Newbie - Smallframe serial question

[heavyliquid]

Hi Everybody!



So, a year or so back my older brother bought an unfinished restoration, what was described to him as a 70's Primavera 125. Since then he's lost interest and moved on to other things (race bike, track days etc.). So the Vespa has languished in the garage



I've taken it upon myself to finish the job and take it off his hands. It didn't come with any paper work and I've been trying to find out the year & model of it. The engine is a 1981 Sport 100 with a malossi kit that needs fitting. That's all hunky dory.



Now, the frame number appears to be VMB1T*XXXXXXX. There's also a DGM number above that. Correct me if I'm wrong:



VMB1T is the serial for a Primavera ET3. I've used the scooterhelp serial search and it comes up with nothing. From what I've read Primavera ET3's were being made beyond 1983, possibly up until 2000 for Japanese importers.



Does anyone out there have an idea if this is what I think it is? Just want to have a vague idea before I send off to Piaggio UK, Vespa Club of Britain or UK Veteran Vespa Club for a dating certificate.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[henri]

as its got a dgm number its probably italian frame , japanese made ones didnt bother with them . the tooling was shipped to nippon in late 83 an was used upto 1999 . but aswell as tooling a fair few already made scoots an frames were shipped after 83 .so the dgm number doesnt rule out it being a japper ,the same spec et3 was also sold in germany an some but not many went stateside upto 88-90 . the differences are kraut n nippons had bar-end indies ,yanks real ugly bike style indies under the headset an of the number plate .
apart from there being 3 transfer ports instead of 2 the engines same as primmys . 100 sports are also 3 port, is the mallossi kit the 130 cc , as the 102 wont fit ,an its hard finding decent exhausts for 100cc barrels .
take photo's an rubbings an send to one of the dating clubs , you missed britishlambretta archive off ya list,they do vespas aswell an are who i use . H

[heavyliquid]

Hi Henri,

I did think if it had a DGM number it *should* be Italian. The Malossi kit is the 130cc, so finding a nice pipe shouldn't be too hard.

The paint job on it is pretty nice, but the rest of the restoration seems to have been done on the cheap or in a rush, for example the floor runners are fixed with a mix of screws & rivets. So I'm going to start from square one, take it slow & do it properly. My Dad & brother's all have a lot of experience with mechanics & restoring vehicles from karts, motorbikes & classic cars. I'll have plenty of help at hand. 

Is there any particular reason you use the british lambretta archive for dating? I'll use them based on your recommendation & the fact they seem to be aware of the DVLA getting harsher on applications.

Nice one, thanks for the help.


P.S Some photo's of it taken last year

[djloone]

Welcome..very tidy looking in the pics mate

LOON-E

[henri]

i use the archive coz there cheapest an dont mess around ,usually got ya cert back inside 2 weeks . H

[heavyliquid]

So I got my dating certificate from the Lambretta archive. Took a bit longer than I thought it would, but only due to Royal Mail losing stuff...

Anyway, I'm glad to say it came back as being a 1983 Primavera ET3 :-)

Thanks for the help in getting this sorted.