Coral Celebrations
Although first launched during 1985 in Italy, the UK had to wait until the following year forth eT 5 V es pa to be available on sale via dealer outlets.
It's kind of ironic that the original date that a photo shoot for this superb example of this Guernsey-based Mk1 T5 had been arranged for ended up being rescheduled. It was an absolute necessity to rearrange the session, as owner Jason Shambrook (aka Shambles) had one of those ‘no explanation as to how' incidents happen shortly after setting off from home. Luckily it was at slow speed, therefore thankfully no damage to the Vespa. What happened was… the bolt on the top of the rear shock, without any advance warning, simply sheared off. “In all my years of riding scooters I've never been known for riding fast, probably just as well I was riding slowly when the shock bolt went. And yes it was a bit scary, and a bit of a struggle getting the T5 the short distance back home too.”
Shambles' very first rally was Disc
'85, which was promoted by Vespa UK at Donington Park race circuit. It was a scooter rally with on-site camping and live acts performing, as well as scooter racing on the circuit, where, despite not being commercially available until '86, the Vespa T5 was going to be put through its paces by champion Vespa racer Norrie Kerr in one of the racing classes. It was an irresistible attraction as well as a baptism of mud (those who were there will know!) instead of fire to scooter rallies for a young Shambles. At the time he lived in Northampton and it took him a marathon eight hours to ride there, on a PK50. Like most youngsters during the Scooterboy heyday, Shambles was on something of a tight budget, despite which his recollections of his first scooter rally are, in the main, positive. Sort of, as he's been riding scooters and going to rallies ever since. “On that journey from Northampton to Donington, going up some of the hills, people with bags of shopping were walking past me on my PK50! I had very little in the way of money, though I did keep enough back for a bottle or two of Clan Dew, a whiskey and wine mix, it was muddy, very muddy. I remember laying in my tent thinking…well, this is fun, and I lost a shoe.”
Shambles took ownership of his 1988 Mk1 T5 some four years ago in exchange for a reasonable price of £2000. Almost right from its launch, there has been a profusion of extras available for the T5. They included the Pole Position range (linked with the model launch), others were of the bolt-on, go-faster type of engine upgrades. However, like many T5 owners and enthusiasts, Shambles has opted to keep his Mk1 more or less standard, the only two exceptions being a genuine King and Queen Pole Position, Yankee seat, and an aftermarket exhaust pipe. Being an '88 model it has a dial-type rev counter, which replaced the digital LED rev counter the earlier models had. For Shambles, the T5 engine was the best power unit produced by Vespa. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that there
is no engine cover fitted, there is a simple explanation for that: “After the rear shock broke on my way to the first photo shoot, obviously I removed the engine cover to get the broken shock off. The replacement arrived and was fitted, I intended to refit the engine cover and basically, I forgot. When I got back from the rearranged shoot, there it was sat in my garage. It's back on the scooter now. The (dial) rev counter can be a bit temperamental, sometimes, for no obvious reason it decides not to work, then the next few times out it's fine. The period Pole Position seat is date stamped in yellow on the underside, 10-1988, which is the same year as the scooter it's fitted to. Pipe aside, I've kept it standard, as I think T5 engines have to be one of the best that Vespa have produced. It is very responsive and great with one person on it. If you put two people on it or go up a hill then the story changes dramatically. I've named my Mk1 T5 Eamonn, as it's very much like my friend, it's a bit smelly, makes me spend a lot and drinks a lot.” Despite having to replace the rear shock, Shambles is more than happy with his original condition Mk1 T5. This year, 2021, is the coral (35th) anniversary of the T5 Vespa being launched in the UK; reason enough to feature a pristine example of a truly iconic Vespa model.
Name: Jason Shambrook.
Job: Human resources manager.
Scooter club & town: Cheap Red Wine SC, Guernsey.
First interest in scooters: In the mid-Eighties, a few mates had them and we used to hang about together. Great times and I still see them occasionally after I moved away.
First scooter: PK50, we knocked on a chap's door and asked if he wanted to sell it. Within a month my dad had it cut down and had a kit in it. I blew it up a day later screaming it down the dual carriageway!
Favourite scooter model: Without a shadow of doubt, the GS150. For some reason it just makes you want to keep looking at it!
First ever rally: Disc '85, remember it being very muddy and we didn't have much money. Obviously had enough for a bottle or two of Clan Dew (whiskey and wine). I remember thinking this is fun as my tent collapsed and I realised I had lost one of my shoes.
How did you get there: It took us eight hours to ride from Northampton to Donington on the PK50. People were walking past me with their shopping as I went up hills. I learnt how to use the momentum of going down the hill to propel myself up the other side. At one stage I am positive I touched 23mph. We didn't have GPS in those days so I can't be sure!
Any funny stories: They all are! We had joined the Unlikeables SC from Northampton and decided to create a Wendy House camping village at Great Yarmouth in 1986 that looked like the street we lived in. Got down there, set them up and it looked splendid. A row of terraced houses with our scooters parked outside. Off we went to the pub, returning in the early hours to find that our bodies didn't really fit inside. I woke up first in the morning shivering cold (drank some more Clan Dew) and glanced across the ‘street' to see houses on top of people covering just from their waist to their neck. One of them had met a girl in a pub and was under a length of tarpaulin with her as according to him, “it was only a one bedroom house”.
Furthest you’ve ever ridden on a scooter: Went to the Vespa Days in Belfast a couple of years ago. There are three of us called the Amigos and the other two had set off before me. I rode from Portsmouth to Liverpool, ferried across to Belfast (in force 10 wind) and then as a group we rode down to Dublin, then to Rosslare, across to Pembroke, through Wales and back to Poole. My mate Boabie McAmigo has just done it again on his own this month!
What do you like about rallies: There is no secret that I do actually like pubs, I like trying new ales, the history of them, the smell, planning a pub crawl and meeting people. That's what I like most about rallies.
What do you dislike about rallies: Nothing really apart from queuing 20 deep, with blokes holding toilet rolls, to use a Portaloo on a rainy morning after a night on the Clan Dew.