#j-range

There’s a Lambretta J125 that’ll need a little love and attention… (there’s a couple of other “J’s” too)

A rare Mercury Hermes scooter, built in the Black Country…

A Lambro…

One I haven’t seen before, a Gitan Joligri from around 1970

A ‘Vespa-ish’ Gilera G50 from 1967

Another Rarity… the rather ‘awkward looking’ Ducati’s Brio. How could a company that makes such beautiful motorcycles produce something so fugly?

The equally awkward Casalini Sulky microcar… (Read the catalogue write-up for this one, it’s hilarious!).

The rather prettier little 50cc BM Pokerino… never mind a scooter I’d never even heard of – an Italian marque (Bonvicin Marini) I’d never even heard of! It appears to be sans side panels, which is a shame as I don’t think they’d be the easiest thing to source – but a nice, sporty looking little scoot. That ‘straight flush’ legshield badge is a cracker.

Next up an Italian marque you will have heard of… Benelli… one of a brace of Benelli’s in the auction… and the only motorcycle I’m featuring here (although there are plenty in the auction). A popular bike in Italy (and amongst Italian Motorcycle Fans). This Benelli Leoncino (Leoncino translates to Lion Cub in Italian) correctly  features the cast ali Lion mascot on the front mudguard…

There’s a bunch of classic four-wheelers too… including a bunch of Italian classics, some lovely FIAT’s, Lancia’s and Ferraris, my favourite is this cracking little chocolate-brown Autobianchi Bianchina Speciale. It’s got an estimate of £2,500 – £3,000, which seems an absolute bargain to me!

And finally for now, we’ll end on another scooter… the rather elegant looking Aer Macchi Brezza – the clean, aerodynamic lines demonstrating the aircraft manufacturing roots behind this company. With only 2,000 Brezza’s made, it’s a pretty rare scoot.

That’s it for now. See the Brightwells site for full details and how to get involved in the auction.

Jawdroping J-Range #Lambretta owned by Richard Oswald of The Wisemen SC.

Jawdropper!I’ve developed a bit of a soft-spot for the humble J-range of late. I always thought that one, suitably souped up, would make a cracking small-frame racer, much the same way that Vespa did with their Super Sprint 90SS (best Vespa ever? As a Lambretta guy, I’m probably unqualified to judge, but it’s got to be top 3, right?). Anyway. I digress. What would a fast J-Range look like?…

Andres got in touch with pictures of a Lambretta he’d just become the proud owner of… asking for help identifying the model. I’m afraid I couldn’t help – although it’s clearly a variant on a Cento, with some ‘modernised’ bodywork. The closest thing I could find was something I featured on the blog back in 2016, a SIL Lambretta Sunny, which looks remarkably similar.

My other thought, as this…

The list of rare accessories include Ulma twin legsheild trims , front fork covers, rear carrier seat passenger grab rail, megaphone exhaust , spare wheel legsheild carrier, horncast the list goes on… Everything has been rechromed by London chroming. She features a rare mph speedo upgrade (J50’s didn’t come with a speedo) 12-volt electrics and lighting upgrade.

I’m not normally the J range’s greatest fan, normally, but this one looks jolly nice. A small frame Lambretta you can be proud to be seen on. I got a bit of a jolt when I saw the price though… £5.5k used to be (and in my head still is) SX territory… but things move on!

If you are tempted, you might want to read this article in Scootering… a buyer’s guide to Lambretta J-Range Scooters.

The J50 featured in this post is for sale on eBay here.

*Unless you know of a better one, of course. If you do, let me know and I’ll future it on the blog.

Just some J's…

I’ve written about the J Range before, here, and here. This months Scootering magazine has a good…

Ok, we've all been there. You've got a few spare qiuid jangling round your pocket and you fancy a Lambretta. But which model? Descisions, descions. Well, worry no more cash rich scooterist, there's no need to make those hard descions. You can buy an entire Lambretta collection on eBay, here. Eight scooters, from a Model D 150 thru to a Lui 50… all restored six years ago and dry garaged since then. Most of them seem to have won awards at various European Lambretta events of the years, and each comes with a dossier documenting their restoration, and some original brochures and other collateral. Nice. Only wish my numbers had come up on the lottery the other night!

The models are:

• 1956 Model D 150

 • 1956 LD 150

• 1961 Li 150 Series 2

• 1964 LI 125 Series 3

• 1967 J 125 (Starstream – or Stellina in Italian)

• 1967 Lui 50

• 1970 J50 Special

• 1971 Dl (GP) 200

They are for sale for €76,900.25 No, I don't know why the 25 cents.

That's about £56k in proper money. Which works out a shade under £7k each if you divide them equally. A tad pricey I would have thought, although some of the scoots have some nice original period accessories. If you are interesed in purchasing this collection, they're on eBay, here.