Lambretta outsourcing?

The Indian Financial Express reports on the woeful state of vocational education in Punjab:

The curriculum, for instance, has not been updated since it was introduced. In the motor mechanic’s course, students are still being taught about the components of the Lambretta scooter, whose production was stopped over a decade ago.

There are few skills more useful in life than Lambretta repair, send some of those guys over to the United States.

Kymco giving away Amerivespa trips

Amerivespa 2006 is, happily, shaping up to be quite the pan-scooter event. Starting life as the national Vespa rally combined with Denver’s legendary Mile High Mayhem rally, it also now encompasses this year’s Lambretta Jamboree and Stellabration. Main sponsor Kymco is giving away vacation packages to the Rally to ten lucky winners.

Nigel Cox to sell Lambretta Museum

Nigel Cox' Lambretta Museum

The Weston Mercury reports that respected British Lambretta collector Nigel Cox, author of “Lambretta: An Illustrated History” and proprietor of Weston Scooter Parts in Weston-Super-Mare, England, is selling his famous Lambretta museum. Cox estimates the collection is worth £500,000 and hopes to sell it all for £350,000. The article says Americans and “a British consortium of enthusiasts” have placed bids for the museum, which has been open to the public for nearly 20 years. It’s unclear whether Cox, 55, will also close his spares business, which has long been famous as the only source for many original Lambretta parts and accessories, but he does plan to keep his two most prized scooters, the very first and very last Lambrettas ever made.

Dave Tooley and the Wildcat Lambretta

Dave Tooley WildcatDave Tooley raced Lambrettas in the early seventies for the Rafferty Newman “Wildcat” team in the UK, most notably the 158cc-model that dominated the 160-and-under class. Dave’s site contains great scooter racing photos, memoirs, scans of period magazines and advertisements, and technical info about Les Rafferty’s Wildcat Lambretta race scooters. And unlike most UK scooter sites, there’s not an animated navigation button or mod target to be found. Well-done!

Lunabase

Proof that the Lambretta Luna is the next big thing for scooter collectors: Lunabase is a well-designed, up-to-date, comprehensive British site celebrating the underappreciated Lambretta Luna range–Lui, Vega, and Cometa–designed by Bertone in the seventies. The site features technical info, brochures, a mailing list, and even an owners club. You’ll be coveting a Luna in no time.