Here we are, the papers are done, this bike officialy belongs to me!
As a first step, I took it back home on my terrace... I already restored my Lambretta's engine on my terrace, my neighbors are used to this kind of stuff now!
Well, next time I'll think about emptying the gearbox before disassembling the left carter : half a liter of smelly oil on the tiling... First step, restoring the carburetor.
It is a 17mm Gurtner, finally in pretty good condition. A deep cleaning of each of its parts will be enough to give it a new youth...
This is a very rudimentary carbie, as there's not a single setting on it!! The starter is just a metallic plate to close the air intake, the only "setting" being the throttle cable tension, which arrives directly on the carbie.
A push button on the left forces the fuel intake by pushing on the float.
17mm for a 125cc... This thingy won't be a dragster! The contact key goes into the small box fixed onto the carter, right below the saddle. It has 6 different possible positions : :

0. Engine stopped, day light
1. Engine stopped, by night (front light on thanks to the battery, to be seen on the side of the road)
2. Engine running, day light
3. Engine running, by night (low lights only)
4. Engine running, by night (headlights)
5. Engine starting with a flat battery or no battery.

Aren't those Germans good?? They already thought about a way to drive directly the current from the magneto to the coil to avoid being stuck on th road side...
I'm impressed... So many refinements on a 1954 bike... Top picture : the electrical box insides. It's branded "I.K.A", and still contains the electrical wiring schema inside its top cover... But still in German, argh!

ou can see the key inserted on the box's side... This box contains the key contact (top right), the high tension coil (top left), and a relay (bottom left), which looks like redressing the alternative tension delivered by the alternator.
On the top left, we've got the HT output (towards the spark plug), and the charging control lamp. This lamp must go off when the engine runs...

Two next pictures : deep cleaning of the fuel tap... Hard to get it fuel-tight!

Bottom picture : a little aesthetic thingy... As the electric wiring is visible on the frame, I did it with black wires only... But with only black wires back to the electric box, sounds like a nightmare!
So I painted (modeling paint) the last centimeter of each cable with a different color, while noting down each correspondence! From the aesthetic point of view, this is perfect, as once the box is close, we can't see anymore those painted tips... Keep on disassembling!
Top picture, the frame is still on wheels, but the engine is on the table in the background
Second picture, the frame is cleaned out, and the engine is back to its original place, but the wheels are gone... The last run!
The tires were pretty difficult to find, which put me late... Indeed, 19" tires are not that usual any longer!
Finally, this will be 3.00 X 19" (ref. D404F) 'made in Japan' Dunlop that will be mounted, with the main drawback to be higher than the original ones. So I had to make to aluminium small plates to raise the mud guard by 25mm, unless it did not work...

Originally, there were a small box for the battery... Unfortunately, I don't have it, so I made one out of plywood. Yeah, yeah, I know, plywood on such a machine sounds like a deadly sin, but I can't wait riding it! And at the end of the day, the result looks pretty cool after 2 black lacquer layers (see 3^rd pic)... Here it is, time for the first test drive!! I changed the clutch cable for a Teflon^©-ized one (see local sports shop for mountain bikes cables). It's way more easy to use, mounting without grease... Enjoy!
I changed the transmission chain for a new one. I even managed to make the original horn working after 15 mounting/unmounting processes!!

Here it is, after several month of work, the final result!
Everything's not perfect, there's still some minor stuff to fix.. Well, there always are!
But I'm pretty happy with the result!

Left picture, the front brake and clutch commands. They were originally covered with an ugly grey rubber, I decided to polish them...
Middle picture, the chromes are back from their bath! Beautiful job, thank to Etablissements MORIANO, in St Laurent du Var. Just a free ad for them, the result is just perfect!
For example, the headlight... Compare with this picture... No comments! And voila, a nice ID plate, same format as original one!
I cut it out of an aluminium sheet I found in an old server... Informatics applied to vintage vehicles restoration!

To paint the characters, I used some masking film, usually used for airbrush painting.
Last picture, the result once mounted, with several polishing phases to get the whole thing glossy. The brakes light contact : only GL models are equipped with it. The fixations on the contact being broken, I made an aluminium support, epoxy-glued on the contact.

You can see the result on the last picture... When you press on the pedal, the contact extends, which closes the circuit and lights the rear brake light.

Starting the disassembly... Be very careful at this stage, putting a tag on each single part, avoiding later surprises... A small notebook can be useful!
WARNING hen disassembling the fork : there's a ball bearing at the bottom (23 big balls), and a smaller one at the top (31 smaller balls). But all those balls are free, so be careful when opening not to throw them everywhere!

Interesting, the front end is suspended but without any shock absorber (click here to see schema). The rear end has a shock absorber, but this is a feature available only on GL models. On the others, you just keep bouncing...

Actually, the rear suspension works on a torsion bar. An arm comes onto it, and an articulation links it to the engine case. Here it is one of those two axis that I've removed...
AND THEN! Surprise! As I remove the axis, a bunch of small rolls jump around! Look at the picture (yeah, yeah, behind the greasy stuff, dust and pine needles...) : yes, a cage-less roll bearing! Same joke as with the 2 fork bearings... I manage to find back all of the rolls, but if you have to do this operation, be more careful than I was! Let's go to the sandblasting... Body front part, glove box, 3 wheels, spare wheel support, 2 foot rest extensions, rear shock absorber, stand, protection box of the current redresser, fork, front mud guard, and, obviously, the frame, will be blasted clean.

The sandblaster uses tungsten shots, as you can guess, the rust doesn't resist a long time to such a treatment...

Back from sandblasting, all the parts go to the body shop. It's very important not to wait between sandblasting and painting (or at least primering), as the bare metal gets rusty within two/three days (depending on air humidity levels).
You can see on the pictures the two fenders I bought. They are beige-orange, as they were primered to prevent rust formation.
Saturday May 20^th, at least, I get back the painted body! That's a Glasurit referenced Yellow (I've got the reference 2L 18CTS 1x030 written on the paint pot, but I'm unsure weither it's related to the actual color shade or not...). Superb... Front fork details / front suspension : before and after.

On the left, the suspension box, with the spring, axis and arm removed. The grease is 44 years old, and the tungsten shots from the sandblaster got stuck into it... So I had to make a tool (piano wire with a washer welded onto it) to be able to remove the crappy grease from the fork... Do you think I should make a patent for it?...

In the middle, the aluminium cover plates. During the 50's, this was the place for funny accessories : logos, etc... I decided to get them chrome plated.

On the right, the two suspension arms. Made of casted aluminium, I polished them!

Here is how I finally bought this wreck :
everything started on Wednesday February 2^nd 2000, when a friend of mine, Laurent (my official mechanics reference! Thanks Die Capricieuse...), gives me a ring. We discuss about different things (well, mainly VW stuff, actually!), then he tells me about a friend of him who sells a Lambretta LD around Antibes (where I live), if I know someone interested by it...

And you guessed it, I am interested, as I just love those vintage bubble shaped scooters, nothing to do with the aggressive design of nowadays cheap plastic ones...

Plus, this one is a Grand Luxe model, not a lot of them were built around 1956 (in France, but 8.694 were built from February to December 1954 in Italy). They were designed for womens : this is why it's equipped with an electric starter and a battery...

So! Saturday, February 5^th, I meet the beast owner (Olivier, thanks for your kindness), and we make a deal for 600 Francs (more or less 90 euros). Here are the very first pictures of the scooter, which is not in such a bad condition as a first glance would let you think! The monster is back into my garage! First short list of missing parts :

• the two rear body panels.
• cooling housing around the cylinder.
• speedometer and clock on the dashboard.
• fuel tap and its command extension
• the second, rear saddle (and the leather on the first!)
• the electric starter, replaced by a kick.

Anyway, this electric starter wasn't a real success, the battery kept discharging, and it obliged to remove the kick... So pushing the scooter was the only solution left to start the engine!

Interestingly, in the middle of the dashboard, there's an amp-meter... And in the gloves box : a little beveled mirror! Yes, this definitely was a scooter for girls!

The fuel tank does not appear but I got it!
Apart from that, and in opposition with what you would have thought watching at those pictures, it's still in a pretty good condition, the metal being very thick, with only some superficial rust... And a lot of period pine needles! (the air filter was full of it!) Let's have a closer look at the mechanics : a good surprise actually!

The engine is seized. I was affraid to find all the lower-end rusted... But no! The piston was only seized into the cylinder...

The combustion chamber looks clean, absolutely no rust there! Actually, the while engine was in a grease cocoon, a real mess to clean, but it protected it from time and rust!
I've started cleaning the carburetor, it's like new under the dust... Plus, I learned that all the parts are available as replicas, for very affordable prices. And you know what, the Lambretta Club de France's guy who is in charge of the spare parts live only 5 minutes driving from my place! Here it is! Just to tell you a bit more about this model, it's a 125cc two-strokes engine, Dell'Orto carbie, with a 3 gears gearbox. Rear brake on the right foot, there was a smaller pedal on the left to activate the electric starter. Gear selection with the left handle, clutch on the left, front brake on the right, just like today's two wheelers.

The Lambretta engine are said to be very resistant, though it's Italian... Well, wait and see!
More to come real soon!