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1957 Lambretta LD Revival

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Sep 25, 2015
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Location
North of the Red River
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:welcome:
:rider:
I Found this little Gem on a Friends 80 acre section hidden in the woods that covers about 65 acres of the Property. :welcome:
The Original Owner Gave Me this Lambretta and a Honda CB500Four that was also dumped in the woods after a head on collision! :bow:
He had imported the Italian Scooter from Milano Italy during His stent in the Military ! :patriot:
All I had to do was get to them to take them home! :eek2:
I followed the fence line cut over a concrete bed stream crossing to get to them with a trailer, That bridge was burned (literally) 3 days later by a fast flood to become a 12 foot deep trench with an unsupported concrete crossing. :eek2:

At first I was just going to sell the Lambretta, and play with the Honda Motor.
Considered making it into a Generator, or a Go Cart (High Speed Lawn Mower). :hack: :pound: :shrug:
The Problem with this was it sat on the recovery trailer in my drive (where it just had to be seen). :sun:

The more I looked at it, the more I got to liking the cute little Italian scooter ! :giveup:

I changed My mind an decided to make it a restore project . . . :rofl:

So this Thread is the story of its recovery to operational and it's nickname of "WhaleBretta" :clap:

These shots are of it sitting in the drive, while I looked for wheels (8" split rims), and tires (decided on knobbies), and tubes with a 90* valve. :deal:
Searching for said items became instantly a problem. The LD model is an almost Ghost when it comes to parts. NOS Used or Otherwise !
Every "Other" model has plenty of parts to find.

I Hope You enjoy This Recovery Story of a Neat Little Italian Scooter with a 150cc 2 smoker power-mill.

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Oh man, that scooter looks roached. Would love to see it restored... you are a braver soul than myself to attempt that project.
 
This Is / Was the front wheel and hub that I removed to free up the Forward Brake
I also pealed the rear tire and tube off the rear.
The wheels and gas tank suffered the worst of the Rust Cancer, everything else is solid !

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This silver rim is a special made application that also fits a Gravely Lawn Tractor. There are now 2 of them in existence. Had to use some southern ingenuity and make them ! :lol2:
I did eventually find 3 used wheel rims for it.
 
After I finished building my new 10 X 12 Shed with double loft and work bench. I moved the Lambretta into the hobby shop !
 

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First thing that came to mind was whatever elements bestowed that patina on the bike, probably got down in the nooks and crannies. The rust on the body does not appear to be anything you could not overcome, but being 1957 anything makes it hard to get parts. I looked at the open spaces where there wheels would reside and knew immediately it was beyond my skillset.
 
First thing that came to mind was whatever elements bestowed that patina on the bike, probably got down in the nooks and crannies. The rust on the body does not appear to be anything you could not overcome, but being 1957 anything makes it hard to get parts. I looked at the open spaces where there wheels would reside and knew immediately it was beyond my skillset.

Picking on Bikes that are rare seems to be my forte' The others are in starter albums except for a 1976 SX 175 Aermacchi Harley Davidson AMF that I will pick up in November. :doh:
 
Now that the Lambretta has a home it is time to move in an start getting RIPPED !
First parts off, Both Side Panels . . .
Side Panels got hung on the wall unpainted . . .
Then the Engine Cowell and flywheel shield . . . Those Got wire wheeled and painted with a Red Ceramic 500% Heat Resisting Rattle Can Paint . . . While the shield got "Chrome" (Bright Silver) like the 2 special rims.
All of this will be a Rattle Can Paint Job !

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Note: This was when I was still toying with the idea of selling it !
 
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The following will be Piddling shots of the progress so far into it's demise before restoring it.

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Handle bar got the cancer too ! :doh:
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Notice the Sweet Pitted Patina ! That will be the Norm for this Scooter !
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Decided to get a bit crazy with colors too !
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BONUS ! It still had tools in the trunk (boot)! Preserved with John Deere Yellow Industrial Enamel.
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Some more progress shots . . .
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Colors getting wilder ! :rofl:
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Funny little fork, but looking at my shed I see why colors are going wild ! :rofl:
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Ahhhhhhh Look Out . . . It's a CRAZY OLD COOT ! :rofl:
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Yup ! That's Me ! Sittin' cause My Leg gave out !
 
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Found a 60 MPH Speedometer that I had to import . . .
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NOS 60 MPH Speedo - Imported from Greece !

Here is a lineup of some small parts cleaned and some painted and 1 brand new re-pop (Innocenti Nose Badge).

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The next step was to get the leg-shield off which also removed 6 floorboard runners . . . This proved difficult . . .as the runners are made of aluminum with a rubber insert . . . and the steel screws (4 per runner) were rusted solid !
I finally had to punch and drill the screw heads off to succeed . . . :doh:

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I never liked doing that cause removing the stubs often proves difficult !

Moving on I got the coil and its mounting bracket off, then removed the rear brake light switch with its mounting bracket !

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The next day I received the fuel tank I had to import from Italy ! :sun:
I also made a great friend there named Daniele Palmer, that was a great help with locating several parts . . . :hail:
The most expensive being the used fuel tank that was clean and solid !
Since it was priced like "Gold" I started to paint it "Gold"
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This is where the first Gold rattle can expired . . . I had to wait till the first of September to buy another one :zen: But that's another story for another time.

So proceeding on with the demise by removing the control cables and other things, I discovered this . . . Inline Oilers :eek2:
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Bet there are not many that has seen these little critters ! They don't even make these any more !

One cable I had to save and repair is the Speedometer cable, it is 5' 7 1/2 inches long, driven at the rear wheel, and only has 2 bad spots on the outer plastic cover. New ones don't exist ! (Unobtainium !)

At this point I had to locate and order a "Special" flywheel removal tool . . .
Same day I received more Imported Italian Parts ( Thank You Daniele !)
So I laid out the parts for the Head Cast, some of which had to be cleaned and painted . . . :flip: but not all 36 pieces of it ! :eek2:
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Just a couple of days ago I received the flywheel puller so I popped it off !
Inside was not as bad as I expected but the humidity did freeze up the advance unit in the flywheel . . .
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And today this is where it sits, waiting for me to return to its demise . . .
Life events of a Single Father raising 3 Young Children took precedence ! :pray:

The rest of the demise will come a lot slower, as I get to play with it just a little at a time now . . . This portion was a simple catch up of its progress :clap: :thumb: :chug:
 
Wow - Lambrettas and powder blue Vespas were the stuff of paper routes when I was a kid growing up in San Antonio, about the time Kennedy was president. Have fun with your project.
 
Looking forward to seeing it running. More fun to watch than work!
 
That was a thought but to much modding as the motor and rear wheel drive is one unit ! :eek2:
Plus no room for it under the drivers seat :rofl:

If 150 is 150cc two stroke, it will be plenty fast for the suspension and brakes.

Edit: Harvest Classic is 200cc or less as is the tiddler run at Uncles around the bend. I keep an eye out for the small cc runs. Yours is IDEAL for the mods/rockers rallies.
 
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A-W, thank you very much for posting the pics. It's awesome to see the transformation.
 
If 150 is 150cc two stroke, it will be plenty fast for the suspension and brakes.

Edit: Harvest Classic is 200cc or less as is the tiddler run at Uncles around the bend. I keep an eye out for the small cc runs. Yours is IDEAL for the mods/rockers rallies.

Yup its a 150cc 2 smoker, and with the original restricted exhaust, their average top speed was rated at 57 MPH . . . :flip:

The original exhaust tail pipe is 17mm ID.

The all came out with a 100 KMH Speedometer, with a 60MPH Optional Factory/Dealer Installed Speedometer . . . :scratch:

I have seem Mod Pipes that increase this output to what looks like 1 1/4".
Less restriction = more speed and higher RPMs, which I've heard is about 68 MPH maintained speed. :shrug:

That suspension is a bugger though . . . looks like it may have about a 3 inch maximum travel distance, so speed would have to be on Smooooooottthhhh roads only . . . :pirate:

I plan on using it around the river mud bogs, (dirt roads), thus the knobby tires. To see how well (or Not) My kids can handle it! :eek2:

They are 9, 11 and 13 right now. And I'm like WHAT ???? 681 . . .
Thought about giving it to My Daughter (11 year old), other 2 are boys !
 
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