Death Proof

Every custom sc creation story, but I don 4 think many have a story like this. It starts over a few drinks, as many do, but, unlike most, it involves an act of generosity rather than some scribbles on a beer mat.

Sometimes the simple customs scooters shine through, it’s not all about cheque books.

The old-school approach… Simon Rickers is the owner of this fine looking chop, but without the kindness of a good mate, Alan Lamb, it wouldn’t have come to pass. The pair were in the pub one night – no doubt a couple of small sherries had been drained by this point – and they were having one of those ‘I’d love to enter a scooter into the Brid show’ conversations when Alan looked at Simon and told him that if he meant it, he could have his Vespa chop frame.

Now I’m sure we’ve had similar conversations when in the arms of Bacchus, and come daylight the promises are forgotten, but not so here. A quick phone call along the lines of ‘can you get it in the back of your car?’ and Simon was round like a flash. Squeezing the frame in was straightforward, but the generosity of Alan became almost embarrassing: “You’ll need these… and these… don’t forget this… oh, and there’s this…” A proper old-school scooterboy approach. No “well, you know what these go for”, just “take what you’ll need and don’t worry about it”.

The frame that was donated was one that had been picked up with the idea that it would make a decent chop for Alan, but on collection it was a bit of a disappointment and was consigned to that dark corner of the garage that many of us have for things to come back to later. As it had sat there for a little while without any progress, he offered it on the understanding that it would be built and entered into the custom show.

From concept to reality

The idea for basing the scooter on the film Death Proof was already kicking around in Simon’s head. This cult Tarantino film is one of his favourites, and he already had several ideas in his head as to what he wanted. Needless to say, a visit to local artist Lee Myatt convinced him that while his theme was a good one, the actual execution could be much better. Having convinced Simon that a satin black base with gloss black detailing would give a great ‘ghosting’ effect, it was agreed that the artist would be given free rein. Looking at the finished article, I can only back that decision to the hilt.

An engine was obviously high on the shopping list and a P125 lump was sourced as ‘complete’. ‘Complete, but missing a clutch’ would have been how Simon would have described it to the seller if he could have found him, but, oddly, he seems to have vanished...

The engine was thrown together using reasonably priced components – a DR180 isn’t the usual kit on a custom, with most people heading towards the exotic end of things, but as the scooter was being built on a budget, that’s what was bought! Similarly, a SIP pipe is an unusual choice of

exhaust for a custom, but Simon was more concerned with rideability than out and out performance, and a cruising speed of 60mph suits him fine, having a GTS for those trips that require longer legs.

Being a scooter that has been built to a price, and given the subject matter, the detailing was done to a minimum. A pair of small racks and floor rails made from twisted stainless were originally fitted, but the runner strips soon went as they were unsuitable for day-to-day scootering, it being a ridden scooter and not a show pony.

That’s a big 10-4

The one item that does stand out is the rubber duck on the handlebars. In the original film, Tarantino wanted to give a nod to the classic film Convoy and got the manufacturer of the one shown on Kris Kristofferson’s truck to make a scaled down version for the Death Proof car. Simon found the manufacturer and got it to make an even smaller one for his scooter. The cost? About £30, delivered. Bargain! Speaking of which, did the scooter ever get shown at Bridlington? Of course it did. Although it didn’t win anything, Simon was proud just to have shown it, and to have had positive feedback on its showing.

But as he says: “Even achieving the dream of showing it wouldn’t have been possible without Andy and his huge act of generosity, something I couldn’t have expected.” This feature in Scootering is another target met for Simon, and I’m pretty sure that some beer is owed to Andy now…

Words: Nik Photographs: Gary Chapman