Here in Great Britain we’re lucky to have the Lambretta Museum in Weston-super-Mare, offering an example of every scooter Innocenti produced from Model A to GP, as well as Lambrettas from further afield such as France, Germany, Spain and India too. It’s a great place to visit, whether in Weston for a rally or a standalone visit, but it is just Lambretta scooters. If you want to see collections of other scooters, then you need to be going abroad.
Unsurprisingly Italy is the place to go with Vittorio Tessera’s fantastic Museo Scooter e Lambretta near Milan, the Museo Piaggio at the Vespa factory in Pontedera, and Sergio Sciarpetti’s Museo Dello Scooter near Assisi, all recommended places to visit.
But if you’ve recently won the lottery, have money to burn and fancy a collection of scooters like no other in the UK, then you could do worse than visit this auction in Italy that takes place next month.
The “360RUOTE – Mopeds, Scooters & Motorcycles” takes place on 27 April to be precise, at Garage Bolaffi in Turin, and consists of 186 lots of mopeds, scooters and (mainly) light motorcycles.
The A to Z catalogue quite literally goes from a Achillies Sport 175 to a Zundapp Bella R200. In between it includes such rarities as the Aermacchi Cigno 125 as seen in edition 23 of ScooterNova magazine, a Ghia designed 175cc Ducati Cruiser from 1953, as seen in ScooterNova edition 11, and Gilera G50 from the mid 1960s, before the company were bought by Piaggio.
The Benelli Laser 50 reminds us all how bad the 80s were, the Gilera GSA 50 also, although both do have a certain, twisted appeal looking back on them now. The 125cc Bernardet 1949 from a factory near Paris is an interesting scooter too, and of course a true classic.
While Germany features highly with the DKW Hobby from 1954 on 16” wheels, the futuristic-looking DKW Victoria moped, a stylish Durkopp Diana from 1957 with looks to rival an Italian (see edition 3 of ScooterNova magazine), and from the east an IWL Pitty.
From Italy there are plenty of course, including the 1962 Malenca Vispetta that is basically a copy of the two popular marques that makes today’s Chinese facsimiles seem old-hat.
There is a Moto Guzzi Trotter moped for fans of Only Fools and Horses, while the “Creme de la Menthe” Rodney is undoubtedly lot 156 listed as “Produzione Artigianale Piattello”. Powered by a 98cc 2-stroke engine, the catalogue description says this is one of only two examples of this scooter built in 1949 by a skilled Tuscan craftsman.
Strangely there are no Vespas, although in Italy they can command a very high value so maybe any from the same collection are to be sold separately. If you want Lambrettas there are mopeds, Models A, B, D (with a Pav trailer) and F, a J50 Special, Lui and a 125 Dl that is stated as a restoration but on which they missed by a country mile when it came to fixing the panel stripes. This does cause a little concern as to who and how restored the scooters that presumably formed part of what was once a single collection, but if buyers consider that before auction fever takes over then hopefully all will be well.
There are plenty of lots that we haven’t listed, it really is an interesting auction if you have an interest in classic scooters in general from over the years. Head over to the Aste Bolaffi website for more information and to view the entire catalogue. And if you buy anything please let us know.
** ScooterNova is an independent scooter magazine that has been produced since 2017, by scooterists for scooterists.
It is available from all good scooter shops in the UK and Europe, with magazines and subscriptions available for readers around the world direct from our online shop. Edition 24 is out now and available from our NEW online shop; click here.
