Thirty-five years ago the iconic British Film Quadrophenia was made.  Voted the 35th best film of all time it uses the album of the same name by the pop group The Who as a framework for its storyline.  Portraying the teenage angst of the early 1960s it focuses on the weekend battles between the stylish Mods on their distinctive Lambretta and Vespa scooters and the leather-clad Rockers.

Directed by Franc Roddam it starred Phil Daniels as the Mod, Jimmy Cooper, and the musician Sting (Gordon Sumner) as a character known as ‘Ace Face’.  The film also featured Leslie Ash, Ray Winstone, Toyah Willcox and many other actors and musicians who went on to become household names.  But this article looks at Quadrophenia’s two-wheeled stars – namely the Vespa scooters which played such an important role in the film and discovers their astonishing story right up to the present day.

‘Classic Vespas of the 1960’s’

When the film was being made, the producers wanted to acquire several Vespa Rally GS scooters from the 1960s.  Few of these models were actually produced, so it was decided to modify five similar Vespas from the late Seventies and make them look like the classic Vespas of the 1960s.

The scooters selected were all painted in Douglas Jubilee Silver, as 1977 was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and this matched the colour of the vintage 160 scooters perfectly.  The task of modifying five Vespas was given to Sterling Scooters, a small shop based in Station Road, West Drayton in Middlesex.  Ron Pym, the proprietor, and William Woodhouse, a part-time employee, spent weeks redesigning the five modern scooters to look like the vintage models.

They fitted different side panels, rear lights, new screens and then hunted round for period mirrors and lights to give the appearance of the Vespa GS 160.  The handlebars were left the same and the main headlamp wasn’t replaced on any of the scooters.  Sterling Scooters had trouble finding five identical sets of mirrors and lights, but eventually the five scooters were ready for filming.

It was William Woodhouse who created the infamous number plate VCB 160, that has plagued so many Quadrophenia fans with its meaning. The registration was a gesture to advertise the Vespa Club of Great Britain, with numbers 160 a tribute to the producer’s request for the original GS 160 scooters.  Woodhouse was an avid supporter of the club, however his good intentions to publicise it were not appreciated by everyone when the controversial film was released in 1979.

All but one of the scenes were shot in the studio, all the others were filmed on location in Eastbourne, Brighton and at Beachey Head.  Many Northern Soul and Mod boys and girls travelled down to the south coast with their stylish clothing and scooters to take part in the film as extras.

Set against the soundtrack of The Who’s 1973 concept album Quadrophenia, the film tells the story of a disillusioned youth, Jimmy, who hates his job and battles against his disaffected parents.  Jimmy only comes alive with his scooter-riding friends, but disenchantment soon sets in, and his life plummets as he begins a downward spiral into paranoia and isolation.  He is eventually thrown out of his home by his mother, and then loses his job, his girlfriend, with the final rejection coming when his beloved Lambretta scooter is accidentally destroyed by a Post Office mail van.  As Jimmy puts it so memorably in the film: “You just killed my scooter.”

Jimmy returns to Brighton – the scene of a memorable weekend with his Mod friends – hoping to recapture some of the excitement, only to discover that his idol, ‘Ace Face’, is, in reality, an obsequious bellboy at the Grand Hotel.  He then steals Ace’s scooter and heads out to Beachy Head where he crashes the Vespa over the cliff.  Various shots were taken of this scene and then spliced together in order to make the final dramatic sequence.  Of the five special Vespas prepared for the film, three of them went over the cliff.  At the time, Eastbourne Council insisted that the scooters needed to be free of oil and petrol when they went over.  According to the director, Franc Roddam, the first scooter shot so far over the cliff that it was in danger of colliding with the filming helicopter.  Two others followed, one of which had been damaged in a crash by a stunt double playing Jimmy.  After filming, speedboats were used to retrieve the wreckage and the battered remains were taken to a nearby garage, where film extras were allowed to select parts.  Only two of the original Vespa scooters existed at the end of filming.  They were offered to the actors Sting and Phil Daniels who showed no interest in buying them.  Several years were to pass until they were rediscovered.



Dave Wyburn, a member of the Cheltenham Scooter Club, located the first of the two remaining Quadrophenia scooters.  He had responded to a house clearance advertisement in Staffordshire after Jonathan Amberston, a former location employee with the film, died.  Dave had no idea what he would find as he pulled a parka jacket from a box.  Other people who were clearing a workshop at the back of the large country house told Dave that there was an old scooter inside if it was of interest to him.

‘A shrine to Mods and Rockers’

“It was in a sorry state,” Dave said, “I’m not going to confess I recognised it because I didn’t.  I didn’t have any keys, so I forced open the toolbox lid and saw The Who Films Ltd. sticker and Sterling Scooters, only then did I know I had found something special.”

Dave spent endless hours restoring the scooter, but eventually he sold it to Andy Jones who has a Quadrophenia collection at his museum in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Dave was also instrumental in locating the other surviving scooter specially converted for the film.  This was in a far worse state.  It had returned to Sterling Scooters, where Ron Pym sold it on to someone in Wales.  The scooter also had other owners and was involved in a crash.  It was again sold, badly damaged, to someone in Liverpool, before ending up in Scotland in the hands of Jim Baxter.  He contacted Dave Wyburn and a sale was agreed.

The scooter was severely damaged and in very poor condition.  It was still in bits and in need of welding, major repairs, rebuilding and respraying.  Most of the accessories had been stripped from the bike before Dave set to work on its restoration.

He will be publishing his story of these iconic bikes in his forthcoming book called Crazy Days.

In 2007, the holy grail of scooters completed the long lost piece of the Quadrophenia Collection, which is now housed at the Crime Through Time Museum at Littledean Jail in Gloucestershire.  This is the biggest collection of its kind in the world and is housed in a former House of Correction, which was built in 1791.  Andy Jones is the director of the attraction and has been a compulsive collector since the age of 15.  He describes himself as an “out and out eclectic”, when it comes to memorabilia.  As to the film Quadrophenia, Andy maintains: “It’s one of those timeless films, whether you see it 20 times or more, you still love it.”

In addition to the two iconic scooters – Ace Face’s (Sting’s) Vespa GS-Rally and Jimmy’s (Phil Daniels’) Lambretta – the Littledean collection includes a large number of signed prints, film posters, record sleeves, letters, parkas, Mod clothing, loafers and even the original pillion seat from Jimmy’s scooter.  When Andy acquired the famous Sting scooter from Dave Wyburn in 2007, he felt “elated”, but soon realised more had to be done.  “I met up with Phil Daniels before I put the final collection together.  Phil signed all my stuff.”  However, although Andy had a fine collection, he didn’t have anywhere to house it.  In the end he restored an outbuilding to accommodate what is the largest Quadrophenia collection in the UK.

Since the exhibition opened in 2007, all kinds of people have viewed it.  Andy loves his scooters, but admits that he’s never ridden one in his life.  He sees his role as an eclectic collector who provides thought-provoking exhibits to spark debate.  Not only is this done with the Quadrophenia collection, but throughout the 7,000 exhibits on show at Littledean Jail.  Phil Daniels, who played Jimmy in the film, describes the exhibition as “a shrine to Mods and Rockers”, and Andy believes that it’s up to people to make their own judgements when it comes to the other unique and often controversial collections housed at the museum.

© Words  John Greeves

Used Kind permission of "This England" magazine

www.thisengland.co.uk