Burton Brewers Custom Show | RALLERY

The Burton Brewers are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and what better way to celebrate than with a hugely successful custom show?

The event has been running for many years but their usual brewery museum venue has sadly closed since last February. This meant the club had to think outside the box and find a new local venue. That venue turned out to be Paget High School in nearby Branston.

Seized it

A bitterly cold morning meant wrapping up well before the 30-mile ride down to Burton on my Series 1, with a few mates in tow. With only a mild heat seizure on Adam’s newly rebuilt matt black Vespa PX to slow things down along the way.

School dinners

Arriving at the venue just before opening time it looked fairly quiet but that was due to change very quickly! We paid our fivers and got into the warmth of the school dining hall where scooterists were already thawing out and taking advantage of the hot drinks. Sadly no spotted dick and pink custard on offer though.

The school had two large halls, one was used for the custom show and the other for the trade stalls. We opted to have a nosy around the custom show first and thankfully it was quiet enough to see everything.

Galleries

We’ve split the photos into three galleries so you can flick through the entrants, the dealers and the scooters outside. The custom show results are also in the gallery.

As you can see there was a high standard of machinery on display. If you like 80s-style scooters the Armandos lineup would get you checking out all manner of vintage plastic accessories and iconic variations on the familiar paintwork.

Liquid

Scooter choppers aren’t to everybody’s taste but you couldn’t fail to notice Rob Johnsson’s unbelievably different Lambretta chop – Liquid. I heard comments of “What part of a scooter is that?!” but the blinkered are missing the point. This pushes the boundaries of scooter customisation to a whole new level, stunning work and it got a well-deserved best of show.

Pretty in pink

A newly finished Lambretta also caught my eye, a stunning pink Series 1, sprayed and built by local lad, Lee Edmonds it really stood out from the crowd. Simple but built to perfection.

Laurel and Hardy fans would be happy to see the recently revamped and stunningly finished ‘Another fine mess’ PX. Full custom loads of chrome and engraving. I wouldn’t like to keep that one clean.

The show also had its fair share of unmolested and unrestored original scooters, classy-vintage scooters and the odd race machine. All in all a good cross-section of scooters.

Playtime

Having spent a bit of time looking around the dealer’s stalls, both inside and outside in the playground I attempted to get back inside. By this time the venue was absolutely heaving! You were queuing to get into the halls, the corridors were jammed up in both directions and I was told that you couldn’t see much in the custom show. It really was very, very busy. Good news for the organisers but possibly not quite so good for punters who arrived after lunchtime.

Valet parking

I must mention the organisational skills of the Brewers. The parking area was heavily manned (and womaned) and every scooter was parked up in military fashion. Just as well really because there were so many people arriving it would have soon turned to chaos otherwise.

That organisation was the same inside the venue, loads of staff making sure everybody was in and through the doors as quickly as possible. Very well done to them all.

A great few hours spent in the likeminded company of fellow scooter nutters.

Words and photos: Iggy