Lambretta !!! scooter

 

Old Lambretta ! ~ ever owned one or driven one ?? (your age would get revealed !!!) - stylu, style thaan !!!

 

A few decades ago, there were not so many automobiles on road – two wheelers were few.  There were scooters like Vijay, Bajaj, Vespa and Lambretta. Motor-bikes were considered macho… the brands seen on road were – Rajdoot 175 cc; Jawa [later Yezdi] 250cc with twin silencers; and the most princely Enfield Bullet 350 cc…  A Bullet motorcycle on road was the cynosure of all eyes ~ many would put a rubber mat improperly cut near its silencer that would produce thudding sound as the vehicle went majestically past..     

Getting back to the vehicle on road – Lamby scooter .. is from Lambretta,   initially manufactured in Milan, Italy, by Innocenti. The name is derived from the word Lambrate, the suburb of Milan named after the river which flows through the area, and where the factory was located. Lambretta was the name of a mythical water-sprite associated with the river which runs adjacent to the former production site. 

In 1972, the Indian government bought the machinery of the Milanese factory, creating Scooters India Limited (SIL) in order to produce the Lambro three-wheeler under the name Vikram for the domestic market. Lambretta scooters were also manufactured under licence by Fenwick in France, API in India, Pasco in Brazil, Auteco in Colombia and Siambretta in Argentina and in a few other places. 

Now the scooter market segment is totally different – for all those models were eliminated as source of pollution and we saw gearless Honda Activas, TVS Jupiters & Suzuki scooters dominating the roads and now perhaps the age of e-vehicles.

 
Interesting !
 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
12/1/2026