“Look at that! That is Brighton, my sons,” exclaims one of Jimmy Cooper’s Mod entourage, as the group’s Lambretta scooters roll through the East Sussex hills and descend into a retelling of violent clashes that took place in and around Brighton’s seafront in 1964.
While Quadrophenia delves into the turbulence of youth — rebellion, self-destruction, and identity crises through its young protagonist, Jimmy (played by Phil Daniels) — it is also celebrated for its accurate portrayal of the motoring trends of that era’s youth subcultures. You only need to take a trip to Brighton’s annual August Bank Holiday Mod Weekender for proof that its motoring legacy lives on today.
Researchers at Bikesure, a specialist bike insurance broker, have combined licensing data from the Department for Transport with movie scenes highlighted on the Internet Movie Car Database (IMCDb) to discover how the starring makes and models of Quadrophenia have survived, declined or, in many cases, gone extinct from UK roads today.
Lambretta
Lambretta scooters were a Mod staple in the 1950s and ‘60s. Fittingly, it was a 1967 Lambretta Li150 Series 3 that Quadrophenia’s main character Jimmy rode in the film, which suffered a nasty collision with a Post Office van.
Licensing data shows that nearly 38,000 Lambrettas are registered under UK ownership today, and its 1960s’ legacy continues to survive, with over 1,600 models from 1967 alone still registered.
The exact bike used in this film last sold at auction for £36,000. Versions of the Lambretta Li150 model from the 1960s are hard to come by in the United Kingdom. Among the few that are publicly listed for sale, you can expect to pay up to £7,000 for a used model in good condition with low mileage.
Piaggio Vespa
Vespa scooters are just as synonymous with Mod subculture as Lambretta's. The Piaggio-made models have shared a stage with The Who on various editions of the band’s Quadrophenia tour — a rock opera that the 1979 film is adapted from.
For a period of time in the 1960s, the United Kingdom became the world’s largest Vespa market thanks in no small part to Mod culture. This affinity for the Italian scooter continues today with the UK remaining its second-largest market and more than 87,000 Piaggio scooter owners registered here.
During Quadrophenia, Vespas are seen being ridden by Sting’s character Ace Face, and Gary Cooper’s character Peter. The latter character’s Vespa is a Douglas GS 150cc VS5 (1961), which last sold at auction for £5,500. Versions of any 1960s Vespa are slowly disappearing from British roads, however, 1,654 models from that decade do remain registered under ownership.
BSA Motorcycles and Triumph
While Mods favored two Italian scooter brands, BSA Motorcycles and the BSA-owned Triumph were also popular choices for British bikers in the '50s and '60s, especially among their rival subculture, the Rockers.
Rockers mostly feature in Quadrophenia’s violent clashes in Brighton, but some of their motorcycle choices also take a starring role, including a 1958 BSA M21, a BSA A7SS (manufactured between 1954-62), and Triumph T100 (1959-74).
In the 1950s, the British BSA brand had purchased Triumph and became the world’s largest motorcycle maker — one in four motorcycles sold globally were BSA branded for a time.
Since BSA Motorcycles was resurrected from extinction in recent years, their newly released models that honour the the brands look and feel of the ‘50s have helped the company enjoy a relatively large resurgence (+1,568%) in UK ownership since 2022, after registered ownership numbers previously dwindled close to double digits.
The Triumph brand name passed under various forms of ownership after BSA collapsed in the 1970s. Triumph Motorcycles Ltd is now the largest UK-owned manufacturer of motorcycles in the world, and has reinvented the T100 seen in Quadrophenia with a range of 21st century models under the Bonneville T100 name. These are celebrated for taking stylistic cues from its ‘50s ancestor.
Though the youth cultures of Mods and Rockers evolved and gave way to new musical movements and styles, the brands featured in Quadrophenia remain a fixture on UK roads. Indeed, many of today’s most popular modern designs have drawn significant inspiration from the very era the film so vividly celebrates.
To discover which motorcycle brands are most at-risk of extinction in the UK, check out Bikesure’s full research at: https://www.bikesure.co.uk/motorbike-extinction/2040/