Old beauties ditch Indian shores

In the 1960s and 70s, when motorcycles were considered ‘too bold’, they were a fad. Movies, both from Hollywood and Bollywood, were incomplete without the hero and heroine enjoying a ride on the Lambretta scooter, but alas, the world saw the last one roll out of the assembly lines in 1979 and motor enthusiasts can get a closer look at them only very rarely.

But these old beauties have a strong fan following in the United Kingdom, where collectors are mopping up the last few Lambretta scooters that are still in running condition from Indian roads.

From Mangalore, Bangalore and Pune, these aficionados are importing scooters to various cities in the UK, such as London and Bristol.

“Believe it or not, they have joined the elite club of vintage vehicles in England. They command not less than Rs2 to 2.5 lakh in the UK,”exclaims Suresh Kumar who procures these scooters for Fanatic Scooters of Bristol owned by David Williams. However, the importers he says, “procure scooters from Bangalore and Mangalore at a low price of Rs10,000 to 15,000”.

According to Kumar, the importers refurbish them to stock condition by spending an additional Rs10,000 or so on the engine, transmission, suspension, tyres, controls, painting and papers. And the export charges don’t go a beyond Rs5,000 per scooter.

“We send not less than 28 to 30 scooters (one container full) shipment to England every year. It takes a hell lot of work to get them in mint condition. The British are very quality-conscious. They want them in excellent condition. The procuring company also specifies the colour, make of tyres, switches and controls and even the headlight adjustments,” he explains, adding, “Till now we have sent over 500 scooters and another consignment is getting ready.”

Another procurer, Abdul Basha from Gangenahalli in Bangalore, says it is not just the Lambretta scooters that are in demand. “We’ve sent old Vespa 150 cc, Vijai Super and Fentabulous scooters (produced by Enfield India) and even old Royal Enfield motorcycles,” he says. But Lambrettas have a higher demand. “An Irish lady once bought an old Lambretta, 1963 and painted it sparkling pink after fully re-furbishing it. She spent not less than Rs40,000 on the re-do and rode away to Goa from Bangalore,” recounts Basha.

But, doesn’t exporting antique Lambretta scooters mean exporting our own heritage? Kumar says, “I do receive calls from the so-called protectors of our heritage. They say old vehicles are a part of our popular culture and heritage and I cannot sell them to a foreign country” He clarifies that all his consignments go through the official customs channel after the transport department and police officials have verify them.

“We cannot export vehicles that are produced before 1963, the transport department will not cancel the registration certificate for vehicles produced before that year and there is no way we can violate that rule,” says Kumar.

According to officials from the transport department, “There is nothing in the IMV act that can prevent anybody from cancelling the registration certificate and taking the vehicle abroad for whatever reason. There is not much difference between the normal export of new vehicles and the old vehicles.”

Old cars like Morris Minor, Hindustan 9, Studbaker, Standard Herald, Fiat Mini, Sunbeam and Hillman, which are out of production, also command a good value in European countries.

Many procurers hunt for them in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Coimbatore and other places. Even social networking sites see a number of enquiries posted every day.