Rosette display.

[alexblack13]

Well its not everyday you get a prize at one of Scotland's biggest shows!

So here are a couple of pics of car +me+prize rosette (2nd place no less) I am the good looking one (with hair!) I had to be in the pics to hold the rosette.Honest..

And b4 you all tell me I have taken off the scottish badges. (saltire) ... I didn't like them either..

Alex B.....

[RichardS]

Alex

Your car is looking fantastic - I wish my Lagoon Blue was half as shiny as yours!

And your personal bodywork has obviously come through your recent trials and tribulations undented!!

Richard

[adigra]

That is my favourite colour combo for a Sprint, just fantastic. I am so used to seeing Sprints with rollbars it took me a moment to figure out why this one looked so different. Beautiful car. Congratulations.

Adi

[twincamman]

nice job on the Elan-Ecurrie Ecossie blue ?-BTW who owns the Lambertta? I lust after one . ed

[alexblack13]

Hi Guys,
Thanks very much. The little car was out again yesteday (still running it in) Great weather in the morning. Stopped in Local town for a coffee at lunchtime and had to make a run for it.The heavens opened! Got it back dry though.

Richard, Thanks for the encouragement. I am now getting a lot better and fitter.Thanks.

I am happy you all like the wee car.

ED.. Colour is Lagoon blue, but as you know its not much different to E.E Blue. The Lambretta is my local run about on nice days. Its the only bike my Doc' wants me to ride at the moment, so my only remaining big bike is in hibernation just now. I have restored two Lambrettas to date. 1 x ser' 3 LI150 and 1 x ser' 2 (the one in the pic). Both were wrecks imported from Italy via our Italian office. We sell a lot of Italian woodworking machinery. (hopefully!) The lammie is great for local town visits. Free parking! You can park it in M&S and no one notices it.!! Free road tax and about 60 mls / gal makes it easy to run. Glad you liked it. I am currently restoring another ser' 3.
Here are a couple of pics. Sorry guys these will be it I promise. Anyone else interested in seeing some more ? PM me and I can bore you to tears...

Hope to see you all soon on the proposed European trip. Or how about a meet up at the NEC classic show in November?

Here's a thought! Would it be too late to get a stand in the Club area? Show a few cars ..drink a few beers
AB...

[twincamman]

does it come with one of those nice Italian ladies for the back??? [at my age I want the ones who make that nice spaghetti sauce ] ed

[alexblack13]

...The way I have been feeling lately ed I would not have noticed! Sauce or no sauce!! I'v not touched that wee scoot for about 6 months. I usually have them finished in 5-6 months...

Cheers all.

Alex B....

[adigra]

I love the look of Lambrettas (I've never ridden one so that's all I can go on). I try to incorporate as much classic machinery into my work as I can get away with:
http://adigranov.net/postart/MJCoverAGF.jpg

I know the bike is too small in scale, but sacrifices had to be made for the composition. I am doing a book cover at the moment with Wolverine (a superhero character) sitting on a Brough Superior, another one of my favourites. I'm hoping to sneak in an Elan in an illustration soon.

Best,
Adi

[alexblack13]

Hmmmmm... Think I might have noticed that one

Nice work Adi.Very Nice.

My Daughter is Photo editor with omnibus press in London. She has illustrations done now n then.

Thanks for letting us see it...

AB...

[richard sprint]

Alex

Well done for the rosette - have to say my eyes slid onto the Lambretta!

It reminded me of my days with one - Li 150 and my pal had a gt200? not sure if that is correct but as impoverished yoofs my pal had a wealthy father who bought him the latest and fastest of the models circa 1971!

I had a few momemts at the tender age of 16 - my local town were into motorbikes (mods and rockers) so one had to make a detour to avoid the group at the clock tower!

Trouble was I arrived one day at my grandmothers in a soaked parker jacket/wet squirrel tails! and shivering profusely and she immediately ordered a rocker style leather jacket which of course I had to wear - fortunately I was never picked up by being 'in between' by the local warring factions!

Then there was the igmony of following a car through my local traffic lights - when aged 16 I looked about 12! in the back of the car were a line of waving girls which was very exciting then and would be more so today!

The driver braked for some reason but as I was busy waving back I could not react and ended up ploughing in to the back of the car burying the pointed clutch lever into my leg in the process -this was definately not cool...

Still the wound quickly healed if not the macho image but was a moment never forgotten and we did not even wear crash hats in those long ago days.

Glad your recovery is on the up

Richard

Have you purchased the recent classic car mag with a lotus of your colour?

[alexblack13]

Hi All,
Richard were do I start! My first transport was a lambretta ser'1 li 150, which you could ride with L plates then. Terrible device it was. Very unreliable. Due to nil servicing no doubt, but what did one know in those days eh? I moved on thro' a variety of small bikes and one memory was winging down one of our local racetracks (Road!) 2 up!, hard up to the tail of a double decker, waving like mad at the 'clippy' (showing my age eh?) and the bus stopped quicker than we did, then drove off having not even felt the bump, Clippy roaring with laughter. We spent a day or two nursing our bruises. I, like you didn't get involved with the mod /rocker thing. Found it quite hazerdous to one's health. Same with us helmet wise. V uncool, esp' on the lammie. If you are up this way and fancy having a go on the Lambretta? Just get in touch. It is great fun to ride.

Good days in some respects terrible in others.



What stage are you at with your car? How are you getting on with it?

Good days in some respects terrible in others.

I did buy that the classic cars mag' with the elan in it. Nice car! Slightly disappointing write up, but not bad. Nice pics of the car, but the colour was well turned up. Where would we be without fotoshop?

I am getting better quite rapidly now. Doing a bit of training prior to going for the official rehab programm. Helping no end and I now find myself much stronger than I was pre op. And.... No loopy pills. Couple of painkillers per day and a beta blocker is all, and I will be off those soon. And, having lost a lot of weight I am approaching my fighting optimum which will come in handy I am sure.

Have fun all.

Alex B....

[69S4]

Alex, Richard, Between the two of you its like revisiting my teenage years. I also spent years (between 16 and uni) with parka and Li150. Not one of the more reliable bikes I've ever owned, sadly. A more affluent friend had a Gt200 that seemed to be everything that mine was not and we did many miles around various parts of North London whenever I could get mine started. I turned Japanese after that, the experience of other friends with British bikes convincing me that it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire if I bought one.

The Zip karts poster on the wall behind the second Lambretta pic also fits in well as I did a few seasons of 100cc racing at Rye House at the same time. Zip were based at Rye then and we bought our kart secondhand from them. Great fun and it improved my driving no end.

Someone further down my road putters by now and again on sunny days on a SX200 but I've never managed to work out where he lives.

[alexblack13]

Ah Yes..Happy days indeed. The karting story..Started when my lad was 14 yrs old. We had 2 years racing 100TKM Junior before he went up to seniors. He won his club championship in Juniors and came second in the Scottish. Lots of 1st places here n there. In seniors he did even better. We were lying second in the Scottish super series when we 'retired' He was at uni up till then but went off to work for shell oil spending 4 years training and back at school b4 going offshore to work on Brent Delta platform. He is thinking about racing again but I am not sure I am up for it.Too many weekends away etc.
I did get very good with the engines though. I had a mobile crank refurb service which we took with us to race meetings.We would watch a kart skreetch to a halt having siezed up and about 20 mins later the owner/dad would come running thro the pits with crank in hand.''fit me a new big end bearing/conrod etc.. I could strip and rebuild in around 15 mins. I had it down to a fine art. ?15 per time was not bad dosh either. helped our costs no end... Happy days..

I think the lammie 200 were GP's? could be wrong though. A lot of GP bikes still around with the one to have being the SX 200. (follow the bugger!) They, believe it or not are selling for up to ?7K... !!! struth... Pal in the same site as me here just paid 4.8K? for one and its a nice little bike.

I suspect there will be more of us to own up yet...??

Cheers all,

Alex B....

[richard sprint]

69S4

I live but 5 miles from the RyeHouse Kart centre and have had much fun there - in fact I still have a 100cc 2 stroke kart for a bit of fun now and then - keep thinking I should invest in a Rotomax but then another car gets in the way.

There is little to better fun than some track action - of late though have driven in the corporate events with the twin honda engine karts - not very fast and very heavy but the competition is sharp...

Alex

Thanks for the offer of a reunion with a Lammie this would indeed be good fun - I had one of the Li 150 series 1's as well but much preferred the later slim line version - somewhere I still have a photo must search it out...

The Elan story is a little stalled as I had to attend to some work on my daily runner - although awaiting return of the wheels which are being refurbed and the finish was not to my liking so being re done, also awaiting return of the diff so the rear suspension can be finished off.

Also deciding on a paint shop but with with everyone on summer hols - expecting things to be a bit slow over the summer..


RIchard

[alexblack13]

Hi Richard,
That sounds like progress all the same. Choose the paint company by instinct. Cheapest def not the best, but sometimes the dearest not the best either. Use your instincts..

I will get the ser 3 Li 125 ready to go over the winter. It WILL be finished by Mid 2010 Come hell or high water. During its resto' It is getting a 185cc kit 28mm delorto carb and a 42mm clubman exhaust.+a bit of porting work but not enlarging or timing altering.(By the way that little bike has only 9K Kms on the clock and the engine / gearbox internals tell me this is probably genuine)
So when you visit we can go out for a trip together Trip round some of the Edinburgh scooter cool locations & take in a few sounds perhaps. Esp' during the festival time...Real cool...

Cheers All,

Alex B....