Take a look inside Cheltenham's 1960s Mod culture and Vespa club by Robin Brooks of Gloucestershire Live

 

Essential transport for 1960s’ Mods, complete with Parka jackets, Ben Sherman shirts and sharp suits in two tone tonic, the Vespa was a style statement of Italian chic. Or so people thought, even though the bulbous side-panelled two-strokes were in fact made in Bristol.

The British motorcycle maker Douglas built Vespas under licence offering the machines, as we see from the ad you see here in Standard, Magna and Ultra form.

The grand gathering of Vespas pictured here was parked outside the Gaumont, in Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, in 1960, two years before the cinema changed its name to the Odeon.

The film showing at the time was The 39 Steps, starring Kenneth More, which was released in 1959. It was plainly a big hit with Vespa owners, but the eagle eye may spot a Lambretta making an attempt to muscle in on the scene in the top right hand corner of the photo.

Scenes like this were common in that swingin’ decade. Most Friday and Saturday evenings scooters embellished with chrome crash bars, spot lamps galore and such paraphernalia were seen parked outside the YMCA in Vittoria Walk, the High Street’s Blue Moon, the Sarah Siddon’s in Pittville Street, or wherever the in place to be was that week.

Some favoured the Vespa, others the Lambretta, but the important thing was that they were Italian, (or believed to be) and that meant style. British motorbikes, such as the BSA, Matchless, or AJS, leaked oil. But on a Vespa, or Lambretta you could wear your Italian cut suit without getting grease on your tapered trousers with a crease like a carving knife down the front.

Another picture of massed scooters you see here captures members of the local Vespa Club on the old Gloucester to Cheltenham Road at Staverton. If you have a long memory you may recall the corrugated iron church on the left long demolished, which stood opposite the turning to Pheasant Lane.

Incidentally, the Vespa GS ridden by Sting in the 1979 film Quadrophenia by the Who’s Pete Townshend now resides in the county. You’ll find it in the Littledean Jail Museum.

Years before the sewing machine-like whine of a Vespa was heard in Britain, a local firm was building motor scooters. After the First World War Gloster Aircraft and its parent company H H Martyn & Co diversified away from making military aircraft into civil production areas. One of these ventures was the Unibus.

In its issue of 28 June 1920, Motor Cycling magazine reviewed a locally-made Unibus. Described as a “one man car, or super scooter”, the Unibus was packed with engineering innovations, “a distinct break away from the ordinary” in the words of the magazine.

Looking rather like a Vespa, the Unibus featured leaf sprung front and rear 16 inch wheels. The single cylinder, three port, two-stroke engine of 270cc was air cooled and to start it, a handle on the dashboard was turned.

The machine had two gears and transmission was via a worm shaft. Constructed on a steel frame with pressed aluminium panels, the design incorporated a parcel compartment under the single seat.

Motor Cycling concluded, “From whatever standpoint the Unibus is viewed, it stands as an engineer’s job from start to finish. The design marks a new era in the march of progress of the two wheeler”.

Despite such praise, the super scooter was a commercial flop, primarily because of its price. At 95 guineas, the Unibus was only slightly cheaper than a new Model T Ford.

Only one Unibus is known to exist today. It’s in the excellent Jet Age Museum at Staverton and a most interesting curiosity it is too.

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