Your First scooter /first car ?

[HxPaul]

My first scooter was a BSA Sunbeam in 1965,it was when I was 15 and I used to ride it round the fields because I was under age.I then got a Vespa Sportique and when I was 16 I took my test on it.I had various Vespas,including a 1 year old Vespa SS180.I traded the SS180 in for a new Lambretta SX200 in 1968
http://scooterotica.co/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33218
I cant remember what my first car was,but I didn't get it until the 70s.I worked for a trucking company and when I reached 21 they put me through my class 3 test.In those days if you passed your class 3 in a wagon it included the car licence as well,so I never took a car test.

[EddieStone]

I had a car before a scooter. First car was a Citroen Ami 8 Estate in about 1985. Odd car, but it had a bench seat and was big enough to get surfboards in. It ran off the fumes of the car in front.

I bought my first scooter in 1991, after moving from Essex to Devon. I put a wanted add in a shop in Newquay and someone responded with a PX125. I looked at it one night and it seemed OK, two tone paint job and it ran. Agreed a heady price of £80. When I went back the next day I found that the two tone paint job that looked OK in the street lights was actually baby pink and badly applied rattle can metallic blue. My first thought was, "I'm matt blacking that".

Then I had loads of problems with the electrics which was solved with a used regulator form the back pages of Scootering. It ran for a while before it packed up. It took ages to get going again, which I did the night before I planned to take a mates housemate to France on it. She'd called my bluff in the pub about taking her on my bike abroad. I welded up a few holes and rode it to the ferry port and had a great time in the sun. No tax, no insurance, no licence, no MoT. From then on we were a couple and I passed my test so we could ride the scoot legally in the UK. It was stolen 4 times - once I found it a few streets down, once the police recovered it more or less intact, and once a marine was caught pushing it uphill at 3am (uphill? Duh). The fourth time it went for good. Didn't seem worth claiming and I still have the V5. I replaced it with a Honda 400/4 which I had for a year before selling it to buy my mate Andy Booth's Lambretta, which I still have 24 years later.

[bristolmod]

First scooter- 1962 LI150 S3 reg 998PHY. No brakes; no lights; cracked crankcase- but it had an MOT!
First Car- 1957 Standard 8 with a rotten floor- which I only found out about when I went to jack it up............

"Best" scooter- my present 1962 TV175S3
"Best" car- 1993 Escort RS Cosworth.

[Andy W]

First scooter - S2 Li150 paid £50 for it and it came in 2 shopping trollies, fitted with a 175 top end, 3omm Mikuni and Fresco exhaust, had to fit a S3 horncasting and mudguard due to no second hand ones around.
First car - Innocenti Mini 998 Cooper red with a white roof

[Mr G in NYC]

In 1971 bought a Li150 without Moms consent and kept it at a mates backyard greenhouse,
we used to pretend we were speedway riders and thrash it round a local famers field till
he showed up one day with a shotgun and discharged into the air ! , needless to say we stuck
to the streets after that . Slow forward to 1979 and 90 quid bought me a big Ass Austin Cambridge
Estate in navy blue with maroon leather seats , for hauling fabric around London . I loved that car
Happy days !!
G

[coaster]

My first scooter at the age of 15 was an Li150 series 2 which never did see the road. It was followed by another road legal Li150 purchased from Surbiton Scooted in London a few months later a week after my 16th birthday. It had chrome side panels, an ally front mudguard and was painted green and burnt orange metallic 3224 MC. I paid £27 for it which I had to borrow off my mum and in 1070 that was a sizeable sum. Rode it home to Barkingside near Ilford with my mate on the back Straight through the middle of London....Piccadilly was a frikkin nightmare but we made it and I've never been phased by traffic since I lasted 2 weeks before over doing it on a bend and ended up coming off and breaking my wrist. My immobility didn't last more than a week or two as I discovered I could just about manage to pull the clutch with my plastered up left arm. Had to make sure my mum was out though as she would have gone nuts. I rode it to the hospital to get the plaster cut off and nodded sincerely when the doctor warned me to take it very gently for a few weeks and certainly no scooter riding I was just praying he wasn't looking out of the window as I was bump starting it in the car park 3 minutes later We moved from London up to Ipswich a few weeks later and that scooter travelled back and fourth up and down the A12 too many time to count. I remember sticking a set of slightly dented GP leggies and mudguard on it, here it is on the far right just after I sold it to a club mate (Felixstowe Coasters)


The first car I bought was a 1954 oval window VW but that never saw the road either du to clutch problems induced after I removed and repaired the gearbox....just as well really as I was seriously considering building a beach buggy Fortunately a chance conversation lead me to the purchase of a 1967 Mini Marcos fitted with and Oscelli 1100 engine MRT 852E. That was 1972 and I owned that car until 2002 when I sold to a guy in Austria. I could write a book on the adventures I had with that car and very much regret selling it now, the current owner lives in Estonia and has spent a fortune restoring it so unlikely to allow it to be repatriated
This is the only scanned picture I have of it back then, that's the younger me sitting on the bonnet furthest to the right.
Photo taken at a grass track meeting in Luton.

[sean brady scooters]

hope we get more folk contributing to this little thread ...as its interesting and makes good reading ...
i feel like i know you all a bit better now !

[Morgan]

First "vehicle": Fantic Super T (1977)

First Scooter: (1978) Italian GP200 Electronic in JPS livery, swapped for an oxy-acetylene welding set........took it back after 2 weeks of not being able to start it.. Got 2nd hand Rally 200 instead, which I have to this day.

First car: (1980) Mk3 2 door Cortina. Bought it to learn to drive. My mate drove to my house on a morning and I drove it to work and back. passed my test with only one lesson........wrote the car off 1 week after passing my test

The Fantic was a very fast moped, unfortunately faster than most of the scooters, which I used to hang around with........bit embarrassing really

[DaveTomo]

First scooter Lambretta Cento CAW41B bought for £20 - also got another one in bits JNT5E thrown in at the same time.Got it through word of mouth, bloke 2 streets away had them in his shed.16 year old me was very impressed first bit of freedom.Got it going and used it for about 12 months going to work on it etc, eventually sold it and bought a new P range on the knock in 1983.

First car Triumph Dolomite 1850 in that British Leyland blue they seemed to do everything in (mini's, princesses, allegro's) bought for £150 . Cracking car had it for years, went like sh*t off as shovel, nice interior. Took me all over the country when I used to follow Leeds , sometimes the journey to the games in the car was more exciting than the football When we got a jet wash at work cleaned under the car and found a Peek Freen biscuit tin had been used as part of the wheel arch, not long after this we parted company

[wack 63]

Starting work at 16 in 1980,I wore a parka and a chap who worked there asked me if I was interested in buying a scooter.I looked at it, a Vespa 90 Racer completely stripped down on a pallet and the motor in bits in a box but for £30( paid on the knock) I thought why not as I knew I couldn't afford a Lambretta.All I had was a parts manual to put it together after which I then used to ride with mates on their scoots up n down a track until I was 17 and could ride legally.First rally was Scarborough '81 and me and a mate went on a Wednesday before the Good Friday and even got on the local TV news.I painted it a few times before cutting it down and fitting Lamby forks in,something Norrie Kerr wasn't happy about( He obviously knew they were rare then) First car was in '83 and was a '73 Hillman Avenger which my folks bought as a 21st birthday present for £200,it was painted white with black draylon interior and saw plenty of back seat action,something I never managed on the scooter