Guv's Vespa Collection

Guv’s love affair with the Vespa Scooter started, like a lot of other lads, back in the early 80’s. Prior to that, he had been around motorcycles all his life as his Dad was a biker and a lover of old British bikes at that. Guv said his house was always littered with bits of old B.S.A’s and Triumph’s much to his poor Mum’s annoyance. Annual family holiday’s to the I.O.M. TT races and going out pillion on the back of his Dad’s bikes from a very young (and probably illegal) age were the norm. So when the time came for him to buy his first two wheeler, he had to break the bad news to his old man that it would be a scooter rather than a motorbike he would go for. His Dad was fine with it, he had ridden scooters in the past and he knew Guv’s mod leanings were steering him in that direction anyway. Guv said he was fortunate that he was actively encouraged to get on two wheels as soon as possible and go out and see the world or at least as much as you can of the world on a Vespa 50 at 16.

He ran around the village of Glenmavis near Airdrie in Lanarkshire with a group of lads who are still in the scene today and are current members of the Clyde Valley S.C. mainly, John “Paddy” Paterson, Ronnie Wood and John “Sned” Sneddon amongst many others. They were Mods and rode around on scoots decked out in the mod style a la’ Quadrophenia, loads of chrome, mirrors, lights, ariels etc etc. They started up their own scooter club, The Ace Scooter Club and they had their own patch made that were worn on their parkas. Guv’s first scooter was a Vespa PK50S fitted with a Polini 110 kit. He obtained the scooter from local dealer James Hendry’s in Coatbridge. He was 15 and had to wait a couple of months until he was aged to take it out on the road legally that felt like an eternity. Before long he was out on the road with his mates. He says “I don’t know how we survived those early days. No training, nothing, just thrown at the mercy of the open roads like lemmings!”

Guv remembers fondly, travelling down to the unofficial Scottish Mod Rallies in the mid 80’s, Girvan, a couple of times, Largs and Saltcoats too. Numerous trips into Glasgow, hanging around Mickey Oates in York St. or at the Bandstand. “There seemed like thousands of us, an invading Army of Mods and Mod Girls. The same scene was no doubt repeated in Towns and Cities up and down the country every weekend. I thought it was fantastic” He joined the Clyde Valley Scooter Club around that time and was happy to be in a Club with a real mixed bag of Mods, Scooterboys and well travelled and battle hardened Scooterists who regaled the younger lads with wild tales of travelling to Rallies the length and breadth of the UK.

Guv travelled to his first English Scooter Rally (Scarborough), in 1987, then Morecambe that same year. He had progressed through various PX’s by then and was now on a Mark 1 T5. He ended up having several T5’s through the 1980’s, and says “without doubt a fantastic machine and in my opinion the best 2 stroke engine ever to emerge from the Piaggio Factory”. He passed his bike test in January of 1988 and immediately purchased a brand new P2. “This was a bit of an anti-climax after the T5, great workhorse for 2 up motorway riding but I missed the rapid acceleration of the T5.” After attending as many rallies as possible up until the mid 90’s, he fancied a go at Scooter Racing after seeing it earlier on Top Gear of all places. He purchased a Vespa 90 frame and race tuned engine from Stuart Mackenzie. Stuart was a motorcycle mechanic at C.J. Wilson at Uphall (Coyotes S.C. country). Incidently, the British Racing Green smallframe in the photos is the same frame that he raced. The smallframe now runs a Mallossi 135 for the road and he still has the race engine, now much modified and much more competitive. “Unless you have ridden a Group 3 racing smallframe you would not appreciate just how much power can be drawn out of these little engines” says Guv. The race engine was initially a Taffspeed unit and it has been tweaked by both Ralph Saxelby ( RS Tuning) and Tony O’Brien (Kegra) over the piece. He continued racing for 2 seasons before time and cashflow knocked it on the head. “Still wouldn’t rule out a return though, great fun, though racing of any description is not cheap especially travelling to races at the likes of Cadwell Park, Elvington, Three Sisters and Donington Park.” The Clyde Valley Race Team comprising of Guv and brothers Gavin and Martin Lennox also raced in Belfast at the Nutt’s Corner Circuit which was a real first for British Scooter Racing, This made it into all the National Motorcycling Press at the time, all good stuff.

After the racing Guv started doing the Rally circuit again with his long suffering wife Joan on pillion. “She puts up and has endured a hell of a lot with me and scooters over the years, I know she thinks my Vespa Scooter obsession is some kind of mental illness, and she’s probably right! She does have a soft spot for old Vespas too, so that helps”.

The collection which has taken years to come together now boasts some of Guv’s favourite machines, a 1957 GS 150 VS3, 1962 GS 160 Mark 1, 1966 90SS, 1955 42L2, 1980 V90 and his trusty 2001 P2. He rode the GS 160 on the Highland Scoot circuit with a couple of club mates Ronnie Wood on a Vespa 125 Super and Ross Tedford on a Rally 200 which was fantastic. The GS still runs the original engine complete with 6 volt battery and running costs with regards a petrol to oil ratio that would cripple a small country. The scooter never missed a beat though until a broken throttle cable his way home to Airdrie after the event.

The future…….. “Well as a Club, the Clyde Valley plan to attend as many Rallies as we can and support all other Scottish Clubs. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended our 30th Anniversary Rally at Rosebank in August. We have had some great feedback on the Rally and the support from all solos and clubs was very much appreciated. We are encouraging everyone to join the Vespa Club of Scotland and in turn to head for World Vespa Day in London 2012. Also, the VCS Rally next year too”.

These fantastic machines have allowed Guv to make many great lifelong friends for almost 30 years and he doesn’t plan to give up anytime soon. All Guv can say is, to quote the 60’s tagline………… Go Vespa!!!