ROSSA YAM- B RETTA 3 5 0 RETROSPECTIVE

In the 80s, along with then business partner Alan Rosser, Frank Sanderson, came up with a hybrid water-cooled scooter. Eventually marketed as the Rossa 350, the machine consisted of a modified Lambretta frame that took a Yamaha 350YPVS engine. As the Yamaha engine was liquid-cooled, another requirement was a cooling system. Frank parted company with Alan Rosser during the short lived, but significant, ‘production’ of Rossa 350 scooters. Thirty years or so down the line, hard facts about the Rossa 350 are still thin on the ground and, it seems, shrouded in mystery.

What is known is that some of the Rossa 350 scooters suffered with both final drive issues and problems with overheating. The idea of a 350 YPVS powered Lambretta, despite the aforementioned niggles, was a concept that appealed to those scooterists with an insatiable need for speed. A prototype version of the Rossa made an appearance at Morecambe rally in ’89. It certainly impressed some of the scooterists who witnessed it ripping up and down the seafront. There are differing views on exactly how many Rossa 350 scooters were completed. Markus, occasional freelancer for Scootering, owns an original Rossa, his being either number 13 or 14.

Alan Rosser took deposits of £1000 against future Rossa scooters, orders from customers literally buying into the Rossa 350 concept. He then disappeared, apparently to Australia, with a sizable amount of cash. After returning to the North East of England, Alan Rosser, so the story goes, was kidnapped on several occasions, before being shot dead. No-one has been caught or charged with the shooting. Updated and revised takes of the Rossa probably number more than genuine Rossa scooters still around. Engineering over the past decade or two has accelerated to new levels, what proved to be problematic 30 years ago is much more straightforward to sort out these days.