The Lambretta SX scooter has always been close to my heart, ever since the mid to late sixties when you had to be either a Mod or a Rocker. At that time I was just too young to ride a motorcycle or scooter but loved the whole Mod fashion thing.
My friends were in the main older than me by a couple of years which meant they were allowed to own those beautifully polished Vespa's with chromed bubbles, which are great scooters, but better than that a couple of them had the stunning Lambretta 200 SX. The thing I liked most about the SX was that it seemed longer than the Vespa, which not only enhanced and streamlined it but also seemed to give more room for a pillion to ride in comfort.
The whole Mod thing was great, living Newcastle meant there was a real buzz, however if we wanted to try these wonderful machines for speed we had to head to the country, probably into Northumberland. As a passenger I felt as if we were doing 90 mph, however in reality the Lambretta SX was only capable of speeds around 75mph.
I recently discovered an article about a guy called Nathan Redfearn who renovates and rebuilds scooters. The thing caught my eye was a picture of a perfectly restored Lambretta SX 200 with Union Jack side panels; it was absolutely stunning. Reading on I discovered that he had moved to Vietnam in 2003 whilst working for ICI, his background being in car restoration in both Britain and America.
It was great to read that he felt he owed his existence to the Lambretta; apparently in the sixties his Mother was a young Mod cruising around Torquay on her blue and white SX. These days he has a passion for restoring, and has set up a business in Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saigon).
With his Vietnamese wife and a fully trained workforce of around sixty people they import and strip the scooters down to their component parts before lovingly restoring them to look like new. They replace any rusted or worn parts before putting them on a jig for trueness, then finally reassemling and painting. All parts are genuine replacements sourced from the likes of Piaggio.
As a company they are aimed squarely at the motorcycle and classic car enthusiast although you can tell that his first love is the Lambretta. Restoring between 30 and 40 scooters a month they will ship anywhere in the world and guarantee satisfaction. It really is great to see someone so passionate about scooters being able to turn a hobby into a thriving business.
