Freddy went to see it and fell in love
with the image of the chopper. He looked
at his SX and wondered how he could
replicate the thumping Harley he’d seen
on the silver screen with his Italian
scooter. This never happened, as the skill
set or initiative to do such a thing to a
scooter wasn’t to develop until much later
on from within the scooter scene.
With his love for the Mod scene and
especially the music, by 1970 Freddy had
amassed a sizeable record collection, so
when a club opened up over the back from his
house he was asked if he would DJ there. He
gladly accepted and this is where he began
his apprenticeship behind the decks.
By 1984 the UK was in a right mess, both
politically and socially, with the north one of
the hardest hit areas. Those lucky enough to
have a job found their hours cut and struggled
to make ends meet. Freddy found himself
in this position when the factory where he
worked stopped all overtime. To make up
the shortfall in his wages he began to DJ at
weddings and events where he was forced to
play the mainstream rubbish the masses love.
It was like a breath of fresh air when in
1986 he started hearing music from the rave
scene and he fell in love with it, attending
many a rave with his son. Freddy thought it so
cool to be asked to go, but in the back of his
mind he knew a large part of the reasoning for
the invitation was that he had the car and was
going to be the driver.
CAN’T EXPLAIN
In 1995 Freddy can remember walking down
St Helens High Street when his eyes fell upon
a pair of desert boots in the Clarks shop
window display. It was if he’d been caught up
in a ‘tractor beam’ that pulled him into the
shop. He can’t explain why but he bought
himself a pair, didn’t wear them and just
stored them in the car boot still in the box.
A few weeks later, while on a record buying
mission to Manchester and still heavily into
the rave scene and the off-your-head crazy
music that went with it, he walked past and
old army and navy store and the same strange
magnetism pulled him into the shop, where
he purchased a fishtail parka. Again Freddy
can’t explain the reasoning behind this as he
had no plans to wear that either and it was
carefully placed in his car boot along with the
desert boots.
Now what’s strange here is that since his
time as an original Mod had dwindled, the
1979 revival had happened and his younger
brother had been swept along with it, getting
a scooter of his own. Freddy said he’d seen
this scooter on many occasions and saw his
brother in the Mod fashions of the time. He
also couldn’t have not noticed the great music
that the public were bombarded with, from
radio and TV, but remarkably none of this had
stirred anything within him at that time.
Around the same time Freddy was in
a local pub chatting to one of his mates,
a photographer called John; they were
chewing the fat about the old days and
Freddy mentioned that he used to have an
old American police helmet that he’d wear
occasionally when he had his scooter back in
the day. John mentioned that he’d seen one
in the window of the Harley-Davidson shop in
Deansgate, Manchester.
So the next day, off Freddy went and bought
that to go into his car boot along with the
other items of his Mod attire. Not that he
planned to do anything with it all, well not right
away anyway. As Freddy states, it was all in his
car boot for about 12 months.In 1996 Freddy was in Hotwax Records
in Warrington and got talking to a 79
revival lad called Barry May, who still had
a Lambretta. Finally, this was when all the
elements combined and the spark was
properly re-ignited. Freddy drove to Turners of
Merseyside to check out what was available
with the intention of buying a Lambretta.
When he arrived there was a fine selection of
PX Vespa scooters in different standards of
customisation and no Lambrettas. His eyes
were directed to an orange Vespa 150 Super;
this was more in line with the style of machine
he remembered from his youth.
He asked about it and was informed that it
was due to be shipped to a dealer in Japan,
bearing in mind this was a big scooter time in
Japan with the Mod scene. He was told that
if he was seriously interested that he could
have it for £700, which would save Turners the
hassle of the shipping. The deal was done and
Freddy returned the next day on the train afterRosie before the crash