Lambretta, Northern Soul, Northernsoulinoz, Northern, Soul, Tamla, Tamlamotown. Motown, TwistedWheel, Wigan

 

               
             

                 

The Lambretta SX 200 is without doubt one of the finest scooters ever made and in the 1960s' was way way ahead of its time, as was the whole Series III Lambretta range. Although everyone claims to have had one, there were only 20,783 SX200's ever made along with 31,238 SX 150's. The SX200's series started with the frame No 830.001 and were only made from January 1966 to January 1968. The SX 200 was the most advanced and powerful scooter of its time and highly technically advanced for its era being the first production scooter ever to be equipped with a front disc brake and having external shock absorbers as well as spring suspension on the front forks. Boasting 11hp at 5,500 rpm, the SX200 still gave 93 mpg and at £220 was extremely good value for money,  considering in good original condition they can sell for £7,000 today.

Contrary to common belief, there is no Innocenti classification for a Lambretta "GT". The tag originated in the UK because the forerunner to the SX200, the TV200 was an Italian export only model produced for the United Kingdom. The TV designation stood for "Tourismo Veloce" a term extensively used on the UK scooter racing scene and became known as 'GT' to emphasise the superior specifications of this powerful 200cc model.  SX 200's were made to almost the same specifications as the TV but with minor improvements and were sold on the domestic Italian market, they were also delivered to the UK when demand there for the TV 200 outstripped Innocenti's manufacturing capacity. The SX and TV 200's therefore had almost the same specification and were both used on the racing scene and so either could be referred to as a "GT" model. thoough this was rarely the case for the SX 200. Even the classification SX 200 is incorrect and should in fact be X 200 Special, again rarely used as SX 200 was always preferred as a convenient way of distinguishing it from its GT partner the TV 200.

MY SX 200 

The picture below is of my 1966 SX 200, which was lovingly restored in 1994 after being found in a thousand pieces on a pallet. The restoration was performed so the scooter was returned to all its former glory and just as it would have come off the Innocenti production line in 1966. Over the years it has become a mods scooter, but is still 100% Italian in every way and a real buzz to ride. 

MY wife's LI 150
My other Scooter which now is ridden by y wide is a 1965 LI 150. I restored this myself, it took two years, but was well worth the effort. This was a bare metal, nut and bolt restoration, the paint job is one of the best I have ever seen, thanks to my Brother in Law, Paul Horvath a former spray painting instructor with the paint technology company "Sickens" of Melbourne. Below is the finished article.