This is the most gorgeously restored Lambretta scooter we’ve seen in India

Scooters have always been an essential part of any growing automotive market around the world. There was a time during the 1950s when the dust of World War II had settled down, and automotive markets were booming around the world. Something similar was happening in Italy, which has become the hub of automotive giants in the present day. Lambretta and Vespa were fighting it out to reach the top position in the scooter market in Italy and in 1958, Lambretta launched the new Li series, which gained quite a popularity around the world. Here is one such Lambretta Li, which is stationed in a collector’s garage in India and has been beautifully restored.

1960 Lambretta Li 150 Series II

This scooter is owned by Devashish Jethwani, who is a passionate vintage automobile collector and rally organizer from Kota, Rajasthan. This scooter is from his wide range of collection that consists of 17 cars, 44 motorcycles and 13 scooters. Out of these 13 scooters, 7 are Lambretta scooter, which shows the collectors true love towards the Italian brand.

According to Mr. Jethwani, this scooter is a 1960 model, which was imported straight from Italy to India. The scooter took 14 months to get complete restoration that includes a full body paint job, that costed a whopping Rs. 35,000. The paint was specially ordered from Thailand and gets a dual tone metallic red with a shade of cherry red.

This Lambretta also gets original parts and accessories. Even the engine gets the original spec parts. The whole restoration job took painstaking 14 months to complete and the total cost of the restoration was Rs. 1.6 lakhs! The value of the scooter is not known and as per Devashish, the scooter is not for sale.

This is the Lambretta Li Series II version, which looks quite different from Series-I. Lambretta also launched the Series III  in the market. The Series-II came with the headlamp placed on the handlebar, which allowed it to move around with the handle. It came with a wide front apron and an optional luggage rack too. Even the restored scooter gets a luggage rack and there is a sidecar installed too.

The Series II Lambretta Li was powered by the same engine that came with the Series I scooter. It was a new engine developed for the Li series. The 148cc, two-stroke engine has a flat design and is laid low in the frame. This allowed the scooter to have a fairly big fuel tank and space for toolbox below the seat. The engine is fed by an 18mm Dell’Orto carburettor that produces a maximum of 6.6 Bhp at 5,300 rpm. There was a four-speed transmission that powered the rear wheel of the scooter.

The Li series scooters also came with 10-inch wheels, which was significantly larger than the 8-inch wheels used in most of the scooters in that era. The larger diameter of the wheel allowed Inconetti to install bigger brakes. The scooter featured in many iconic international movies.