Folding scooter from the 1960s

A site about restoring an old Lombard Industries Centaur folding motor scooter to pristine condition.

Although I have never actually seen one before, I have been looking for a Lombard Industries Centaur folding motor scooter for about ten years. Designed for use by private pilots and boaters, this neat little unit will run 35mph using a Clinton engine, and folds up to a large suitcase-sized package that weighs about 50 lbs. This particular scooter was in a friend's garage - he had bought it from another TRAACA club member, but decided he didn't want to mess with it.

Lombard Industries Centaur folding motor scooter (Thanks, John K.!)

• [gnosis]

  Drool. I would love to jump off a train, assemble it mid-air, land on it perfectly and speed off. With the girl. In Bollywood.

• [sammich]

  Takuan – it looks ~just~ like a (Dualit) toaster, but with a child-proof safety lid :)

  (praps it would keep your bum warm on those cold february mornings?)

• [Takuan]

  seen the Surreal Gourmet?
  http://www.victorydrive.com/new2/images/sized/surrealtoaster.jpg

• [sammich]

  :) – but i’m afraid it may be indefensible in the face of global warming :(

• [Bender]

  Well, it’s as good as it’s gonna get until the future, when George Jetson’s car folds up as a wallet.

• [froitzheim]

  I just saw a post on ebay for a clinton engine selling on Dec. 7

  http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_nkwZcentaurQ20scooterQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZR40QQ_mdoZ

• [John Markos O’Neill]

  Most awesome breadbox ever.

• [crosleyguy]

  im looking for a honda fold uo scooter I think they call them motocombo I have 3 centaurs [fold up scooters by Lombard Ind.] & would like a honda anybody know where theres one

• [Gilbert Wham]

  @#2: Feh. I’m pretty sure I can carry a 50lb box on & off a train. I want one…

• [urshrew]

  I would buy that in a New York minute.

• [Michael A. Banks]

  Perfect! Big enough to get around, yet uses little fuel–and small enough to take inside and avoid theft. (Or maybe keep it in your car’s trunk as backup.)
  –Mike

• [beekone]

  Daddy want

• [Anonymous]

  Honda made a foldable scooter called the Motocompo to fit in the cargo space of their small city cars back in the early 80′s.

  Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article on the Motocompo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Motocompo

• [Takuan]

  with some wings on the side it would make a great logo. And toast.

• [freeyourcrt]

  No vid???!!!

• [Patrick Dodds]

  Mmm, 50lbs – not quite light enough for the scooter-train-scooter commute then. Shame, it’s a delightful looking object.

• [Takuan]

  do an electric version

• [13tales]

  Reminds me a bit of the utterly awesome Honda Motocompo… Never sold outside Japan to my knowledge, and last manufactured in 1982 or so. Absolutely priceless marketing brochure: http://tinyurl.com/ywtc9 (work-safe, but may explode your brain)

  There are so many things to ROFL at in that brochure, I don’t know where to begin :D

  The punchline, however, is that I passed a guy riding one about a month ago… 1982. The bike is older than I am. Build quality? Hell yes.