CarBrandLogos archive · Lambretta · 1950

LambrettaModel C

A new frame, and the first Innocenti scooter offered with its mechanicals covered up.

Photo: Asurnipal · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Lambretta history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lambretta Model C, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Produced from 1950 to 1951, the Model C carried over the 123cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine and three-speed twist-grip transmission of the Model B but sat on a redesigned tubular frame that was stiffer and cheaper to build. The open layout, with the engine and running gear visible, remained Innocenti's default.

2006Honda CBR600RR-profile · Rich Niewiroski Jr. · CC BY 2.5

Design and engineering

Its significance is what was sold alongside it. The LC, for Lambretta C with bodywork, was the same machine fitted with pressed steel panels enclosing the engine, the legshields and the sides. It kept the rider's clothes clean, muffled the mechanical noise and looked considerably more modern, and it cost more. Buyers took the enclosed version in large numbers, and the argument about whether a scooter should show its workings was effectively settled.

In production

The Model D of 1951 continued the pattern, with the panelled LD outselling the open version by a wide margin and becoming the machine most people picture when they think of an early Lambretta.

At a glance