Win a copy of Dean Orton’s ‘A life in Lambretta’ | INTERVIEW

I doubt there are many Lambretta fans out there who aren’t familiar with the name, Dean Orton. He’s an English mod who moved to Italy in the early 1990s and went on to set up Rimini Lambretta Centre.

Long lost treasures

More recently, Dean has been known for scouring Europe for long-lost Lambretta treasures (that’s him in his natural habitat on the right in the image above). He’s also been responsible for developing tuning parts for often-neglected models, writing books, and restoring scooters.

Dean’s brand new autobiographical account of his ‘Life in Lambretta’ has just been published, so we took the chance to have a chat with him.

He’s also given us two signed copies to give away to lucky SLUK readers.

Dean first discovered scooters and the Mod subculture while growing up in Bodmin in the 1980s

Tell us a little about your new book, ‘A Life In Lambretta’, and the reason behind it?
I think one of the hardest things in life is to turn a part-time passion into a full-time job, which is exactly what I did after arriving in Italy in 1992 to live. That means that I’m one of just a handful of people who has been on both sides of the sales counter in scooter land, and experienced first-hand a lot of eyebrow-raising moments along the way. A good selection of those same ‘moments’ can be found within the book.

What time frame does the book cover?

Initially, I wanted to cover from when I arrived in Italy in 1992 until 2020, when I left Rimini Lambretta Centre, but there was just too much to include. Therefore, the content was split into two, and even so, there are still 600 pages per book, albeit there are a lot of full-colour photos in there as well. I’ve purposely tried to avoid ‘A Life In Lambretta’ being a diary-type read, so there are only three such chapters included, which take the reader through the journey of arriving in Italy until I set up my first workshop. All the other chapters relate stories, in no particular time-related order.

Is the book aimed solely at Lambretta owners? 

I hope not! Despite the title, I’ve had my fair share of Vespas and other marques too! They feature throughout the book, both within the stories and the photos. Okay, I’m Lambretta through and through, but few things in life are as perfectly designed and aesthetically stunning as a Vespa GS150, or as ‘outside the box’ as an SS90. Talking of which, in one chapter, imaginatively titled ‘The Scooters’, I explain the reason for spending 20K to convert an SS90 into a Lambretta.

Out of interest, I asked a non-scooterist friend to proofread the book, and he came back to me saying that it was only the second time he’d ever laughed out loud when reading a book, so that’s a great sign.

Are all the chapters scooter-related?

Somewhat obviously, the core of the whole book is scooter-related, as that’s what I’ve spent my entire life devoted to, but there is a foray into the heavens when I flew in a 2-seater to Bari with scooter tuner Roberto Barone, to meet the Vespa Club there. Even he was surprised we made it there and back without a mechanical hiccup – although we did nearly run out of petrol whilst flying over military airspace. Go figure.

Dean has been a fan of less glamorous scooters since being introduced to the J Range (and gifted one) as a teenager…

What scooters do you have, or use now?

I’ll happily admit that oddball Lambrettas are my thing, as anyone who follows what I get up to on the antisocials will testify. The only problem with ‘oddball’ is that it’s usually inextricably tied up with Indian manufacturing as well, something which I’m much less fond of. Lambrettas have enough idiosyncrasies anyway, without adding poor, ‘couldn’t care less’ production methods and half a century of neglect to the equation.

I’m not a collector, so in my stores there are only about half a dozen scooters, which are either used on a regular basis or are under the spanners. My daily rides of choice are a 5-speed J50 fitted with a CPOne05 kit and a 200cc Kelvinator. Nothing exotic, but the fun of riding them is still as immense as when I was 16 years old. My liquid-cooled Vega 150 is another contender for the go-to podium as well, as it’s just so much fun to ride. I’ve also ordered a Casa Twin 250 motor that’ll end up in an Aravali 150, which I’m sure will be ‘entertaining’ to use.

Talking of oddball, what do you think of the New Lambrettas? Weren’t you involved with them initially?

Yes, when I was still at RLC, we did untold promo work for the New Lambrettas, with varying degrees of success. Walter Schaffren, the owner of the Lambretta brand, is a good friend of mine, and I’m delighted that he is now getting the success he deserves with his new 300 and 350 models, having endured so much negativity along the way.

It’s a shame I can’t say the same for the (ex?) European distributors KSR. For them, it was just another brand, of which they marketed several, and it was a total uphill struggle from the very start. I mean, just look at their current situation and tell me I’m wrong. They failed outright to understand what a golden opportunity they had on their hands with the ‘Lambretta’ brand name. As I said to one of their top brass at the time, who was always harping on about having revived yet another obscure, nondescript brand, “I’ve yet to see a youth with a ‘Malaguti’ T-shirt, or see a rally dedicated to ‘Brixton’ motorcycles.” He just looked at me.

I love the New Lambrettas and I’ve had a V200 since they were first released. That is about to be joined by a New Lambretta X300. What a machine; such an incredible design, and that Mustang-type rear light is a work of art. I know most traditional scooterists would choose a Royal Alloy over a New Lambretta, but what I think a lot of people fail to realise is that the New Lambrettas are just that: new, modern Lambrettas – not retro scooters, such as a Scomadi or an RA. That’s a big difference. Rightly so, there’s a heavy nod towards the original design, but this is what Innocenti would be producing today, if it were still operative as a manufacturer. I can honestly say the build quality is superlative, and Lorenzo Innocenti, son of Luigi Innocenti, is behind the brand. And if it’s good enough for him, well…

In the book, a lot of the stories seem to happen in Greece, rather than Italy. Why?

I love Greece as much as Italy, so any excuse to travel there on buying trips for the shop was keenly accepted. Greece was an incredible scooter-hunting ground for the best part of 20 years, so it naturally follows that some of the book’s content relates to what happened when we were over there.

A very short summary might read: surprising Nigel Cox and Steve Groves on the ferry, ending up in the middle of a shoot-out, nearly getting mugged by some Afghans, towing Sticky with my J50 after he broke down on a Vega whilst crossing the massive bridge near Patras, riding through a police cordon who were facing off a full-on riot by irate Albanians and BB activists, pulling out Lambretta engines in a piss-filled cellar in the red light district of Thessaloniki, etc. etc. It was certainly ‘all go’ during our trips over there.

Why did you leave Rimini Lambretta Centre?

Administrative boredom and not having the time to be creative in the workshop. Everything has a start and a finish. It was simply time for a change.

Do you still restore scooters?

Certainly, I restore a few scooters each year, as that’s my profession. First and foremost, I’m just a mechanic with an undying passion for Lambrettas.

After this book, what else have you got planned?
Apart from a possible Part 2 of this book if it sells well, I’ve nearly finished the content of a ‘Lambretta J Range Workshop Manual’. That will be followed by a similar book for Luna Line machines, as there’s hardly anything available for the owners of the smallframe models. Books aside, I intend to run Lambretta restoration courses for 8-10 people at a time, three or four times a year. The idea is that they’ll be held in new purpose-built ‘Speedball Studios’ and will be all-inclusive, with all accommodation, 2-wheeled transport and meals covered. The plan is to offer a full-immersion, hands-on experience that will also give the participants a chance to savour the Italian lifestyle. A chance to ‘Live the dream’, as they say!

When will ‘A Life In Lambretta’ be available?
The book is available now, priced at £21.99. You can order a copy via the ‘Scooter Products’ website, here.