Pointer Super Lassie

Remember that girl back in junior high that you were secretly in love with? You didn't dare tell anyone because she was that tall, gangly nerd with glasses. You had no choice but to secretly glance in her direction whenever no one was looking. Not only do I remember that girl very well, but there was also a two-wheeled equivalent to her called the Super Lassie. I have never been able to figure out exactly what it is that so enamors me of the Super Lassie. The girl, I understand: I am a nerd myself, I still love smart girls, and much later, of course, I married one. Pointer would be out of business less than two years after I first saw the Super Lassie, but something about this tiddler still draws my attention. I find the remaining models of the small Pointer lineup to be rather klunky in the styling department, but the Super Lassie has my number!

The styling was obviously copied from that of the Honda Super Sport 50. You can see the same or very similar shapes in the leading link front suspension, plastic front fender, stamped steel rear fender, rubber mudflap on the front fender, headlamp nacelle, low bars, seat, and slim tank. They both roll on 2.25 x 17 tires. The two models are technically very different, though. This is a 90cc two-stroke instead of a 50cc OHV. Although they share an upswept exhaust and a three-speed footshift, the one on the Super Lassie is a rotary style. One can easily see today the lopsided stupidity of such an arrangement, and the gas tank molded into the frame was obviously cut from the same shortsighted mode of stupid engineering. Notice that the rear brake lever is missing from the photo.

The photo is a 1962 Super Lassie, displaying two colors and views in its official brochure. (Click it for a larger view.) No, I have never seen one, but I have every photograph, brochure, and article I have been able to locate on this very rare tiddler. Pointer sent a small number of Super Lassies to the U.S. in 1960-63. I am not even certain if they were actually imported in 1960 or 1963. I have a brochure photo in my files showing a '61 model with a solo seat and slightly different coloring. I also have ads showing the closeout sale of this model in 1963. Were these all unsold '62's? I am unsure. The other models in the small Pointer lineup included the regular Lassie with a step-through style, the Deluxe Lassie with the same step-through styling and more features, the 155cc Comet and a very similar 125cc little brother. All were single-cylinder two-strokes of somewhat conventional nature for Japanese tiddlers of the time. Electric starters and rotary gearshifts were featured. Two very unusual points about the Super Lassie were its gas tank integrated into the frame (look at the picture again) and an electric starter only on a 90cc two-stroke that my cat Tabitha could kickstart! Aside from the obvious styling copy of the early Honda Super Sport 50 of the same era, the rest of the story of this rare tiddler is unremarkable. As noted on this site, I wisely chose the new Yamaha Rotary Jet 80 YG-1 instead for my first motorcycle. A four-speed with a kickstarter is always sportier than a rotary three-speed with an electric starter - even on a tiddler.