Has anyone heard of a proposal to start a new production of the Cassic Lambretta Scooter in the USA please?

Understand that this is called the L5 and is on its second prototype at this time. It is suggested that this model will have a 250cc four stroke engine.

Any available information/confirmation would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
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I spent a few days in Hongkong at a family reunion earlier this month, staying in a beach front hotel on Lantau Island.

Really enjoyed just piling into the back of those Toyota Crown Taxis (not driving for once) that are running on LPG.
There`s a small mountain to climb between the airport and hotel, near the ferry terminal at the other side of the island and the screaming max revs in second gear (obviously the norm) made me wonder how the engine survived one trip, when it had been doing this route for years.

Every morning we caught the slow or fast ferry to Hongkong Island and the Star ferries to Kowloon.
I can report that the (Christmas present) Casio Pathfinder PRG 80 watch tinyurl.com/2sjztf was able to display the Easterly direction (of the ferry) and also the barometric pressure, that remained relatively stable during our stay.

Pity about that stable barometer and the gentle breeze from the North, as despite efforts to decrease pollution in Hongong such as LPG, a petro chemical smog, cloaked all of the places we visited.
Pollution of course from the factories in mainland China and something not seen since a childhood in a coal burning, Lowrie like landscape, personalised by blackened shirt collars and raw sinuses.

I saw some very impressive looking Chinese cars, but due to circumstances was unable to examine them closely, other than they looked superficially first rate, several with cream leather and very well executed paint jobs.

I found a desire for less pollution amongst my local contacts, but also an amusement that the UK (TB mentioned) had been putting forward as allegedly "Taking the lead" on pollution from cars.

So, as we enter the surreal, (Please run the Outer Limits theme tune through your heads)

The camera zooms in.. we are a little way back in time.. a certain politician popularly caricatured with big ears and flashing teeth is seemingly grandstanding on the world stage about the UK taking the lead... Euro4..Euro5..bla bla..

more sound bites...
further back in time.."England Expects"...time moves on..british battle cruisers circle the world and gunships go up foreign rivers, cordite flashing in patriotic `spasm`.

In our 50`s classrooms a red world map.."the sun never sets on the British Empire"...

Then to 2008, the camera zooms out... sitting on the back of an asian elephant (strolling through the tea garden) is certain well worn flea (with `UK`stamped on its er, back) has the above sound bites running through its head, while it tries to reduce its carbon
footprint....

In Conclusion
On return, I`m still appreciating the clean air coming over the pennines from the Atlantic.
so I think its worth the effort locally (UK) and for our typically down wind EU `confederate` states.

Beyond that and the political perspective, just wait for something like a Chinese interpretation of a Jazz coming in for £4,000 and wiping the floor, as seen with British bikes in the 60`s.

What do you think?

Regards
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When turning slowly round corners eith to the left or the right there seems to be a knocking noise from the front wheels, I can't find what the problem is, I thought it might be the bottom ball joint but to happen on both sides at the same time is a bit strange. Can anyone suggest what else it could be???

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I have a customers galaxy in workshop and we tried to reset the service interval using snap on scanner version 7.4. It came up on the scanner that ecu was not in data base so reset was not possible.not too much of a problem for our customer.However when he left the oil light was flashing and none of the gauges worked.I re attached the scanner and could get all gauges working via the actuator test on the scanner.Have also tried disconnecting battery but no difference,also no fuses have blown and car drives as normal, any ideas? Read more

Having read an article in one of todays broadsheets regarding the expected Bank Holiday road chaos, it was with much trepidation I set off on the Suffolk to Wiltshire run home this afternoon. This involves the A12, M25 (northern section) and the M4 so I was expecting there to be very heavy traffic in all the usual hotspots and it to be a 5 or 6 hour trip back instead of the usual 4 or so.

Errr, what traffic ?

It was very quiet, too quiet in places. Which started to make me think how much influence the media has over driving habits in the holiday season. If they tell us its going to be a dreadful weekend full of massive holdups, jams and delays then do people take heed and stagger their journeys or even avoid traveling at all ? If this leads to quiet roads and quick journeys then thats great for us motorists who ignored the warnings and the government too as its less congestion, pollution and fewer accidents. But its bad news for the press who run a story which never occurs and therefore they lose credibility. Which makes me wonder why the stories are ever run at all - unless someones got a vested interest? Read more