The history

The idea of producing a cheap form of transport for the working classes immediately after the war is born in 1944, when the Allied forces liberate Rome from the Nazi occupation. Ferdinando Innocenti is inspired by the Cushman scooters the Americans have imported into Italy and sees a vision of the future. Rather than using the Cushmans for blitzkrieg raids on Nazi troops, the Allies use them to convey information from one division to another, or simply to transport individual soldiers around the base. But for Ferdinando Innocenti the scooter is a revelation. He quickly realises that he can apply most of the parts his factory is already producing to motor scooter production.

While the war still rages in northern Italy, Innocenti straddles the fence between the two sides. He immediately contacts an engineer in Rome and asks him to design a small, economical motor scooter based roughly on the Cushman Model 32, which is now zipping around the Roman piazzas. The first prototype of the Lambretta — 'Experiment O' — is completed within months.

Inspired by the shape of a torpedo, the Roman engineer produces a sound utilitarian design and then refines it to give 'Experiment O' a relatively sleek line. The wooden model shows how the front headlamp will be incorporated into the full-body sheath covering everything from the engine to the fuel tank. The steering column is built into the telescopic front suspension and the front forks are covered by stamped metal. But the rear suspension of this first model leaves a lot to be desired.

Influenced by the Harley Davidson design of the era, Innocenti is convinced that springs under the saddle will smooth any bumps the scooter hits. In keeping with the motorcycle trend of the 1930s, the engine sits between the rider's legs, with the chain extending back to the rear wheel and the whole assembly covered by pressed steel. No one knows why 'Experiment O' never went into full production. Ferdinando Innocenti may have wanted to improve on its aesthetic and technical aspects, or perhaps, amid the chaos of the war, the project simply fell by the wayside.

Unable to slip between enemy lines in 1945 to check on the Lambrate factory in Milan, Ferdinando continues to work on his project to produce motor scooters that will provide mobility for the masses. He entrusts the project to a young aeronautical general, Pier Luigi Torre, who had made a name for himself before the war designing mechanical parts for aircraft. Torre starts from scratch, but cannot help being influenced by the American scooters cruising around in the 1940s, especially the military Cushman Model 32.

While Torre's prototype, still referred to as 'Experiment O', is not as groundbreaking stylistically, it is far more mechanically sound. The innovative design places the integrated engine and transmission mount over the rear wheel. The engine is still 125cc, but now has one cylinder and two pistons, and the electrical system is run by a magneto, with a large fan opposite it blowing air onto the engine to keep it at a constant, cool temperature. The gearbox allows for just two speeds, but more thought is given to the wheels — Innocenti tests wheels of six and seven inches in diameter.

The frame consists of a single central cast-iron bar designed to support the weight and torque a scooter endures on the road; this structure also forms the elegant outer body panelling covering the fuel tank, the glove box and the engine. The front fork, made from electrically welded pressed steel, is exactly the same as in the previous prototype. The front wheel and cover look just like the wheels on light aircraft. The rear wheel is in keeping with basic motorcycle technology of the day, but includes an innovation in the form of rubber torsion rather than the traditional helical springs.

As testing of the new prototype continues around the clock, Innocenti is finally able to get back to his factory in Milan to check on the state of the machinery a few days before the end of the war. He is unpleasantly surprised to find that most of the building has been reduced to rubble by the Allied bombing on 30 April 1944. Worse still, rain pouring through the holes in the roof has rusted most of the machinery not already damaged beyond repair by the retreating German troops. As if this were not enough, the Allied troops declare that the entire factory is to be used exclusively for military purposes.

Yet even when all his efforts seem pointless, Ferdinando Innocenti does not lose heart. He takes the matter to court and, after a lengthy legal battle, is able to repossess the factory and starts to get it back on its feet. He finally gains complete control of his company in mid-1946, by which time Piaggio is already churning out Vespas.

Ferdinando Innocenti immediately starts converting the entire factory to the continual production of the new motor scooter. When he first conceived the project, Ferdinando knew that to produce a scooter affordable for the masses, the automobile assembly line would have to be devoted wholly to the full-scale production of motor scooters. While the factory is being revamped, Innocenti moves the company's temporary headquarters from Rome to a building known as Centro Studi in Milan.

At the end of months of continuous testing, a mock-up of 'Experiment O' is presented to Ferdinando for inspection. The new prototype is finally on the right track: all it needs is a little streamlining to look more aerodynamic. The designers come up with a plethora of ideas, but the simplest is judged the best and most original — remove all the side panels to show off the beautiful engine, fuel tank and glove box, a deliberate departure from Piaggio's Vespa, which hides all its mechanics.

Once these modifications are incorporated, 'Experiment 2' hits the drawing boards. The designers spend almost a year working on it until it is eventually ready to go into production in October 1947. Ferdinando Innocenti sets up a long platform in his office on which he can mount the series of 'Experiment 2' models, so he can check all the modifications as the scooter evolves.

In the meantime, the PR people start to come up with ideas for a name and work out a price as they prepare for the release of the new scooter. The price tag is to be an affordable 135,000 Italian lire. And since 'Experiment 2' is hardly an appropriate name for a scooter, the ad men decide to call it the 'Lambretta M' — the 'M' standing for motor scooter.

Why Lambretta? According to the official Innocenti newsletter, Notizario Lambretta Vol. 1 No. 4, "'Lambretta' is the name of the little creek that runs through the grounds of the Innocenti factory. The little brook flows hither and thither like a little vagabond."

To raise awareness of the launch, a radio advertisement is broadcast on all the Italian RAI channels every day at precisely 8:35 pm. A catchy tune announces, "It's 8:35! Time for the Lambretta!" Even in their advertising, the people at Innocenti are both impressively confident and revolutionary — this time promoting a motorised vehicle that has yet to go into production. No other motorcycle or motor scooter company would dare jump the gun like this and bet on a scooter seen by only a handful of designers.

After a few months of these ads the public are curious, to say the least. Motorcycle magazines find their mailboxes filled with hundreds of letters asking for more information, but none of them can give a satisfactory answer, since details of the Lambretta's technical and mechanical features are being kept tightly under wraps — Innocenti has deliberately made the whole project top secret to prevent imitation and raise expectations.

Yet despite all the secrecy, in February 1947 an automobile magazine in Milan publishes a crude sketch of what it believes the Lambretta will look like. This 'scoop' is picked up by the Italian motorcycle magazine Motociclismo, which spreads the story throughout Italy, forcing Innocenti to issue an official statement denying that the drawing shows the new Lambretta. The whole charade is something of a publicity coup, given that the sketch is a fairly accurate depiction of the Lambretta at that point — probably produced by one of the workers in the Innocenti factory who had seen the prototype, rather than by an imaginative journalist in search of publicity.

By now Piaggio's Vespa is already on display in showrooms throughout Italy, and the public are tiring of advertisements for a scooter they are starting to believe does not exist. Yet despite working around the clock, the people at Innocenti are not in a position to release the Lambretta just yet — it will take a few more months to perfect the factory assembly line. To satisfy the public and the magazines wanting a good headline, or at least a photo, Innocenti decides to reveal a wooden prototype of the new Lambretta together with a wooden prototype of the three-wheel mini pick-up truck that will be available in four different versions.

The secret is finally out, but the public are not impressed. After all the hype, everyone expects something fancy and luxurious, not a mini scooter that looks more like a child's toy than a serious urban vehicle for adults. But then all great leaps of progress are met with doubt and detractors, and the little Lambretta is no exception.

Nevertheless the people at Innocenti are convinced they are on the right track, a conviction confirmed when dealers throughout Italy place orders and reserve many of the new motor scooters for their showrooms before the Lambretta even goes into production. Once again Innocenti is proved right, and the company is soon inundated with thousands of orders paying a 5,000-lira deposit on each scooter. Once everything finally seems ready for the official release, the factory line is plagued by teething troubles and production has to wait until all the quirks are ironed out during test runs.

In October 1947, Innocenti manages to produce a small number of Lambrettas to whet the appetite of impatient dealers, so they at least have something to show customers. But many dealers are not willing to wait: they demand a refund and turn to Innocenti's tenacious competitors. Finally, at the beginning of 1948, production goes into full swing and the company starts producing 50 scooters a day — enough to fill the huge backlog of orders pouring into the factory.

So what does the very first Lambretta look like? The ideas elaborated in 'Experiment O' have been developed and combined with significant mechanical improvements. The rear panelling has been removed to expose the frame, which now consists of tubes rather than the stamped steel originally suggested. The tubular frame supports the fuel tank and glove box at the rear under the saddle. In front, a small leg shield provides both ample foot space and protection from the elements. The complicated two-piston engine of the earlier prototype has been abandoned in favour of a more reliable single cylinder, and the electrical system simplified with a flywheel magneto with six points generating electricity for starting, lights and horn.

The transmission is a complex system of dual cones, a torsion shaft and a three-speed gearbox with a smooth gear shift controlled by a foot lever mounted on the footrest. The muffler, mounted on the rear of the frame in the original prototype, now runs in line with the frame near the front of the floorboards, then turns, with the exhaust let out under the engine crankcase. The Innocenti team devotes great attention to styling before full-scale production: all cables and electrical wires are fed through the tubing for sleek, elegant lines, the speedometer is placed on the right side of the leg shield, and an internal gear regulator inside the engine prevents the rider from changing gear without disengaging the clutch. To save on cost, the rear suspension is virtually nonexistent, relying only on a couple of helical springs under the saddle.

But when it comes to accessories no expense is spared: a large glove box that can be locked with a key sits under the saddle, and there is a button for the headlamp, chrome trim, and a little measuring cup for getting the right amount of oil to mix with the fuel. Customers willing to pay more can buy a second seat for the back, a pillion pad for a child, a Plexiglas windscreen, and a special wooden box in which to transport the scooter. The strangest feature is a pedal-operated mechanical hooter rather than a modern electric horn — technology that had gone out of fashion almost twenty years earlier.

Despite this bizarre choice, the Lambretta is the best example of a motorised vehicle produced in Italy after the war. Compared with other motorcycles of the day, its attention to detail and extremely modern aesthetics put it in a class of its own; every aspect — frame, engine, engineering — is aesthetically integrated to form a graceful line as yet unseen in Italian design. To make it even more appealing, Innocenti offers the little scooter in six 'pastel' colours: grey, ivory, azure, red and amaranth — again one step ahead of the other Italian motorcycle companies, aware that the public wants a choice of colours.

In the summer of 1948 the people at Innocenti realise they have overproduced the little Lambretta; it will be impossible to sell all the scooters to the Italian market. Yet despite the scooter not selling out as expected, Innocenti goes on to make history. Rather than reducing the price to cut losses, the company decides to start exporting the extra few hundred scooters — and chooses to send them to Argentina, a country with close ties to Italy. Thousands of Italian immigrants who have gone there to seek their fortune are eager to get their hands on anything from the Old Country. Half way around the world, the spirited 125cc engine and easy handling of the Lambretta quickly win the hearts of its riders.

In October 1948 Innocenti reluctantly suspends production of this first model because the warehouses are still full of unsold stock. The engineers start designing a new model to improve on the old one and hopefully increase sales at the same time. It is presented to the public in December 1948, by which point the company is already producing 100 of the new scooters a day. The new machine is simply called the 'Lambretta B', and the original model is now referred to as 'Model A'. Among its most important improvements are the rear suspension, hand-operated gears (as opposed to foot-operated), and larger eight-inch wheels.

Innocenti is now one of the new industrial giants of post-war Italy. Steady increases in production soon make Innocenti the second largest producer of motor vehicles in Italy, and the Italian scooter phenomenon is on its way to becoming a legend. Between them Piaggio and Innocenti fill the streets of Italy with mobile Italians on little two-strokes; every county has a service station specifically designed to keep this new means of transport on the road. Both companies want to ensure the scooter is a viable form of transport for years to come, not just a passing fad, and so set up scooter clubs, organising Sunday rides into the countryside that start in the town centre so riders can be seen by pedestrians out for their weekend stroll. The clubs help with the paperwork and technical aspects of owning a scooter, and even teach inexperienced riders how to handle one — transforming a humble means of transport into a new leisure activity that sweeps the country.

To spread the word of this new lifestyle, referred to as 'Lambrettismo', Innocenti starts publishing a newsletter, Notiziario Lambretta, in the spring of 1949. It helps unite Lambretta clubs around the country, informing readers of scooter rallies, providing technical information, and answering their questions. At first a black-and-white bimonthly published only in Italian, it is soon translated into many languages as exports grow, with colour sections added and a monthly schedule.

The Notiziario Lambretta is the perfect place to announce the launch of two new Lambrettas — the C and the LC. The new design, with a frame made of strong sectional tubing, is introduced in 1950. The LC is the first scooter with an integrated leg shield and body panelling concealing the engine and protecting the rider from the elements, a new 'Lusso', or luxury, Lambretta aimed at customers who want the reliability and low running costs of the standard Lambretta but are prepared to pay more for the classy version. The Lambretta C is a refined version of the first two models, now so reasonably priced that many Italians can afford to buy their first scooter.

Innocenti is keen to spread the word — and the sales — of this marvellous new scooter throughout the world. In 1951 it grants the German company NSU, known for its efficient motorcycle production, a licence to produce Lambrettas, equipping the German factory with an Innocenti-style production line. Through the 1950s and '60s Innocenti also authorises factories in India, Argentina, Brazil, Congo, Spain, Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Formosa, Pakistan, Turkey and France. Ferdinando Innocenti is prepared to set up a Lambretta factory in every somewhat-industrialised country in the world, offering a complete, standardised production system tried and tested elsewhere, with standardised blueprints, specialist engineers and technical assistance from Milan.

But this bold initiative soon runs up against a stark reality: two main obstacles. The first is a notable lack of competent workers in less developed countries — inexperienced workers damage the machinery and make the production line ineffective, so scooters meant to be affordable end up expensive. The second is the boom in automobile production in the 1960s, which means the lower middle classes who have always been the scooter's main market can now afford a car. India and Spain are the only two countries able to maintain production, continuing to introduce mechanical and aesthetic improvements and even exporting Lambrettas abroad long after Innocenti has produced its last scooter in Italy.

The Lambretta reaches another milestone at the end of 1951, when Innocenti presents the new 125cc D and LD models. The lines are similar to previous Lambrettas, but numerous technical advances make this new series the flagship of the Innocenti fleet: new rear suspension, a shaft-driven engine, new front forks and hermetically sealed suspension — a package that remains in production for more than six years, showing just how farsighted the project is. The economical D model epitomises Ferdinando Innocenti's original idea for a motor scooter: simple, economical and sturdy. When the two models are first released the D is by far the more popular, but within a few years the more luxurious LD, despite its higher price tag, becomes the favourite — the first Italian scooter in full-scale production with a 6-volt electrical system.

In light of the D model's huge commercial success, in 1953 Innocenti decides to bring out an even more economical model for people on very low incomes. The Lambretta E is started by a pull-string, like an outboard boat motor, and its horizontal monobloc engine simplifies the mechanical system and transmission. Innocenti's intentions may have been noble, but the new 'E' turns out to be a failure. Its alluring price of just 108,000 lire cannot make up for numerous mechanical defects, and Innocenti suspends production at the end of its first year.

In 1954 the Lambretta 125 F rises from the ashes of the unfortunate E. Despite essential technical improvements, the return of the kickstarter, and being one of the most reliable Lambrettas to date, it cannot inspire public loyalty after the unhappy experience of its predecessor. However the renewed D and LD models, now with a bigger 150cc engine, prove as popular as ever, with an air scoop and fan wheel keeping the engine cool under the most challenging circumstances, and simpler double Bowden cables replacing the Teleflex cable of the hand-operated gear — simplifying the gear shift and cutting cost.

Also in 1954 Innocenti brings out a motorised bicycle with large wheels at the extremely affordable price of 78,000 lire. A huge publicity campaign featuring a cowboy and a puppy, and the slogan "Motorize your legs!", marks the launch of the Lambretta 48, with its stamped steel frame, fuel tank under the saddle and a very quiet two-stroke, two-speed engine. But the new moped has to contend with tough competition from Motom and Garelli, and never quite manages to conquer, or even gain a sound position within, the Italian market.

As international scooter rallies and individual journeys become increasingly popular, Innocenti realises it can use this trend to demonstrate the Lambretta's absolute reliability on long voyages. In 1950 the company launches a publicity campaign with the slogan 'More than 100,000 kilometres on a Lambretta', offering large sums of prize money and sponsor premiums to encourage long-distance riders. The campaign generates so much publicity that Innocenti keeps it running for years, increasing the prize money over time.

The most impressive example is probably Doctor Cesare Battaglini's circumnavigation of the globe from 1956 to 1959. He traverses every continent, including Australia, setting a new record by covering a total of 160,000 kilometres on a Lambretta 150 D specially prepared at Innocenti's experimental laboratory in Milan, with two fuel tanks mounted at the rear for longer range, a spare tyre and a larger air filter, the engine carefully checked before he sets out. Other fearless riders include Aldo Zidaric, who travels to the Arctic Circle and the Sahara Desert on his Lambretta 125 C, winning the Innocenti prize in 1952, and Edoardo Mari, who traverses the African continent from Algeria to Nairobi to Cape Town, covering 17,000 km on his Lambretta 125 D.

Throughout the 1950s and into the early '60s Innocenti organises huge international rallies in all the major capital cities of Europe. One of the most memorable is the 1962 rally in Istanbul, attracting 176 Lambrettisti from all over Italy who travel 2,700 km over thirteen days without any major breakdown, then travel home by boat. Innocenti is represented by Gigi Villoresi, a famous racing driver from the 1930s to the 1950s and president of the Lambretta Club.

In the mid-1960s scooter fans start to lose interest in the Lambretta Club and turn their attention to cars. Sunday trips to the countryside with a picnic lunch are all but forgotten; times are changing, and the scooter is now simply a way to get to work. The Innocenti newsletter Notiziario Lambretta ceases publication, and the clubs that spread the idea of Lambrettismo disband or become part of other motorcycle clubs.

In 1955 the arrival of Piaggio's Vespa 150 GS causes a commotion in the scooter world. It accelerates faster than many light motorcycles of the day and easily reaches 100 km/h, opening up a whole new 'sport' market demanding the fastest scooters possible. Piaggio has thrown down the gauntlet, and Innocenti, caught unprepared, sets its engineers to tackle the Lambretta's serious lack of speed.

The new design is again entrusted to Pier Luigi Torre, who breaks with tradition and envisages a scooter with a frame and mechanical system never seen before: a horizontal cylinder head to lower the barycentre, a duplex-chain transmission, ten-inch wheels, a four-speed gearbox and a bench seat, with a well-proportioned frame, a fixed front fender and an aluminium alloy headstock incorporating all the cabling. The 175cc Lambretta TV — Turismo Veloce — puts the new scooter at the top of its class for performance and power. Unfortunately the mechanical system proves far too delicate, and in 1958 the model is withdrawn and replaced by the Lambretta TV Series II, which uses a new engine also fitted to the LI 125 and 150. Nevertheless the 175 TV is extremely important for Innocenti in ushering in a new philosophy of high performance and constant enhancement of each new model.

The launch of the 175 TV coincides with the opening of a modern showroom, specially designed to show off Innocenti scooter production, on San Babila Square in Milan. Its huge two-storey windows circle the entire building on the busy square, keeping loyal Lambretta riders informed of the latest technology, and it becomes a favourite meeting place for scooter fans to discuss the latest models.

In 1958 production of the glorious LD, directly descended from the very first Lambretta, is discontinued, closing the first phase of Lambretta history. The LD is the pinnacle of Innocenti's achievement in its early years: in production for more than six years, a huge commercial success worldwide. It is replaced by the LI 125 and 150, based on the body of the TV brought out in 1957. The mechanical system of the LI is also similar to the TV's, but the engine is entirely new, the transmission and gearbox simplified, and the clutch significantly improved. After little more than a year the LI is replaced by the LI Series II; like the TV Series II a few months earlier, its headlamp is incorporated with the handlebars, so it now turns with the wheel.

The production of Lambrettas reaches its zenith during this period. The assembly line churns out a Lambretta every fifty seconds, producing 15,000 scooters a month. By now there is at least one Innocenti dealer in every country in the world. The Lambretta and the Vespa are the finest examples of Italy's most advanced motoring technology and among Italy's best-known national products worldwide. Piaggio and Innocenti between them produce more than 436,000 scooters in 1960 alone, more than half of them exported — on top of all the scooters produced by licensed manufacturers scattered around the world.

Even with the LI and TV both hugely successful, Innocenti continues to research new models. Ghia comes up with an interesting design and builds two different wooden models, wanting to avoid distorting the original line, but the final product is not sufficiently sophisticated and is abandoned. Innocenti decides instead to create a new body moulded around the engine already in production, and at the end of 1961 the new Lambretta — known as the 'Scooter Linea' — replaces the LI Series II, initially only in 125 and 150cc, with the 175cc model following several months later. Its extremely modern streamlining puts it at the top of the scooter category, and the TV Series III 175cc, brought out a few months later, has the honour of being the first motor scooter or motorcycle in full-scale production with a disc brake on the front wheel — until then reserved for only the most sophisticated racing vehicles.

The Lambretta 48 is not as successful as hoped, so production is discontinued, and engineers turn to a 50cc scooter for a new market of customers wanting small-engine scooters and mopeds ridable without a licence. The first prototypes, shown at the 1961 Milan Motor Show mainly to test public interest, depart from Innocenti's usual approach, being based on a Vespa-style monocoque frame with a vertical cylinder and induction regulated by a rotating distributor. Meeting a lukewarm reception, the project is shelved — whereupon Piaggio, seeing the direction Innocenti is heading, develops its own mini Vespa, the 'Vespino', for underage riders not yet able to hold a licence, and sells it throughout Italy in no time.

Taken completely by surprise, Innocenti dusts off the abandoned prototype and enlarges it to take a more powerful engine. The new model is completed in 1964, but for some reason Innocenti initially produces only a 98cc version for the foreign market; the Italian public must wait until the end of 1964 for the 50cc version, which lacks the rotating air intake valve of the prototype and has 9-inch wheels rather than the original 10-inch. Its launch coincides with the unveiling of the TV Series III fitted with an extremely powerful 200cc engine to appease the English market, which is clamouring for a super Lambretta capable of 110 km/h; the gold- or silver-finished 150 Special, a similar scooter, had appeared in Italy a year earlier.

Every motor vehicle manufacturer in Italy is affected by the decline of the motorcycle market. In an attempt to stave off the inevitable, Innocenti makes a point of continually renewing each model with slight but visible changes. In 1965 and 1966 it brings out the 125 Special, the three- or four-speed 125 Junior, the 150 X Special, and the 200 X Special — the last dubbed 'the fastest scooter in the world' and the first of a whole new class of 200cc scooters on the Italian market.

In 1966 Innocenti strikes a deal with the Italian company Motom to produce, under licence, the 39cc engine mounted on the successful Daina moped. Using this engine, Innocenti begins producing its own pedal moped, simply known as the 'Lambrettino', selling for a reasonable 59,000 lire. Its mediocre design and modest performance make it difficult to find a niche in the competitive youth market, and within a year it is replaced by a new version with a 49cc engine and an automatic gear shift, known as the SX Automatic — accelerating quickly from a stop without consuming much more fuel flat out. This is the first and only time in Lambretta history that Innocenti has another company design its engine rather than trusting its own engineers.

In 1967, seeing fourteen-year-olds as the customers of the future, Innocenti's marketing department decides to produce an economical and modern-looking scooter using the engine of the Lambretta J 50, entrusting the body design to the famous Nuccio Bertone, who had already collaborated with Innocenti on the 950 Spiderina. Despite not being overly familiar with the technical aspects of scooters, Bertone comes up with an original and modern-looking design for the new Lambretta 50, lovingly referred to as the 'Lui' — one of the best examples of collaboration between a studio designer and a huge motor vehicle company.

Innocenti advertises the Lui heavily in magazines aimed at the youth market, describing it as 'The scooter for the '70s' and crying 'All for Lui, and Lui for all!' Radio commercials and television competitions push the Lui into every home in Italy. The people at Innocenti pray for a miracle and place all their hope in the Lui, but the economic crisis hits the whole Italian motorcycle sector hard: Moto Guzzi is taken over by the Italian Government, Moto Gilera by Piaggio, and Bianchi, Parilla, Mival and Sterzi simply wind up.

In an attempt to revive Innocenti's fortunes, the Lui is offered in two 75cc versions, the 75 S and the 75 SL, the latter the first Italian scooter with an automatic fuel/oil mixer — a 'lubematic' system dispensing just the right quantity of oil according to engine revs. The invention wins critical acclaim in the press, but the public does not trust the new gadget and prefers the 75 S, which lets them mix their own oil or use premixed fuel sold at petrol stations. The Lui, a modern scooter sold by a trusted manufacturer at a competitive price, nonetheless fails to meet the success it deserves and is taken off the production line towards the end of 1969, just over a year after its introduction, so Innocenti can sell off the considerable stock in its warehouse.

Pleased with the Bertone collaboration, in 1968 Innocenti invites him to restyle the LI and SX, focusing mainly on the outer body panelling rather than mechanical alterations. Bertone again shows what he is made of, transforming the outdated LI into an elegant modern vehicle: the new series, with three different engine sizes, is named DL, for De Luxe, with colour schemes varying by engine size, and an ink-splash sticker on the right side of the front leg shield that leads the public to nickname it 'the black stain'. The new and improved DL 200, the flagship of the fleet, becomes known on the strength of its performance as 'the fastest scooter in the world', and in 1969 is equipped with an electric starter — true to form, Innocenti is the first manufacturer to add this feature to a scooter. Even the little Lambretta Junior 50 receives constant aesthetic improvements to keep it in line with the times, and in 1969 a 'Special' version of the DL appears with a long two-tone bench seat and a black rubber foot mat.

Despite the constant improvement of the different models, the economic crisis affecting the scooter market continues to worsen. Tired of the fight, Luigi Innocenti eventually decides to sell the industrial complex and pull out of the business. The production line officially shuts down in April 1971, though a batch of 600 V three-wheelers is not completed until the beginning of 1972.

Initially it is difficult to find anyone wanting to take over the Lambretta and Lambro production lines together with all the machinery. Then the Indian Government surprises Innocenti with an offer of 3,000,000,000 Italian lire — about two million dollars — for all the machinery, likely stepping in because Lambrettas are by then everywhere in India, popular for their style and reliability. After heated discussions the negotiations are finally completed, and the dear little Lambretta, born on the banks of the Lambro, embarks on the next phase of its existence on the banks of the Ganges. For a few years the Indian Government produces the Lambretta and exports it to various European countries, without success; Scooters India eventually ceases to use the brands Lambretta and Lambro.

The company Lambretta S.A., founded in 1979 and based in Lugano, Switzerland, has obtained the oldest international rights to Lambretta, and makes a restart via the newly founded Innocenti S.A., also based in Lugano. And, as always, the Lambretta continues to delight its owners.