EDDY GRIMSTEAD
THE MAN BEHIND THE LEGEND
Following the passing of one of the most colourful and flamboyant scooter characters of the 1960s, CSM has been granted exclusive access to the world of Eddy Grimstead. Read all about the man, the shops, the staff and, of course, the dealer specials.
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ddy Grimstead was born on Sept 25, 1933 into a poor London East End family. Times were hard; a lack of sheets and blankets meant sleeping under coats for warmth in winter and the family house was sparse with just bare floorboards. There’s an old family story about young Eddy that revolves around his mum scrimping and saving to buy a roll of lino for the kitchen floor. Eddy (before the lino could be put to its proper use?) appropriated this new acquisition until his sister warned their mum to look out of the window where Eddy, playing out in the garden and using a broomstick for a horse, had cut up the new lino to make a knight’s suit of armour – times were hard, but not without humour! After a period in the army following his National Service, Eddy, then 21, opened his first shop. Inspiration came from his father, Eddy senior, who, alongside Eddy’s brother Peter, ran a cycle hire and sales shop in Beckton Road, Canning Town. This inspired Eddy to do the same with his first shop in Burdett Road, Poplar selling push bikes. As his father’s business expanded into mopeds, Eddy also followed this motorised route – who’d have guessed that the Eddy Grimstead estate would encompass seven shops, sell almost anything on wheels and become internationally renowned?
Eddy – pictured in later life
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CLASSIC SCOOTERIST – JUNE/JULY 2013
EARLY TIMES
The business became something of a family affair with many employees being related to the Grimstead family. Eddy’s cousin, Roger, ran one of the earliest Grimstead shops in Rancliffe Road. It was Roger’s ideas on scooter customising that was to seal the company’s legendary status. In fact, the idea of the Vespa Hurricane and the Lambretta Imperial were Roger’s brainchild and in the early days, Roger undertook much of the custom spraying, sometimes in very primitive conditions.
The cult of today is the culture of tomorrow From the outset the Grimstead organisation was an innovator and the Rancliffe Road shop boasted a Vespa sidecar outfit, known as ‘the float’ that was used to pick up breakdowns. Another inspired ‘one-off’ vehicle was a pickup style van that had been extended to facilitate carrying Lambrettas from the Lambretta Concessionaires in Croydon; its longer bed was to save journey times. All the welding for this pick-up was undertaken by the versatile and talented Roger.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Eddy Grimstead’s fame spread and by 1965 a national newspaper had featured Eddy alongside a picture of him sat on a scooter outside the Barking Road shop (modern readers might feel that some of this article is worth repeating): The scooter represents the contemporary young; in ways the symbol of how they feel about life. Eddy Grimstead owns two shops in the East End of London, where all the sharpest scooter fashions begin. He’s important because he customises all his scooters. A Grimstead scooter is not just a form of transport; it’s a fantastic object, glowing with rainbow colours; a new cult, with flashing wheel spokes, badges, symbols and stars sculpted in transparent red lacquer. The fur (look) goes everywhere. And you can cover the seat, pillion, tyre and pannier with zebra or – the latest – ocelot type skin. In front go the lights, you fit a large chrome frame and screw hundreds and hundreds of tiny spotlights on to this until your scooter looks like a floodlight stand for night football. You alter the exhaust note to get an exclusive sound (Grimstead sells a several dozen different types of silencer; connoisseurs can name each one after a single revving-up burst). On the side you can paste on to the shiny chrome bulging bosoms of your scooter a chequered
Eddy Grimstead also sold vehicles – here’s Eddy with Gill, the Reliant rep www.classicscooterist.com