OWNER DETAILS
Name: Tessa Abraham Scooter club & town: Burton Brewers (Burton-on-Trent). How and when did you first become interested in scooters: Early 80s as a young Mod. What was your first scooter: Vespa PX125 in 1984. What is your favourite scooter model: Vespa Rally and Serveta Jet 200. What is your favourite style of custom scooter: 70s Northern scooterist style. First rally or event: Newquay 1984. Favourite and worst rally/event: Favourite: Ypres Belgium (LCGB) and worst: any that encourages caravans and cars. Funniest experience with a scooter: Travelling all the way down through France to Adria, Spain, for the LCGB Rally. Only to arrive at midnight and find out that our hotel had been closed for six months. Funny now but shear hell at the time! What’s the furthest you’ve ever ridden on a scooter: Ypres, Belgium and Adria, Spain. What do you like about rallies/events: Meeting old friends and encouraging new blood. Dancing in the Northern and ska/reggae rooms. What do you dislike about rallies/events: Pissheads that have no love for scootering. Auto riders that have no respect for geared scooterists. Your favourite custom/featured scooter of all time: ‘Worlds Apart’. Love the fantastic murals custom accessories and ‘Little Rascal’ chop Vespa. What’s the most useless part you’ve ever bought for one of your scooters: Anything bought in a hurry or a ‘quality part’ bought from a rally only to find it either falls to bits or doesn’t fit!
The darkness of the story describes how the 12 accused witches lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill. They were charged with the murders of 10 people by the use of witchcraft and the ones found guilty were executed.
Magical
The scooter’s paint and artwork is wonderful: Gary has taken Lee and Tessa’s brief, and with initiative he’s developed it to produce an outcome which is beyond expectation. The main colour green sets the stage for the story to be told through the artwork. The two murals at the top of the legshields extend across the width to appear as one. The mural on the nearside shows three witches on their broomsticks heading towards a full moon, which is setting over the dark horizon of Pendle Hill. Below, at either side of the front mudguard crows circle and gather in a spooky tree, adding to the supernatural feel.
The mural on the offside side panel shows three witches gathered round a cauldron while a ghostly spirit developing in the broth reaches out to take a mouse sacrificed into its ingredients. A backdrop of spooky woodland appears behind the witches and two eerie looking eyes peer out from a hole in one of the spindly trees contributing to an uneasy ghostly feeling. The mural on the nearside sidepanel is of a gorgeous modern-day witch who has beautiful, inviting deep green eyes which sparkle. She casts a spell with her wand delivered by three pentagram stars, which change between red and green depending on which angle you look at the scooter from. The overall blend is seamless and works together perfectly.
In the meantime; while Gary had been working his magic in the paint-shop Iain (who Lee and Tessa are most grateful to) completed the sourcing and production of the final combination of the
Also some of the best customs have been Vespas: Worlds Apart, Little Rascal and Enchanted Dream and we wanted to explore this again.
period accessories for the scooter. As well as this, and while all this had been happening Lee painstakingly completed the reproduction period Burnley and Pendle Scooter Club rear shield and period Soul rear mud flap.
Timing
Time was now seriously pressing on as it was Lee and Tessa’s intention to show Witches Brew for the first time in the Bridlington National Rally custom show. “It was close!” Tessa smiled. “We got the main bodywork of the scooter back from Gary on the Tuesday before the rally. Lee got straight to work fitting all the parts to the body of the scooter; then on Thursday we collected the rest of the body panels and Lee got straight to work in the garage completing the final build. The pressure was on!”
Awards
With little or no time to spare, Lee and Tessa succeeded in getting Witches Brew into the Bridlington custom show. The scooter looked absolutely outstanding; it was a real crowd pleaser at the event and won both Best Vespa Pre P2 and Best Custom Vespa with Accessories.
Witches Brew is a truly amazing scooter; wherever you see it the Pendle Witches will always cast a pleasant spell on you and take you on a trip down memory lane to the scooters of the 70s and we all have Lee and Tessa to thank for that. Words: Stu Smith
Photographs: Richie Lunt