A long time coming!!!

Okay, I know I have not been updating this blog as regularly as I used to but I should be able to keep up with the original post a week again. I've been busy with the new project but I wanted to give an update. I recently picked up my Dad's old 1959 Lambretta LD 125 over the summer. My cousin and I are in the process of restoring it to it's former glory.

It all started about 19 years ago when I was 15 years old. My dad passed away when I was 2 years old so when I was growing up my Mom always made a point to break out the photo albums and tell me about my Dad. The stories always seemed to include my Dad's Lambretta. She told me how he first saw the scooter when he was stationed in Germany while in the Army and that he bought one and had it shipped back to the U.S. My mom told me how when they were dating he would pick her up on it and they'd drive out to the country, to a local jazz club, or just cruise around the UC campus.

When I was 15 I asked for a scooter for my birthday. Her friend had a Vespa 90 sitting in her garage and offered it up for $50. It was the best present I ever got. I rode that thing into the ground! Through the years I've owned a few scooters and I always wondered what happened to my Dad's old LD. My mother never kept in contact with my Dad's side of the family and never encouraged me to contact them either. Well, 6 years ago my Mom passed away and left a void in my life that will never be completely filled. My Dad's side of the family came to the funeral and we re-connected after 29 years of separation. Every time I opened the old family photo albums there was the Lambretta staring me in the face with my Dad and various family members sitting on it. After a year of obsessing over it I asked my Cousin if she knew what ever happened to the old scooter. She told me she was supposed to have gotten it when she turned 16, but never did. She also told me it was still sitting in the basement of one of the many dilapidated houses my Uncle owned. I immediately called my Uncle to inquire. He told me he sold it to some guy a few years ago for $65. He said the guy fixes and rides scooters and is in a local scooter club. I was crushed but I couldn't give up. I posted the story on the Lambretta club website and a local site. After a day my clubmate told me he knew who had it! He posted a picture of it on the local site. It all fit together, the price, the location, everything! He also told me that they re-sold it to Ed of Vespa Cincinnati and gave me his number. I called and talked to Ed and he agreed to sell it back to me . I was so excited! I told him I would buy it in 2 weeks, but when the time came unfortunately something came up and I didn't have the money. I tried calling back a few weeks later and was told that he already sold it to someone in Oklahoma. I was crushed, again. Unfortunately Ed passed away a week later of a stroke. I thought the story would end there but again the LD comes back into my life. Ed's daughter had been searching her fathers name on google and stumbled onto my post on the Lambretta Club website. She emailed me and we later spoke on the phone. She guaranteed me that the scooter would end up in my possession once her father's estate was settled. She kept her word and made me a very happy man. My Cousin and I picked up the scooter this past summer and have been working to get it back on the road. I am almost positive that every time my Cousin and I work on the scooter my Mom and Dad are looking down on us smiling.

Here's a few photos of the Lambretta with my Dad, Cousins, and me.