A beautiful Lambretta restored to its glory by a customizer in Morocco

This is the second restoration that we have had the pleasure to cover built by Mr. Jalal from Morocco. (Read more about his recent restomod of BMW r60/7)

Before we dive into his restored and customized Lambretta, let’s have a quick sneak peek into the history of the brand, beginning with how the name Lambretta came to its origin.

The name is derived from the word Lambrate, the suburb of Milan named after the river Lambro which flows through the area, and where the factory was located. Lambretta was the name of a mythical water sprite associated with the river which runs adjacent to the former production site.

The design style of the Lambretta and Vespa dates back to pre-World War II Cushman scooters made in Nebraska, United States. These olive green scooters were in Italy in large numbers, ordered originally by the United States military as field transport for the paratroops and marines.

Post-WW2 scooters with their puny 150cc engines were introduced as an affordable mode of transport epically for the war-torn countries where recourses were rare, but the scooters slowly had an image makeover as a style statement.  

The scooter culture in the late 1950 exploded, they were called Mod. Mod is a subculture that began in London and spread throughout Great Britain and elsewhere, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries.

The subculture has its roots in a small group of stylish London-based young men in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz.

Now let us pause the history aspect of this video here, and now back to the build.

This  1965 Lambretta, life started just like an empty shell with no engine, and basically, that’s all there was, to begin with.

The first thing that had to be sorted out was the rust accumulated over the years over the metal body and chassis.

Then comes the engine, the engine selected was a 2018 Kymco 125cc 4 stroke air cooled engine that produces an approximate 9.5 hp, good enough for your everyday city rounds.

Yes even we do miss the 2 strokes original engine, but no spare engine was available at that time, and the customer wanted a relatively modern engine.

Then came the suspension, the suspension was a tricky spot, it had to be robust and comfortable enough, but also had to complement the scooters 1965’s looks, hence the suspension had to be designed cleverly.

The suspension system is all-new, based on the original design

Then comes the handlebar, she is custom made loaded with chrome.

The front headlight bracket has been cleverly designed by using a seat belt lock of a car.
The handlebar adaptor is made from aluminum and copper

Overall the handlebar looks naked, spacious, vintage as well as unique, just like the custom scooters used in the 1960s.

The rear seat has been removed and a custom spring vintage is appropriate looking front seat has been installed, seat’s frame has been painted with bright matt white, complementing the front headlight and front suspension.

To give it a clean rear look, the stoplights are actually integrated into the air duck.

The overall body has been sandblasted, with a fresh layer of mantellic yellow, with handmade pin stripes to give it the final custom look.