A real scooter building obsession

To say that Alan Everall has an obsession with building things would be an understatement; between July 2008 and January 2018 he built around 66 scooters, plus two Citroen 2 CVs, a 1972 Honda 250 Supersport and a 1950s child’s pedal car!

Does Alan Everall have an addiction, or is it just enthusiasm?

Alan first got into scooters back in the 1960s and has remained an avid enthusiast, even into his retirement. He still rides today and is a member of both the Leeds Crusaders SC and the LCGB.

“I bought an LD in 1968,” says Alan, “and it all went downhill from there.” His first experience of a scooter rally was a trip to Bridlington, riding two-up on a Lambretta Li125 Series 2: “We slept in a hedge on the Brid-Scarborough Road.” He added: “I love the camaraderie of rallies, the show scooters, the music venues – not forgetting the beer and food! My favourite event is the Isle of Wight.”

One particular scooter-related memory sticks in Alan's head: “We were camping in Whitby and had some £50 note serviettes. I put one on a footway and watched passers-by looking at them, with some picking them up thinking they were in profit – until they realised they were fake; then along came an older guy with a white stick, who picked them up and stuck them in his pocket (I may be sad, but this ticked me off).”

It wasn't until 2008 though, that Alan's enthusiasm for scooters developed a new twist when he became really engrossed in the rebuild and restoration of them. And although he's had help and taken advice from others along the way, he has built all of his bikes – mainly Lambrettas – himself (apart from a couple of what he refers to as ‘plastic scooters'). He turned to paint sprayer ‘Dangerous Dave' to do any of the necessary paintwork with any pre-paint stripping done via Ultrasonics; scooter engine guru,

Ian Chappelow, was also called upon when needed.

AN ALL-TIME FAVOURITE

Of all the scooters Alan has ever owned, he holds a special place in his heart for one in particular – a Lambretta TV175 Series 3, which he purchased all in bits in 2009 for £800. “I wanted to replicate the TV that I'd owned back in 1969,” he said. “I fitted it in between the other restorations I was working on at the time. However, on checking out the frame, I found it was slightly bent, so I gave it to Dangerous Dave to straighten out. All the body panels and rusty bits were stripped at Ultrasonics in Leeds and the final paint finish (by Dangerous Dave) was Ford Ivory and d Range Rover Beluga metallic, then coated with h five layers of lacquer over the top.

“I kept the bodywork standard, apart from putting a metal front mudguard on it, then selling the well-knackered original fibreglass one for £105! I fitted a new SIL casing with a 225 cast iron block five-plate clutch, Pacemaker gearbox, plus a Polini 25mm carb; then I had the engine dyno'd at Chiselspeed. A billet front hydraulic disc (TV lookalike) was also fitted. The finishing touch was fitting all the chrome and stainless Mod stuff (I bought the lot for £80). Some bits needed re-chroming, which was done by Silchrome in Leeds. The scooter was ultra reliable when fitted with a 12v kit and Wassel regulator – the electrics were spot-on. It ran like a tractor at first when fitted with a VW-type exhaust, so I binned that and fitted a Sterling exhaust with a TSR end can. Overall cost of the scooter came out at £4500 (yes, the wife knows).

“The scoot evolved in the time period I had it, with me changing some parts like the seat, exhaust, etc. In the end it finished up as I wanted it. Now the scooter is sold – I want it back!”

A DECADE OF WORK

The monumental montage of pictures shown here provides a good representation of the scooters he's worked on over a 10-year period – and if you take an overall average of the scooters that he's built, it works out at roughly one every two months – now that's some achievement! One scooter he's rebuilt twice – a cream Li Series 3, which he later re-morphed with a cream/orange finish.

Alan has built up all of these scooters for himself (except for a cream Lambretta Series 2, which he stripped and rebuilt from the ground up for a pal). He doesn't own any of them now, as he's sold each one to finance his next project. Take a closer look at some of these stunners!