Custom Creations: Gary Wickham

The custom scooter we present in this episode first delighted the scooter scene in England in 2019, when it bagged various awards under the name "Breaking Rocks in The Hot Sun". This lyric is the first line of the song "I Fought the Law", penned by Sonny Curtis and released by his band The Crickets in 1960. Six years later, The Bobby Fuller Four landed in the charts with the song.

A tribute to The Clash and Joe Strummer

But for Gary Wickham, who came up with the idea for this scooter, it's all about 1979, when punk legends The Clash recorded the song. Since then it has been part of the permanent live repertoire of the band around frontman Joe Strummer, who sadly passed away far too early in December 2002. "The idea for this scooter haunted my head for 20 years," Gary tells us, "the complete realisation then took 18 months." Ty Lawer of Pageant Paintwork did the painting and Adi Clark contributed the engravings. "It's a tribute to Joe Strummer and The Clash," Gary explains his motivation for rebuilding this Indian Lambretta with a CASA 240 Engine. Gary himself has been a member of the Misdemeanours Scooter Club Lowestoft and already caused a sensation in 1986 with his custom scooter "The Sentinel".

Gary keeps quiet about the cost of this vehicle, grinning, and Jesco can only elicit an "expensive" from him in conversation. The Lambretta is adorned with many pictures of the band and lots of song lyrics. Gary's love of detail even goes so far that he had two Clash-style helmets made. One for himself, the other for his lady.

May Gary have a lot of fun with his extraordinary Lambretta in the years to come. And perhaps a tribute to Motörhead and Lemmy would be the idea for the next project. Title: "No Sleep 'til Lowestoft".

Video: "Breaking Rocks in The Hot Sun" and Gary Wickham