In 1963 the L.i 150 Special (called Pacemaker here in the UK, after the pop group Gerry and the Pacemakers) was introduced with several new features. Intended as a sportier version to the standard L.i, the Special was given different styling, by the way of the newly revised Series 3 T.V panel work, including an octagonal headset, front mudguard, horn cast, and side panels. Engine wise the 150 had a change of barrel and head, but strangely not the carburettor of 18mm, giving it a power boost to 8.25bhp compared to the 6.6bhp of the standard L.i. Gearbox was also reworked, to make use of the rise in power, with new closer ratios, which was and remains a favorite of scooter racers. Third gear had a tendency to break because it was so thin, so later models had thicker stronger ones. A 125cc version was introduced in October 1965, (mainly because of tax advantages in Italy) and if anything was a more highly tuned version than the 150. Fitted with a 20mm carburettor, with again changes in barrel and piston similar to the 150, saw the 125 give a power output of 7.12bhp. Once again mid production changes included moving to a larger headset that done away with the chrome ring found between headset and horn cast, black switches instead of grey. Clip in front fork buffers over the earlier bolt in ones, and clip on side panels instead of the usual handle type more commonly known were others. The L.i, and L.i, Specials were sold along side each other for many years, and in all by the time production stopped in October 1966, a very respectable 69,529 150 Specials and 29,841 125's had been produced. With colours options of silver for the 150 and a choice of white or metallic blue for the 125's, many more were offered in the form of limited editions. Many of these limited editions produced, were for no more than promotional purposes and to get rid of old stock. Two such models were the silver special, which wasn't very impressive because they were silver anyway, and the golden special, which was completely including wheels hubs and forks etc, painted in a pale gold colour. The golden special did gain a brown coloured rear frame badge and a similarly brown/green vinyl seat
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 Italy,
more than any other country, is known for its motorscooters. In the
movies, a photograph of Rome, or in a story about this sunbathed
country, the motorscooter is an obvious feature in the Italian way of
life. The name most often mentioned when scooters are discussed is
Lambretta, and the story of this marquee is a study of the post-war
industrialisation of Italy. The Lambretta, like many of its European
brothers, is locked up and interwoven with a parent company that
produces many other products in addition to its two-wheeled vehicles.
The
story of this legendary scooter actually began in 1922, when Ferdinando
Innocenti moved to Rome from his native Pescia for the purpose of
building a factory. The product of this enterprising industrialist was
steel tubing, and such ingenuity was involved that Innocenti's wares
became renowned throughout Europe.
In
1931, Ferdinando moved to Milan, which had become the industrial centre
of Italy, and a new and much larger factory was built. Mr. Innocenti
developed a seamless steel tube for industry, and 6000 people were
employed in this plant.
Then
came World War II, and the factory was reduced to a smouldering pile of
rubble. When Ferdinando viewed his war damaged homeland in 1946, he saw
the roads torn up, cities levelled, and the populace left with little
means of transportation. Like Mr. Piaggio, he reasoned that the answer
to the transportation problem, was the motorscooter - a vehicle that
would feature a low production cost, be inexpensive to operate, and
would offer better weather protection than a motorcycle. The production
of motorscooters began in 1947, after one year had been spent in
developing and testing the prototype model. As well as the obvious
Italy, Lambretta's have been made around the world, from their birth
place in Italy to other countries such as Spain, India, Argentina,
Brazil, Chile and more. Although some producers did market the
Lambretta under differing names, such as the Serveta from Spain, the
Siambretta from South America, they all share the family design that
came originally from Italy.
 Inventor of the first Disc Brake
Innocenti's
demise came at a time when sales of scooters were slowing down due to
small cars entering the market at affordable prices. BMC struck a deal
with Innocenti for them to producs cars under license from BMC. Within
this contract was a clause should Innocenti ever decided to sell, BMC
had first refusal. The inevitable happened, Innocenti was sold to BMC,
who quickly saw the Lambretta products as a gimmick. Long industrail
strikes ensued, along with poor scooter sales eventually lead to the
closure of the Innocenti factory in 1972. The factory was sold to the
Indian governement, and Scooters India Ltd began production using the
Innocenti tooling around two years later. S.I.L stopped producing two
wheeled scooters in 1998, and today survive on producing their own
version of the Lambro three wheeler.
Lambrettas were hand-built and truly a notch above the Vespas, which were more of a mass-market item.
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I am currently restoring a NYC Police Special Lambretta. Found in Saint Paul, MN. This is an Genuine Innocenti ITALIAN
Lambretta from 1967. It is not one of the more common Spanish Serveta police scooters.
The NYC Police frame numbers were outside the accepted production
run figures (i.e. the highest VIN number for a Li 150 Ser 3
on several websites is listed at 742,962, Lambretta Concessionaires UK were the people who brokered the deal on the NYC Police scooters, and the deal came just as the GP was being launched, and the factory started having worker disputes. From our experience, where we have had dozens of NYC Police scooters, the scooters supplied were a mixed collection of whatever could be supplied. Li 150s, SX150s and even some GPs. We have had Li 150s with SX engines and GP bodywork. This particular Li 150 Series III is an early NYC Police scooter, and is complete and normal as per a normal Li 150 Ser III with the exception of the SX Style headset. The SX Headset is the surest way to tell a normal Li 150 apart from a NYPD Special Li 150. They all had SX headsets." Additional Facts:
Special Thanks to Gene at Scooter originali! www.scootersoriginali.com |
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