Albons notes
To further add to John Chinrey’s recollections in the Albons article (April 2022), these further anecdotes may be of interest to you:
We set up a customising trend with flamboyant paints and chrome plating and had a stand at the Earls Court Motorcycle Show with our pimped Lambrettas.
The customising, coupled with our dedicated and enthusiastic staff, lifted sales to great levels. On our local carnival day, we sold five Lambrettas. Our workshop foreman and mechanics all wore Lambretta workwear. Our paint shop and our coach painter were second to none. Trimite Ltd of Middlesex matched metallic sweet wrappers in their laboratory to give us flamboyant metallic colours including Snetterton Gold, Seagrass and African Violet (for the Albons kneeler – a TV175 originally).
We purchased many chrome carriers, aerials, badge bars etc., etc. from Nannucci Ltd and the Gotinelli brothers, Adolph and Luigi – great characters. Our most outrageous accessories were foxtails purchased from a local furrier and tied to your aerial.
We supported our local Lambretta Scooter Club, The Vikings, as much as we possibly could, supplying them with Viking head badges from our motor department (in chrome of course).
We won our local Christmas window display competition which depicted two Lambrettas wearing reindeer heads over their headlamps, pulling a sleigh on a blanket of snow. The snow, in fact, was sheets of polystyrene purchased from a local company; it was a new product and made for a convincing and dramatic display.
We carried ALL the spare parts needed for a Lambretta; in fact, you could build your Lambretta from our complete stocks.
We eventually unloaded new Lambrettas from the Concessionaires at Barking Station and carried our 100% Lambretta model range to the highest level in all we did.