So, after the Ural 750 had been completed, upgrades and improvements notwithstanding, it was time to do something else.
The thinking was that I could restore something light and simple that could, after I made a suitable trailer, be transported to shows so I could display two vehicles and not one. The added bonus would be that if the Ural failed to start I could jump on the Lambretta and still get home. Genius.
Idea was that the bike on the trailer would have to come in, with the trailer weight, at under 150 kg to conform to construction and use regs.The trailer would probably come out to about 60kg with a bit of thought and the bike on the back would have to be around 90kg. This meant a moped, something old and small like a bantam or a scooter. The scooter idea seemed the best as they are plentiful and cheap for parts. Additionally my dad had one back in 1961 so it made sense to get one of the same model.
Incidentally his is still on the road and had been fully restored to concours condition, including the sidecar he fitted. I have been in contact with the gent that owns it but he won’t sell it to me yet but we can live in hope.
So we done the usual thing of looking on Ebay and Marketplace for a suitable machine for the right money locally. So obviously I got one miles away on a island, and paid too much for a basket case.
To be fair to the guy who sold it to me he bought it in boxes as a project and just sold it on as it was as he had too many on the go at once.
So got me a Lambretta 150 Li 1961 made under licence by Casa in Spain.
Got it home in the back of the car and put in it the garage for a bit until i’d finished fettling the Ural.
This is the bike in bits as I got it.
As you can see, a lot of this is particularly ‘skanky’ and looks as though its been submerged in the channel for several years.
The worst part is the frame. I knew that the the two braces underneath that take the stand and the legshields/rear runners were very badly corroded and needed to be replaced. These are available as weld-on items. They are made from 4mm steel which is too much for me to fabricate myself and not worth the effort. On closer inspection, and as I was just prepping it to go off to the sprayers after doing some welding on the cross members and some other brackets that one of the previous owner had though would be a good idea to hack off, such as the ones that support the rear engine covers and the running boards. I noticed that the welding underneath the main frame tube need some attention as it was very badly done. I summoned the trusty grinder and flap wheels to take the old welds down and see if they needed more attention. After a very short amount of work I noticed that the weld underneath had got that worrying ‘hairline’ appearing in them. This normally indicated that you’ve gone through the weld itself. I was still reducing the weld down at this point as was still a good few mm above the main frame tube.