MOVING FORWARD BY LOOKING BACK
Inspiration and admiration for the scooters of the past, the nostalgia we crave also serves to fuel future ideas and incarnations. Stu Owen explains...
When someone tells you they have seen that idea or scheme before, don’t worry too much. As long as it’s your own take on it, that’s all that matters.
Look on any internet forum or social media site and its crammed full of old pictures displaying scootering from years gone by. Whether it’s a group shot of club members in a pub while on a rally or someone’s pride and joy in the back garden shed it doesn’t matter. There seems to be a growing obsession as we indulge more and more in nostalgia from the past. Every picture is scrutinised in great detail from a period exhaust and paint-job, to the old Ford Transit van in the background, parked opposite in a neighbour’s driveway.
Not that it’s a bad thing, we thrive on looking back at our memories, or something that reminds us of a time when we were younger. With the advent of countless places to post such images more and more people are unearthing dust-covered shoeboxes full of old photos from out of the loft. It is a process which provides page after page of images for all to see and comment on.
We now live in an age where even a simple camera phone can capture an image in crystal-sharp detail, offering the splendour of magnificent colour. However, there seems to be as much pleasure gained by looking at some old grainy and faded Polaroid from the 1970s.
When it comes to the subject of scooters themselves, that’s a totally different story altogether. Old photographs somehow manage to capture the imagination more than anything when looking for inspiration. Many custom scooters or just ones repainted in general, now seem to take a big influence from those done in the past. Not that they are necessarily being copied, more a case of being updated. Quite often when thinking of a new project or paint design for your beloved scooter it can be quite difficult to know exactly just how to go about it. A quick scan of some old images on the internet can soon throw up plenty of ideas.
So is it wrong to do so? I don’t think it is. How many films or songs from decades ago have been remade or re-recorded? They don’t always better the original but in some cases, they do and quite often embellish it. That’s exactly the case with scooters whether it is a Lambretta or a Vespa. Still, to this day the AF ‘S’ Type is constantly reproduced time and time again. No one ever gets bored of seeing a new reincarnation of this timeless classic. The same can be said of engineering, for example, the air intake on a side panel. By looking at how it has been done before can give you an idea of how to improve it or make it look better on your project.
When looking at an iconic scooter from the past it is easy to replicate it. Quite often, during that process, extra touches are added, making that subtle difference from the original. To come up with something new when building a scooter is getting more and more difficult, that’s why people often refer back to what has already been done.
When someone tells you they have seen that idea or scheme before don’t worry too much. As long as it’s your own take on it, that’s all that matters. Even manufacturers do it to a certain extent. Suzuki has used the same colours on its GSX series for 30 years or more but still makes it look slightly different every time.
So next time you are stuck for an idea of how to paint or layout your next scooter, have a browse on the internet, or through some Scootering back-issues at some images from the bygone days. By looking back to the past, you can find inspiration for what you do in the future.
Words & Photographs: Stu Owen