So first order of business was for the boys to go to the bottlo and get a slab, while I rustled up some tools from Marty the Vic Rep, then we met back at Bollo’s digs.

So there we were, about ten of us all up, I reckon, most just drinking and taking the mickey as you do. Fark, talk about pissing about, took ‘em ages to get the rear runner and flywheel cover off, then we realized we didn’t have a socket and ratchet to fit inside the flywheel holder tool, we was truly buggered.

Then, get this, then Mark, yeah Marky Mark, Mandy Mark Dearman, the biggest plonker of them all, goes like “ have you tried the bungee strap trick” (Occy Strap), bungee is what they call them in Pommyland, and we were like blown away that Mark, you know, came up with an idea, but what did we have to lose so we was like “go on then show us”
So there he was winding the Occy strap in and out of the fins on the flywheel, then he fastens the ends to the frame, takes up the tension in a clockwise way, puts on the spanner, gives it a whack, and hey fucken presto, it worked, I shit you not. I swear we were all like gob smacked. Then Jimbo dropped his pants, not for any reason mind, he just does that.

Anyway, yep stator was loose as a goose, but we soon had Bollo rolling again.
Max

Amongst the thousands of LD 150 Lambrettas then in Britain in February 1957 was one special one named “La Cigale” (“The Cicada”) which was to be remembered at a recent celebration in Melbourne. The occasion was the launch of the memoir Solly’s Girl by Ros Collins. Her late husband, the Australian author, Alan Collins, had purchased the Lambretta direct from the Innocenti factory in Milan and ridden it to England via Italy and France – a feat in itself.

1957 Lambretta Motor Scooter

London-born Ros ultimately became a “Ten Pound Pom” and “La Cigale” accompanied the newly-weds to Port Melbourne aboard the migrant ship, the SS Stratheden, arriving in April 1957.

After many adventures (and run-ins with the authorities) in Melbourne, “La Cigale” was eventually sold to a farmer but maybe one day she might turn up as a ‘barn find’.
To do justice to the book launch, an LD 150 was sought from the Melbourne Scooter Community, and as luck would have it, Jim Wilson’s perfectly restored 1957 LD 150 mark 111 was selected as pictured. This late production LD was born in the Innocenti factory just as Ros and Alan were arriving in Melbourne.

Solly’s Girl (which has many illustrations) may be ordered through any bookshop or online via the usual distributors such as Amazon; also from the author. It is available as a paperback or e-book. ISBNs are: 9780994388612 (paperback), 9780994388605 (e-book).
Jim Wilson