rick Sheppard bought the scooter and originally opted for an orange and silver metalflake AF Rayspeed S-Type paint job. The scooter was then built by Paul at Oiltek and was fitted with a TS-225cc engine.

Rick covered 40,000 miles on the scooter, and credit to Paul’s engineering and Richard’s paintwork the scooter ran and looked in tip-top condition for several years. However, in the summer of 2018 Rick decided that he wanted to make some big changes.

Sparkle

Rick and his partner Jill went down to Leicester to discuss paint options with Richard and his partner Janine. “Upon their arrival, I showed Rick and Jill the Lil Daddy Roth flake chart. We all looked through it and we just couldn’t get away from the Window Pane ‘Trippin’ Random Cut Metalflake, it looked amazing,” explained Richard. Rick is particularly fond of gin and his original idea was to complete the scooter with a Bombay Sapphire theme. With the theme agreed, after the initial blasting and preparation processes Richard applied the metalflake, which was then to be supported by blue Kandy. However, when Richard was flatting back the metalflake things began to change. “This particular metalflake is called ‘Window Pane – Trippin’ Random Cut. The metalflake pieces in it are holographic and as the name suggests, they are random in their shape; as a result their sparkle is spectacular, and ‘Window Pane’ is an urban dictionary definition for LSD tabs.” Seeing the depth of the sparkle, new ideas started to develop in Richard’s mind.

“Coupled with the name of the flake and its holographic properties I began to see an alternative, which no longer sustained the gin theme, but now supported a new one based around LSD and its effects. I could see the paint job in my head; the whole concept was moving to another level. The connections were almost endless and the potential to maximise the paint’s effects with multiple colours and effects were beyond belief. My objective for the scooter was for it to be over the top and the LSD theme opened itself right up to that, and possibly more!” smiled Richard.

Rick was over the moon and said: “That’s brilliant! Crack on!” After getting the initial silver metalflake paintwork completed, the ‘Pure Acid’ logo was added to each of the sidepanels. “To complete this I called in the services of a pal of mine who’s worked with me on several previous projects, Lewis Williams from Bolton, who’s a tattoo artist by trade. Lewis applied the Pure

Acid logo in variegated gold leaf and silver leaf, which surrounds the ‘Acid’ element of the logo, and being a tattoo artist he completed all the work by hand, which adds more character.”

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Sections of the paint include kaleidoscopic swirls and patterns, which draw in the eye to deliver an inference of a hallucinogenic effect. LSD tab designs then appear all round the scooter, which have cleverly been thought out. The strawberries are particularly amazing, as in each of them every single seed had to be ‘weeded out’ from the computergenerated stencil! After that, red and green Kandys were added to give the fruits their stunning effects. Other LSD tab designs include the Rolling Stones’ 40 Licks emblem, which reflects the influence the band had in the late 60s psychedelic era. Other supporting LSD designs around the scooter include yin and yangs, purple Ohms and little Buddahs.

Engineering perfection

With the paintwork complete, Richard delivered the frame and bodypanels to Paul at Oiltek. “I took the opportunity to have the scooter fitted with a Casa SST 265 engine. As well as the engine, Paul’s also fitted the scooter with other trick parts, which include an octopus hub, Cyclone 5-speed gearbox, Casa cooler, ignition and Super-Tourer exhaust.” Rick explained. Pure Acid is an exciting and intoxicating scooter, which delivers unadulterated indulgence. To achieve this Rick called in the tried, tested and trusted talents of experts he’s worked with in the past; who in turn have pushed the boundaries and have delivered incredible results.