Arthur Francis S-Type 250 – from Watford to Milan and Glasgow!

As we’ve posted previously, 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the Arthur Francis (aka AF) S-type dealer special Lambretta scooters.

As a result of said posts published on ScooterNova, Chris Wylde contacted us to tell us a little about the original 250cc S-type he bought back in 1967; a certain TJH 25D.

For those with a forgetful mind, we previewed the anniversary in January, saw some at the VMSC Show in March and at Whitby at Easter, and of course also attended the 50th Anniversary Event itself at AF Rayspeed in August of this year.

Anyway, it was from one of these posts that featured the 1960s cover of Practical Scooter magazine that Chris recognised his old bike, TJH 25D. He told us, “I was also once a proud owner of this Arthur Francis Special. I purchased the scooter from Arthur Francis August 1967. It was Ken Peters who sold it to me.”

This Lambretta was pretty well-known at the time, as both an experimental bike for the Arthur Francis scooter shop in Watford, and also as the machine upon which Arthur Francis employee Ken Peters broke the London to Milan scooter riding record in 1967.

Featuring a few ‘AF trick bits’ the Lambretta was eventually sold on after its short but highly eventful celebrity career, and Chris was the lucky new owner.

Chris told us, “At 18 years old I didn’t really appreciate the spec of the Lambretta I was buying. I first saw TJH 25D in the window at Watford, all covered in dirt and thinking ‘who would want to buy that!’ I also had a copy of the March edition of Practical Scooter with the photo on the front cover… Then I put 2 and 2 together. Next the bike was in the window all cleaned up and pristine. That’s when I fell in love with it – and it was certainly a step up from the Lambretta Cento 100cc I was riding!”