Casa Performer
Name
Terence Deighton “Scooterman”
Age:
63
City/Town
Estepona
What Area Do You Live?
Europe
Name of Scooter (Show Purposes)
Casa Performer
Scooter Make
Lambretta
Scooter Model
Lambretta
Other Model (Make, Model, & cc)
Performer
Engine Specifications
Monza 225
People, Parts or Unique Features (Special Mentions)
The original scooter was a Spanish jet performer model. Purchased in the north of Spain from a good friend “Kepa” I had transported to the south of Spain and to my good friend Stephen Richards otherwise on YouTube known as the “Steelweasel” he stripped the engine and rebuilt it to my Monza spec with new Casa Cyclone clutch and casa disc brake with the new Monza top end kit and a JL expansion exhaust. New BGM shocks. The loop and panels etc have been resprayed by Los Motos Locos club member Dr Duncan Aleeson. I went for an old style green and silver metal flake finish with Casa performance decals applied on completion.
Memberships
Other National Scooter Association
Local Club Name
Los Motos Locos Scooter Club
How Long Have You Owned This Scooter?
6 years
How Long have you been Scootering?
45 years
How did you acquire your scooter?
Purchased my first PX from Lens of Shipley in West Yorkshire aged 17 in 1980
What Inspired you or attracted you to this scooter?
Quadrophenia was the clincher but I used to go round to Spags house with my mate Stella in Rodley to watch him work on his Lammies.
How do you typically use your scooter?
We used our scooters to form a local scooter club called the Squadron. We went to Rallies up and down the country.
Furthest or most Eventful Trip Ridden on a Scooter?
Isle of white in UK, Gijon in Spain and Austria.
Any plans for your scooter in the future?
The “Performer” is only one of my collection but I would not sell it. I have a series 2 “Rat” with a “Sledgehammer” in it built by another good friend Paul Baxter up in Murcia. I have a small fame Vespa ET3 and a Royal Alloy MT 350.
Are you active in the scooter community?
Yes I am Nr 2 in the Los Motos Locos Scooter Club on the Costa del Sol and I am a member of the Lambretta Club of Gibraltar,
How did you get into scooters?
Admiring the general scooter scene of my peers and loving the music, the fashion of the older clubs. I used to watch in envy the Gemini Scooter Club in Leeds. And I would always be round at Momos house admiring scooters coming and going.
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of owning a scooter?
If I am honest I am lucky as I do not find anything challenging. When I was younger I could find my way round an old cast iron barreled scooter. But these modern kits with the porting and smart carbs and jetting involved is above my pay grade now.
Do you have any advice for someone who is considering restoring a vintage scooter?
My advice to anybody would be to buy a scooter that fits your needs. I.E if you are riding two up look at building a good touring scoot with a
Mugello198 or one of the RB kits. But always build for your needs as you will likely never get your money back. I have made mistakes in the past by building scooters that didn’t fit my style. You have to remember I live in Spain and humidity is 80% so jetting of carbs is very important here.
Best resources for scooter parts and information?
My source of information is Facebook but I still buy “Scootering” magazine to this day. But at regularly meets we always discuss what’s new on the market and what works and what doesnt work. My go to supplier in Spain for parts is ASM Scooters based in Malaga. The guy who owns it Fali is a good friend and helps source all our parts and repairs.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of owning a scooter?
One of the most rewarding things about owning a scooter is the community. There are always like minded people where ever you go who are interested to talk about them. I also love riding the roads here in Spain where cars toot there horns in admiration and people take photos of the scooters all lined up and gleaming in the sun.
How Many Scooters is enough?
You can never have enough, I liken it to my wife’s shoes wardrobe and how many pairs has she got!!
What are some of the things you hope to see happen with scootering?
I am a classic scooters owner and rider I also have a RA and I would like to see the moderns classic looking scooters to be more freely accepted in the UK scene. I travel the world riding scooters and it is great to see that modern scooters are integrated into their scenes.
What is your fondest event or memory of riding your scooter?
I don’t know about fondest but in 82 we went to Gijon on Road boat and train and in the days before the internet and phones 6 of us planned the trip in the summer in the UK and set off, the weather was kind in the UK and we were going to Spain where it is Hot Right? Well we got of the ferry and took a ride through the Picos de europa and it was freezing and wet and cold. Well were taken in by a family and we bought like sheepskin leather smocks to keep us warm. We left the sight seeing and headed along the coast and had a great adventure eating some great food and tapas and ride around La Concha Bay in San Sebastián which was amazing and Marine drive in Scarborough had nothing on this!!
How Do You Feel About Campers @ Rallys
I am not fussed as we don’t have them in Spain so we ride everywhere.
What do you most enjoy about your scooter?
Freedom, the sounds and smells of the scooters and the admiration gained from others.
How do you see as the future going with regards to scooters?
I see the cuter of scooters in autos so as to attract the youngsters. These modern scooters will then be taken apart and hybridised with new kits and adaptations and the cycle will repeat.
Scooterman and the Curse of the Spanish Clutch Cable
There are men who retire quietly.
Buy a pair of beige shorts.
Take up gardening.
Queue politely for weak tea in garden centres whilst discussing mulch.
And then there’s Scooterman.
A man who looked at retirement and thought:
“Right… I’ll move to Spain, buy old Italian scooters that leak oil worse than a North Sea trawler, and spend my Sundays chasing tapas through mountain villages with a gang of ageing mods, lunatics, ex-builders, rogue mechanics and men called things like ‘Steelweasel’ and ‘Doctor Dunc.’”
And thus began the legend.
Every Sunday morning, somewhere on the Costa del Sol, the peace of sleepy Spanish villages is shattered by the sound of badly tuned two-strokes, Northern accents, and somebody shouting:
“WHO’S BROUGHT THE 10MM SPANNER?!”
The rides usually begin in Estepona at the legendary Scooter Garden. Half workshop, half social club, half illegal museum of oily Lambretta parts. Nobody knows how many halves it contains because maths stopped mattering years ago.
There’s always chaos before departure.
One bloke can’t start his Vespa.
Another has forgotten his gloves.
Somebody’s battery is flatter than a Leeds pub ale after midnight.
And standing in the middle of it all is Scooterman himself, clutching a coffee and pretending everything is under control.
“Right lads, simple run today. Nothing dramatic.”
Those words alone guarantee disaster.
Because within 45 minutes somebody is pushing a Lambretta uphill through a pueblo whilst a confused Spanish farmer watches on like he’s witnessing an ancient British ritual.
Which, in fairness, he is.
The route is never straightforward.
What starts as:
“Quick ride to Benahavís for a coffee…”
somehow becomes:
“…through Ojén, over the mountain, down a goat track, into a hidden valley, stopping for six tapas, two beers, three mechanical breakdowns and a philosophical discussion about jetting.”
Nobody really understands how it happens.
Least of all the wives.
And then there’s the famous Los Motos Locos roadside repair system.
This is where 14 middle-aged scooterists gather round one broken scooter offering completely different advice simultaneously.
“It’s electrical.”
“No it’s fuel.”
“No it’s timing.”
“No it’s Italian.”
Meanwhile Stephen Richards quietly fixes the problem in thirty seconds whilst everyone else pretends they knew the answer all along.
The greatest danger on these rides isn’t actually the roads.
It’s tapas.
Because no matter where the club stops, Scooterman insists:
“We’ll just have a quick one.”
Three hours later the table resembles a medieval banquet.
Calamari.
Jamón.
Russian salad.
Croquetas.
Mysterious pork dishes nobody can translate.
And at least one elderly Spaniard in the corner nodding approvingly at the chaos whilst muttering:
“These English are insane… but they drink properly.”
Then there was the infamous “simple coastal ride.”
A journey so badly organised it allegedly crossed three provinces, two weather systems and nearly entered Morocco.
At one point the lads were freezing in mountain fog near Ronda whilst Dennis insisted:
“Don’t worry lads, sun’s just over this next hill.”
Four hills later they were still soaked, freezing and eating crisps from a petrol station whilst a stray dog judged them silently.
Yet somehow… those become the best days.
Because what nobody tells you about getting older is this:
You stop remembering the boring days.
Nobody remembers sitting in traffic.
Nobody remembers spreadsheets.
Nobody remembers office meetings.
But you DO remember riding through Spanish mountain roads with your mates on old scooters held together by zip ties and hope.
You remember the smell of two-stroke in the morning.
You remember laughing in tiny village squares.
You remember hearing Northern Soul playing quietly from a phone whilst the sun drops behind the mountains of Andalucía.
And you remember looking around thinking:
“How the hell did a lad from Leeds end up here?”
That’s the real magic of it all.
Not the scooters.
Not the rallies.
Not even the beers.
It’s the tribe.
A strange brotherhood of mods, mechanics, wanderers, dreamers and ageing scooter boys who somehow found each other under the Spanish sun.
And every Sunday, as the engines fire up across the Costa del Sol, the locals once again hear the distant sound echoing through the hills:
“WAIT… WHO’S LEFT THEIR KEYS AT THE CAFE?!”
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