Over almost 5 a long time, scootering has given Andy Saggers a lot – his spouse, Sandra; adventures throughout Europe; friendship with Edwin Starr; and grass observe racing enjoyable, together with a couple of damaged bones.

His fascination with the scooter scene began as a boy within the ‘60s – his older sister had a Vespa, and his father Arthur was a photographer with an workplace reverse The Chalet espresso bar in Gorleston, which opened in 1963 and is little-changed as we speak.

“The Mods used to satisfy there each week, and so they nonetheless do,” he says. “I began wanting on the scooters then and thought ‘I would love a kind of once I get a bit older’.

“I purchased my first scooter, a Lambretta SX200 for £35, in 1976 from an ex-Mod. I can nonetheless keep in mind the registration quantity, UMM 36F.”

This was a interval earlier than the mod revival sparked by bands like The Jam and Secret Affair, and The Who’s Quadrophenia.

Sidewinders scooter membership

“We fashioned the Sidewinders scooter membership, simply me and three different boys who had scooters, after which another guys got here alongside,” says Andy, 67.

“Sandra was a member too – she had a Vespa 150 – and that’s how we met, as buddies at first.”

Andy used his Lambretta every single day for work as an apprentice builder, engaged on Nice Yarmouth’s new Marina Centre, since knocked down and rebuilt.

“I fell off a few instances on icy mornings going to work, instruments all around the highway,” he remembers.

“Then the scooter scene began to select up once more, and we’d go all around the nation.”

Andy and his mates would set off for rallies in locations like Brighton, Scarborough, Cleethorpes, Southend, and regionally in Yarmouth, all earlier than the official nationwide rallies started.

“We had no cellphones, no sat navs, and we used to get misplaced on a regular basis,” he says, “plus a lot of breakdowns, which is how I discovered to repair my scooter. The AA didn’t do something for you again then.

“On the time, you’d flip up and folks have been handing out flyers, so the following weekend you went to that one. There was nothing actually organised, you simply rode your scooter there, had a little bit of fun with the boys after which got here house once more.

‘We slept in bus stops’

“We slept in bus stops and all types of locations. I keep in mind going to Scarborough with buddies of mine, Roger and Danny, and we couldn’t discover a visitor home anyplace.

“We knocked on the final door and the girl stated ‘I’ve bought one room upstairs with two beds, I’ll put a camp mattress up there, but when there’s any hassle you’re out’.

“We got here again a bit drunk, Danny bought within the camp mattress and it folded up on him. He was shouting and bawling, and we have been out on our ears and slept in a bus cease once more.

“I keep in mind in Brighton one 12 months there was a band taking part in simply up the highway so we went and noticed them. It was The Jam within the very early days and I stated to my mate ‘these are going to go a great distance’.

“I simply fell in love with the entire scene.”

At across the identical time, Andy, all the time an avid file collector, began DJing at native youth golf equipment.

“I then began DJing at among the scooter rallies across the UK,” he says, “taking part in Motown and northern soul.

DJing with Edwin Starr

“Afterward I did the Motown weekends at Pontins at Hemsby, after which at Camber Sands when it moved there. I bought fairly pleasant with Edwin Starr, who used to essentially get the group going.

“The Marvelettes have been additionally there, plus Mary Wells, and Brenda Holloway. It was good enjoyable.”

Andy nonetheless DJs as we speak, and hosts a dwell present on Mixcloud on a Sunday evening from his Soul Shack studio at house.

“Folks hear from all around the world, from Argentina, America, even Siberia,” he says. “Some English guys have been there on a Sunday evening. It’s principally Northern Soul and Motown, some ‘60s mod, and generally some mod revival if I’ve a visitor DJ are available in.”

Again to the ‘70s, and Andy switched his SX200 to a Lambretta GP125, on which he took his check earlier than shopping for the SX again.

There was a three-year hiatus from the scooter scene when he met and married an American lady, shifting to the States along with her seeking work.

Reunion with the Sidewinders, and Sandra

“It didn’t work out and I got here again, and noticed my GP within the native advertiser on the market, so I shot spherical and purchased it again once more,” he smiles. “We had a Sidewinders reunion the place I met Sandra once more, and we’ve been collectively ever since.”

Not like as we speak, scooters have been low-cost as chips on the time, and Andy purchased and bought “too many” over time.

“I simply saved shopping for scooters,” he laughs, “and I’ve had so many it’s unbelievable. I keep in mind selecting up the Yarmouth Advertiser in the future and there have been two or three Lambrettas on the market, £15-20 every, so I purchased them.

“I went out and purchased an SX from Caister for £60. I took my buddy over on the again of my scooter, and he rode the SX again. By the point we’d bought it house, he stated ‘I would like it, I’ll provide you with £120 for it’. So I by no means even bought to experience it.

“Then, unexpectedly, with lots of people entering into it, the costs went sky excessive. “I keep in mind paying £65 for a Lambretta GT200, and that’s a £10,000 scooter now – if solely we had the foresight to maintain all of them…”

Andy turned well-known for with the ability to repair scooters, and an rising variety of individuals beat a path to his door to ask for assist.

It led to a brand new profession in his hometown.

Scooter restore store

“There was a man in Yarmouth who had a motorcycle store on the Haven Bridge, and he was closing down,” he remembers. “He had a couple of scooter spares there, so I stated ‘can I take this over from you?’

“Me and a mate took it on and referred to as it GS Scooters. We used to make TNT exhausts and bought fairly a couple of. A lot of individuals nonetheless like them as we speak if they will discover them.

“One 12 months the AA got here to me for spares as a result of they have been then organising a workforce for the scooter rallies.”

After about three years, Andy went into the boat constructing commerce, which he stayed in till retirement.

In addition to the rallies, the DJing, and the restore store, Andy took up grass observe scooter racing within the ’80s.

“One or two of the boys with the Wasps Scooter Membership began doing it, and I fairly fancied it,” he says. “I had an outdated body and a bit 150 engine, so I put a 175 prime finish on it, added some knobbly tyres, and there you go, you’re away.

“We’d be up and down the nation, to Oban in Scotland, Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough, Falmouth, Southend, Mersea Island, and we’d organise our personal meet down right here in Caister behind the greyhound stadium.”

So was he profitable?

Damaged bones, however enjoyable

“No,” he laughs. “A lot of damaged bones and different accidents, however no trophies, although I got here shut a few instances.

“I used to be profitable a race at Yarmouth, and this Vespa’s panel got here off and went underneath my entrance wheel. I used to be like a jet ski then, I couldn’t go anyplace, and simply shot off the observe right into a muddy dyke and that was it.”

Regardless of accidents together with damaged wrists, ribs, and a nasty leg damage from a kick begin, Andy saved it up till the late ‘90s.

“It was good enjoyable, we simply loved it,” he smiles.

The scooter rallies have been briefly interrupted by the start of the couple’s daughter Amy, who joined Sandra’s daughter Hayley, however shortly resumed.

“I used to be going to do the Lands Finish to John O’Groats run in 1988, however the day we have been setting off Sandra went into labour, so I didn’t do it,” says Andy.

“We solely stopped for a short time although, as a result of Sandra used to drive the camper van so the little ‘uns got here with us as nicely.

“We’d both camp or keep within the van, and so they used to find it irresistible. They nonetheless love tenting now.”

European scooter rallies

As soon as the women had left house, Andy and Sandra launched into the following section of their scootering lives – European rallies.

“We actually loved them, and the experience over is good as nicely,” he says. “We rode all the way in which down by means of the Rhine Valley, down so far as Stuttgart one 12 months, and all the way down to Clermont-Ferrand in France, and to the Beatsugar rally at Amiens, plus Belgium and the Netherlands.”

After chatting to a French scooterist within the UK, he was additionally invited to DJ on the Northern Soul Membership of France in Paris.

One rally to Germany on a Lambretta GP with a TS1 equipment resulted in a call to change to a extra trendy machine.

“This scooter was tuned and was consuming the gasoline, and on the way in which again the stator plate went the standard factor,” says Andy. “I changed it and we bought a couple of miles down the highway and a buddy’s Lambretta broke down.

“We have been on the Autobahn, and fortuitously there was a slip highway a couple of yards up, with a storage in a bit village on the backside.

“It was a Sunday afternoon, and we pulled up on the forecourt and began stripping the scooter. “A German man got here previous on a BMW, stopped and stated ‘that is my storage, would you like me to open up? Something you want?’ He was very useful – bought us WD40 and emery material so we might clear the piston up.

“By the point we’d completed we had the entire village standing spherical us. My mate was working one aspect and I used to be working the opposite aspect, and I stated ‘if this doesn’t begin, we’re going to be a laughing inventory’. However first kick, it began up, and the entire village was going ‘ja, ja’, clap clap.

“When a few Vespa GTSs went previous us, and my spouse checked out me and stated ‘that’s what we wish’, particularly if we have been going overseas.

“We thought if we’re going to do these miles we have to do it in a bit extra consolation, with a bit extra reliability.”

They purchased a Vespa 300 GTS in 2007, and “completely cherished it”.

“You possibly can simply munch the miles on that, a very nice experience,” says Andy. “We not too long ago parted with it and purchased a 250 GTS, which I really feel might be higher than the 300.”

Spanish Lambretta Li150

Andy’s most up-to-date acquisition is the scooter you see in these photos, a 1961 Spanish Lambretta Li150 Collection 2.

“I’d all the time needed a Collection 2, and I’ve all the time favored the Spanish scooter, and we have been strolling round Arminghall basic automobile and autojumble one Sunday,” he says. “A buddy of mine had a few them on his stand, and I requested him in the event that they have been on the market.

“He’d simply bought them each, however he confirmed me {a photograph} of this one in Spain, and stated I might have it for £1,500, delivered to my door with a NOVA certificates.

“Sandra stated ‘yeah, you may have it’, so we purchased it.”

That was in early 2020, simply earlier than Covid struck, and it wasn’t till 2022 that Andy was capable of get the scooter delivered to the UK.

“It seemed as if somebody had began to do a dry construct restoration on it in Spain, so it got here aside pretty simply, however the engine was completely shot to bits,” he says.

“The casings have been superb, however nothing within the engine was salvageable, so all the things in it’s all model new. It’s fitted with a 198 Mugello equipment.”

When it got here time to decide on a color, Andy studied a e book on the Spanish Lambretta manufacturing unit, and plumped for a two-tone butterscotch and brown.

“These colors have been on the badge above the manufacturing unit gate, and I favored the mixture,” he says. “Once I seemed by means of the e book, I found that they’re Spanish scooter colors, however they by no means did them collectively.

“Somebody stated I ought to name it ‘cappuccino’, another person stated ‘Angel Delight’.”

It took a 12 months to revive, his first journey to a basic bike meet in Norfolk.

Andy’s final restoration

“It’s been a very good restoration, I’ve loved doing each little bit of it, nevertheless it’s the final one I’m going to do,” he provides.

The Lambretta is complemented with a colour-coded, fibreglass reproduction PAV 40 trailer, acquired in 2022.

“I did a swap with a man in Lincolnshire,” says Andy. “I had a GP-bodied trailer that he needed, and he had the PAV-bodied trailer I needed.

“I’m only a trailer particular person! I’ve bought a Volkswagen camper at house with a teardrop trailer that I constructed myself from scratch. I simply love constructing them. This one isn’t on the scooter on a regular basis, but when I’m going to a present I’ll put it on.”

Nowadays, Andy and Sandra don’t do the variety of rallies as they used to, and the Li150 will solely be used regionally.

“I believe it’d be a little bit of a hike if I took that to Europe – I’m too outdated to experience that far now,” he says. “Leiston (Suffolk) is about so far as I’d take it. Having stated that, it is going to be going over to the Euro Lambretta at a racetrack south of Paris subsequent 12 months, nevertheless it’ll go behind the van.”

However one factor’s for certain, Andy won’t ever be and not using a scooter.

“It’s only a lifestyle, and I simply find it irresistible,” he says. “I really like tinkering with them, and as quickly as I get on it I simply really feel good. It’s the model, the sound, all the things about them.”

Scooter tales is a sequence of articles exploring the lives and experiences of scooterists and collectors. Click on on the Scooter Tales class hyperlink to learn extra.