The iconic, incredible scooter Lambretta rides into the Indian sunset

Centuries of colonisation had sapped the Indian economy of its riches and cars were not an option. Scooters were.

The year was 1947. India got independence and in faraway Milan, Italy, the Lambretta — a new scooter —rolled out. The events were completely unrelated but a quarter of a century later, in 1972, when the Milan facility folded up, the Indian government bought its remnants and brought them to India to establish Scooters India.

The Lucknow-based PSU continued to produce the Lambretta and its Indian sibling, the Vijai Super, for another quarter of a century. The idea was to meet the rising demand for private personal transport in a free nation.

Centuries of colonisation had sapped the Indian economy of its