October 1947,
the first Lambretta leaves the Innocenti factory in Lambrate, a quarter of Milan. Lambretta’s name derived from the river Lambro, which flows not far from the production plant. It is the first Italian motor vehicle to be produced on an assembly line, like that of large series cars.

The basic idea was born in Ferdinando Innocenti’s mind: to produce a low-cost means of transport. Inspired by American scooters, Ferdinando entrusted the project to Eng. Pierluigi Torre, a brilliant aeronautical engineer, who created the Lambretta with great skill. It became a simple and elementary scooter appearing with a unique and timeless design having a high degree of surface finishing. The consumer price was just 135.000 lire; well below the traditional motorcycle price level.

At the end of the 1950s,
the great success of the Lambretta led to incredibile production levels: a Lambretta every 52 seconds! Year after year, Lambretta grew, ending up in being the absolute star of the world scooter market.

In 1971,
after the production of over 2.500.000 units, the Italian production of the Lambretta ended. Its history however never ended, thanks to its continuous and widespread presence in many countries of the world. Lambretta became a widely cherished object, a collector’s item with the SX, TV and GP models becoming widely hunted objects by connoisseurs.

Today, in the year of its 75th anniversary,
Lambretta renews its infinite tradition by making a qualitative leap on the world scooter market, adding two innovative and fascinating models to the existing V-Special range; the G-Special (G350) flagship model and the X-Series (X300). The X is shaped in an extraordinary, authentic design, unique in the world mobility market.

Lambretta is intimately linked to Milan and it can certainly be said that it was the most widespread and well-known Milanese industrial product in the world. From Asia to North America there has not been a country that has not been seduced by the charm of the Lambretta. Along with Lambretta, the pride of the ingenious Italian motor technology became recognized all over the world.

Lambretta still warms hearts and ignites passions.
(Vittorio Tessera: Curator of the Scooter & Lambretta Museum and of the official Archive Innocenti)

Gabriella Ruggieri for 1blog4u

visit the Gallery n.1 and the Gallery n.2 (ph. Vaifro Minoretti)