Lambretta history

Ferdinando Innocenti


Ferdinando Innocenti was an industrialist who’s background was steel production. Specialising in the manufacture of steel tubing. During the second world war – his factories produced among other things bomb casings, bullet shells, aircraft and tank parts, gun barrels. Both factories were destroyed by allied bombing towards the end of the war.



After the war Ferdinando separated his businesses into 3 sections. Metal production, Heavy machinery production and Vehicle production.

He had a very similar vision to Piaggio with his scooter idea.

To produce a cheap, economical, reliable, simple form of transport for the Italian population.

Production started in 1947 with the model A lambretta.



The scooters developed with the help of a strong racing and land speed record division- and by the 1950s had the reputation of the more sporting scooter.



Many say that Innocenti was intent on bettering Piaggio with their vespa models which took the biggest share of the market. To be the Best lambretta engines got bigger,the scooters more complex, the bodywork more streamlined- the performance greater.



Lambrettas became synonymous with the MOD revolution of the early 1960s. After Ferdinandos death in 1966. Lambretta started its quick demise. Innocenti as a company were investing heavily in car production and the building of production lines for various companies.



Other areas of the Innocenti group were expanding rapidly and it appears the Lambretta got more or less forgotten about. Within a few years all tooling was sold to an Indian company ScooterIndia who continued to produce scooters for many years.

To the true enthusiast though the Italian built scooters are the only ones to have- the history and romance of the vision, the time, the carefree generation of the early 60s are allencapsulated by Lambretta. A true classic and a useable piece of history!