S-Type Lambrettas
mines a "Cowies Comet" rarer than an "S" type.
please put a pic of the " fake " badge up so we can all laugh when we see oneArmandTanzarian wrote:True story.
Many years ago, a mate of mine was building a very nice 60's S-Type replica and decided that as a final finishing touch it could do with a period Arthur Francis dealer sticker. Since none were available and he had no idea what they should look like, he designed his own and had a couple printed for his scoot. The printer, seeing a market for them started knocking them out without his permission.
In the last 10 years or so it's amazing how many restorations and replicas have sported this "authentic" AF dealer sticker that is actually a total figment of his imagination.
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ArmandTanzarian
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I'll leave that to the person that designed it. I know he's read this thread.
Meus Lambretta est non infractus. Is est quietus.
Time to come clean and debunk another scooter myth!! 
As mentioned above this dealer badge never existed in the 1960s and is a figment of my imagination - have you ever seen an original period pic of a bike with one?!? I might be wrong but I did a lot of research into S Types in the late 1990s when pulling my bike together and I never came across one.
I bumped into an old guy selling original and remade waterslide transfers at a bike jumble in about 2001. He'd never heard of an Arthur Francis one but did used to make them in the 1950s/60s for other dealers using traditional methods and still offered the service. So researching pictures of similar water slide transfers from other 1960s motorcycle and car dealers as well as details/fonts from the 40 year old Arthur Francis adverts and brochures, I had a clever computer mate knock up some mocks of what I thought they would have looked like if they were made back in the day. Basically a small square in black red and gold colours with some 40 year old style writing. Here's a pic of the designs on paper that I have just dug out.
I then sent them to the old boy who then made me a few waterslides and some stickers for my own use and we agreed that he would not put them into production to sell himself. To my knowledge he never did. I put a nice new shiny waterslide on my SX in about 2002, left it for a few months to get beaten up a bit whilst I rode about, then brushed lacquer over the top to protect what was left of it. It now looks nice and original with a lived in look. I knew watching all those old "Lovejoy" episodes would come in handy one day!!
Although I had a few done, I've never actually sold any or made anything from them. I gave two away to mates with S Types on the LCGB forum in about 2006 ish and shortly afterwards quite a nice bigger slightly rejigged one was produced in a short run by Team S Equipe. It was this bigger one that ended up getting copied by every man and his dog and that became widely available. Here's a pic with my smaller waterslides at the top, my sticker version in the middle and one of the bigger Team S equipe remade ones from the initial short run at the bottom - so from top to bottom in order - the original fake, another original fake and a fake of an original fake - that was then copied to produce fakes of a fake of an original fake!!!
To be honest I was a little disappointed at first, that after all that effort and a fair old cost to get them done in the traditional way, they ended up being widely copied. But c'est la vie, now I do have a little chuckle to myself whenever I see a nice S Type rep with one at the top of the horncast knowing that I had a small (very very small!!) part in S Type history.
As mentioned above this dealer badge never existed in the 1960s and is a figment of my imagination - have you ever seen an original period pic of a bike with one?!? I might be wrong but I did a lot of research into S Types in the late 1990s when pulling my bike together and I never came across one.
I bumped into an old guy selling original and remade waterslide transfers at a bike jumble in about 2001. He'd never heard of an Arthur Francis one but did used to make them in the 1950s/60s for other dealers using traditional methods and still offered the service. So researching pictures of similar water slide transfers from other 1960s motorcycle and car dealers as well as details/fonts from the 40 year old Arthur Francis adverts and brochures, I had a clever computer mate knock up some mocks of what I thought they would have looked like if they were made back in the day. Basically a small square in black red and gold colours with some 40 year old style writing. Here's a pic of the designs on paper that I have just dug out.
I then sent them to the old boy who then made me a few waterslides and some stickers for my own use and we agreed that he would not put them into production to sell himself. To my knowledge he never did. I put a nice new shiny waterslide on my SX in about 2002, left it for a few months to get beaten up a bit whilst I rode about, then brushed lacquer over the top to protect what was left of it. It now looks nice and original with a lived in look. I knew watching all those old "Lovejoy" episodes would come in handy one day!!
Although I had a few done, I've never actually sold any or made anything from them. I gave two away to mates with S Types on the LCGB forum in about 2006 ish and shortly afterwards quite a nice bigger slightly rejigged one was produced in a short run by Team S Equipe. It was this bigger one that ended up getting copied by every man and his dog and that became widely available. Here's a pic with my smaller waterslides at the top, my sticker version in the middle and one of the bigger Team S equipe remade ones from the initial short run at the bottom - so from top to bottom in order - the original fake, another original fake and a fake of an original fake - that was then copied to produce fakes of a fake of an original fake!!!
To be honest I was a little disappointed at first, that after all that effort and a fair old cost to get them done in the traditional way, they ended up being widely copied. But c'est la vie, now I do have a little chuckle to myself whenever I see a nice S Type rep with one at the top of the horncast knowing that I had a small (very very small!!) part in S Type history.
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Architecten
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Heh..! Great story!!
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Dimitrios_231
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Best troll ever 
Alice should use this in vicar of dibley, it would be a scream
Indeed...I can almost hear the sound of proud S Type owners from around the world scraping off their stickers right now!!
Mine will stay on though as it's one of the only "originals" in existence!!
Mine will stay on though as it's one of the only "originals" in existence!!
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sunrisemac
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A fakin' good yarn
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Dimitrios_231
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If you could get one penny for every sticker,
you could be a millionaire
you could be a millionaire