Lambretta GT200 - Tim Craig, Whitby (UK)

Tim asked us asked us to restore a couple of scooters for him and one of these is this British registered GT200 that he owns. This scooter is quite a machine with cool history as it was owned by a member of the Luton Lambretta Club and pics exist of it at a Rally in Eindhoven (Holland) in ‘65. The scooter had been restored to an ‘average’ level but with Tim being a perfectionist, that simply wasn’t going to cut the mustard. We set too stripping it down and upon closer inspection, Tim was right to get the job taken on. Whilst the scooter looked okay from 10 yards, close up it’s a bit of an old dog with the paint blistering and rust coming through in a lot of places. With things like long handlebar top screws holding down the bridge piece and the engine casing having been shot blast with boulders, this scooter is crying out for some TLC and a decent build. Add to that the frame which is 2-3cm out as well means that nothing is ever as straight forward as it seems.

The engine needed some SERIOUS work to sort the casings out due to the aggressive use of boulders to shot blast the casings when it was restored previously.

Once the engine had been totally stripped and we're trying to sort the mega pitted casings as they are original to the scooter. Due to the very nature and shape of a Lambretta engine casing, this meant that most areas were not possible to 'rub down' / linish with tools so it needed to be done by hand. Also the barrel was a non-original item, so once we sourced that it was rebored with a NOS Borgo piston. Our Joe spent over a whole week rubbing this down painstakingly by hand, to get into all the nooks and crannies as this was the only way to save the unit. It took some doing but we managed to save the original engine to the scooter so it was smiles all around. We continued to rub it down, working through to finer grades of sandpaper until it was sorted. Once we got it as close as we could get to being super-smooth, it went back for ‘round two’ of being acid dipped and then finally polished with the mops once again. The final step was to get the gasket faces lightly skimmed and then it was on with the final rebuild using as many NOS parts as was possible. The end result can be seen in the pics.

The scooters bodywork was selected and only replaced where strictly necessary to save as many of the original parts as was possible . Then it was all blasted, rust-proofed with primer and finally dry-built to check clearances and fitment. A quick chat with Tim was be the order of the day for the colour scheme and then the whole show went off to Rocka, RLC’s painter to be dolled up. He did the business and Tim’s colours choices were spot on.

Once back , the rebuild went reasonably to plan – largely thanks to Marcos’ meticulous pre-paint build up – so it was pretty much like doing a very beautiful puzzle. With all new fittings and finishers, grease nipples added to the cables and RLC’s eye for the detail, it proved to be a HUGE show stopper in the time it was on the work bench. People entering the shop simply stopped and stared. Mental.

The final result is what you see in the pics and judging by the fact it hit over 20,000 views in 24 hours when poste don Facebook really sums it up. Upon delivery Tim’s face was a picture and it now resides in his private collection. Sorted.