THE
AVENGERS
“Crimes against the people and the state have to be avenged by agents extra-ordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional………
And his partner, Emma Peel, talented amateur………
Otherwise known as – The Avengers.”
The Avengers series ran from 1961 Until 1969, the main character being John Wickam Gascone Beresford Steed a quintessentially British secret agent, recognizable by his expensive suits, umbrella, steel lined bowler hat and a penchant for drinking as much champagne as possible at every available opportunity, definitely a scooterist working undercover don’t you think.
During the eight years of the series Steed had three crime fighting partners firstly Cathy Gale played by Honor Blackman, Emma Peel played by Diana Rigg and Tara King played by Linda Thorsen. It’s the Emma Peel era that intrigued me (must be the leather cat suits called Emma Peelers) as this is the series I remember from childhood – just about!
So after doing a fair old bit of research into the Emma Peel era, this then gave me the inspiration to build a full blown custom based on the Avengers. The scooter, a PX200 was stripped down by Jason from Saxon Scooters and then all parts for painting were taken to Bridlington where Dave Dickinson a well known custom paint sprayer on the scooter scene could go to work.
It was decided to make the scooter stand out from the crowd, therefore the psychedelic background paint was added in true 60’style. The murals depict Steed & Mrs Peel in various poses, my favourite being the mural on the right hand panel of Emma Peel with Tower Bridge in the background, this is a fantastic piece of airbrushing which I have seldom seen bettered on the custom show scene. Also if you look at the scooter more closely you will see that nothing is symmetrical, again giving it a real swinging sixties feel.
Onto the chromed & engraved parts, originally the first batch of work was entrusted to Peter Robinson of Worcester, this included many one off parts including a flywheel cover manufactured into the shape of Steed & Mrs Peel and many parts which portray images/phrases from the Emma Peel era taken from relevant episodes including “The Town of No Return” on the centre mat and “Dead Mans Treasure” on the kick start to name but a few.
When all the engraved parts were put on I realized I needed some extra special one off parts making, for this Gary Simpson from Sheffield (Fabricator) and Adi Clarke from Colchester (Master Engraver) were contacted. So if you look at the scoot closely you will find detailed engraved portrait work of Emma Peel and some Bowler Hats & Umbrellas dotted about the scoot, I will leave you to find them when you take a look. The next step was to match the seat up to the scoot, for this Andy Nixon was entrusted who again is the top seat threader in the country with his work on display on many a custom scoot. So that’s the story behind the Avengers PX and after three years of patience & overtime to pay for the project The Chosen Few have a Full Blown Custom Vespa which is one of the best around as the old trophy cabinet is bulging !
FOR MORE CULT STUFF CLICK THE AVENGERS BELOW
