This would be a great opportunity to go on a ride and be surrounded by artwork that helped define and influence an era.

Less is More!

4th August – 4th November

Focusing on an Australian context, the exhibition will explore the late modernist movement of Minimal Art, the debates it provoked in the 1960s and 1970s, its broader intersection with the Post-Minimal tendencies of Conceptual, Process, and Anti-form art, and the re-working of Minimalism by contemporary artists today.

A wide range of works by Australian artists will be presented – painting, sculpture, video, installation – alongside a few key examples of overseas work by Minimal and Post-Minimal artists from the 1960s drawn from Australian state and national collections.

More information here

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60s Pop Art forms a great backdrop for the scooters and dressing in your finest Mod gear.

The exhibition concludes on the Queens Birthday weekend with an event where you bring your favourite 60s record cover for a day of art, music and fun.

A ride for this event will  be organised by classicscooters.net to make a day of riding to the peninsula and enjoy one of the greats of the Pop Art movement.

Pop goes the easle
Sunday 10 June (Queen’s Birthday)
2pm–4pm
Free
Venue: MPRG, no bookings required

Bring you favourite pop record covers from the 1960s and 1970s and enjoy a rollicking good afternoon of art and music to celebrate the closing days of the exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Remix.

Information on the exhibition is available here

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Adopted by the ‘Modernists’ of the era, the scooter was more than the sum of its components, it represented a new, clean and modern approach to individual transportation. It allowed you to move easily without great effort and was easy to park, store and was economic and efficient. The scooter could only be seen as a most modern invention – cleaner and more efficient than a motorbike, more expedient and easier to park than a car. The scooter encapsulated the enthusiasm and optimism of the era and was adopted particular by the youth.

I suppose that most of the ‘Modernist’ that adopted the scooter in the 50s and 60s would have thought that in the 21st century that we would all be driving ‘hover’ vehicles or being transported through space by numerous modern and space-like inventions. But in 2012, can the scooter still be seen as a modern form of transportation?

What I have always loved about the 60s scooter was it futuristic 60s aesthetic. The Vespa or Lambretta of the mid to late sixties had beautiful streamlined, almost rocket-ship lines. The kind of aesthetics that made you look back when you parked it and walked away. Although, I loved the look of the scooter, what made it something different was it practicality. It was sensible and logical in every way. Built-in weather shields and footwells, comfortable seating for two people, easy to ride and ample space for storage. These features of the design made the scooter more utilitarian than the average motorbike. The riders where able to dress well and not have their suits spoiled by straddling the engine.

The modern Vespa still pays homage to the lines of the 50s and 60s scooters. Recently, Mike Richardson from the Vespa Club of Melbourne visited me with his blue GT 200. Embellished with mirrors and lights, it had a thorough ‘Mod’ aesthetic. What amazed me was the power output compared to my PX 200. Although both had carburettors, the GT had almost double the output of the PX.

Ah, the PX… the last of a model whose lineage goes back to the 1940s. I must admit that is probably the reason I own it. It’s like a classic old Tissot watch or an old Rollei camera, it not fast, but it’s quaint, practical and it works.

And although I still ride around in what many would see as a relic of the past, I can not but admire the thorough modernness of the todays scooters. They are in every way what the original designer envisaged the scooter would be.

Signed, sealed and delivered… Lambretta TV175 Series III

Being a collector of Lambretta scooters I needed one particular scooter to make up a set.

I already have a Lambretta TV175 Series I , Series II and a Lambretta TV200 so was just missing a Lambretta TV175 Series III to make up the complete TV range.

I had bought some original used Lambretta  parts from Luis Martinez of Classic Bikes and Parts in Montevideo, Uruguay in the past so sent him an email on the off chance he had a whole TV175 Series III

given the Innocenti factory in Milan used to export a lot of Lambretta TV175’s to Uruguay in early 1960’s as it was a very popular model in South America at the time.

Sure enough Luis did have a 1962 TV175 Series III but it was very rough and needed a complete restoration and was missing quite a few parts.  The other problem is that you are not allowed to export old scooters out of Uruguay.

Luis’ way around this problem was to completely dismantle the scooter, put all the parts into  5 large cardboard boxes and post them to Sydney using normal airmail and describing them a Used Scooter parts.

I live at the bottom of a steep driveway and my poor postie lady was not happy when a few weeks later during the Christmas postal rush she had to carry a scooter frame, an engine, a set of forks  etc;etc; down my driveway , as sure enough the whole scooter arrived piecemeal through the standard postal system.

A week later I was getting my haircut and was talking to my hairdresser about my passion for Lambettas then he told me he had heard of some idiot got  a “motorbike” sent in parts through the mail!!

News travels fast – so we had a laugh when I told him that the idiot was me.

A year later after having all the scooter blasted clean and repainted she is back on the road looking splendid in a her new blue and white livery.

Special thanks to Sandy and Mark at SS Scooter Engineering for putting her all back together again, Ron DePennone of Casa Lambretta for supplying some original parts and to Snowy Bardsley of The Melbourne Crusader’s Scooter Club   for supplying some old side panels so I could fix up the original side panels on the scooter.

Wonder what I will get in the mail next Christmas?