A WELL-RESPECTED MAN
WATERLOO SUNSET
Steve's early venture into the scooter lifestyle only lasted for around three years and in 1971 he sold his scooter for £25 to purchase his first car, a Mk1 Minivan. At that point in time, his interest in scooters and the scootering lifestyle subsided in favour of a car.
TIRED OF WAITING
It wasn't until a summer's evening in 2002, while driving his car home from work, that his interest was sparked off again. Steve found himself following a Lambretta SX200 and immediately wound down the windows so he could hear again that familiar sound of a straining Lambretta engine and smell that wonderful aroma of two-stroke fuel; he was immediately transported back to the 1960s and that chance encounter rekindled his past interest in scooters. As soon as he got home, he proceeded to investigate Lambrettas on the internet and learnt that there was a Lambretta Museum in Weston-super-Mare, so he decided that he would have to visit it.
A few weeks later, Steve took his family and a friend to Weston for a day out! Dropping off his family at the promenade, he and his friend headed for what was, at the time, Nigel Cox's Lambretta Museum.
On entering the museum, he was again transported back to the 60s and was stimulated by the sights and smell of Lambrettas. He decided there and then, that he must own a Lambretta once again!
On request, Nigel Cox showed Steve and his friend around the museum, which included a selection of rusty Lambrettas for sale in a backyard and some much better examples in a lock-up garage. Steve mentally earmarked a scooter he wanted to purchase, a Lambretta TV175 S3.
He planned to return to the Lambretta Museum the following Wednesday to buy it; on the appointed day while driving down the M5 motorway towards Weston, a horrible thought came to him – the shop might be closed on a Wednesday afternoon. Phoning ahead, he found that sure enough, the shop was closed!
SEE MY FRIENDS
That all happened during the month of July and Steve didn't get the chance to revisit Nigel Cox; in the meantime, he was being quizzed by his family about which Lambretta scooter would be his first choice.
“My reply was a Lambretta SX200, as in the mid-60s these were seen as being the Rolls-Royce of the Lambretta range and a dream to own by many,” he says.
On September 25 of that same year, Steve was celebrating his 50th birthday with family and friends. Halfway through the party he thought he could hear a scooter being kickstarted somewhere, but thought nothing of it. Suddenly, at the end of his drive, appeared his eldest son pushing a Lambretta SX200 (it had refused to start)! It was a special birthday present from his wife and children and was the rebirth of his scootering life!
THIS TIME TOMORROW
Steve's love of scooters has been influenced by four different models:
The Lambretta TV175 S2 (as he had one in the 60s);
The Lambretta TV(GT)200 (his brother had one in the 60s); The Lambretta SX200 (the scooter that most Mods coveted, at least where Steve grew up); The Vespa SS180 (his late friend from the 60s had one and of course, so did Kinks bass player, Pete Quaife)!
The plan back in 2004 was to collect all those scooters. “I have three now,” says Steve, “but the Lambretta TV200 has eluded me, due to the silly prices they fetch now.”
COME DANCING
In 2010, Steve bought a Vespa SS180 and had it restored and painted red. However, there were some difficulties in getting it registered (it was an import from New Zealand and had no frame number).
With the help of the Veteran Vespa Club, he was eventually able to get it registered. In the meantime however, he'd bought a donor SS180 frame and subsequently, he sold the red SS to fund another project, although at that time all he was left with was the donor frame… It wasn't until he was attending the 2012 Isle of Wight festival that he was inspired to use the frame to start collecting parts and building a replica of Pete Quaife's later version of his Vespa SS180 – and so the process began…