The Known Survivors
Despite such a small production run of the Giardinetta, their outstanding design and beauty has ensured the survival of some of them. We now know of 10 surviving and are in the process of gaining the permission of the owners to feature on this page.
Location: UK - Weston Super Mare
Believed to be the only Giardinetta imported to the UK originally.
In 1958 this Giardinetta famously transported the Duke of Bedford around the Crystal Palace Race track amongst other exciting official Lambretta business. Mike Karslake was a works driver for Lambretta and drove this Giardinetta many times. He found it again by chance in a scrap yard in Surrey decades later long after it had been put back in to storage at the Works. President of the Lambretta Preservation Society at the time of discovery, he restored the Giardinetta in his spare time and it became part of his collection. After Mike died in 1990 the collection was auctioned a few years later where this Giardinetta was purchased by the Lambretta Club of Great Britain (LCGB). She was restored again and now is on display at the Weston Super Mare Scooter Museum.
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Location: Casa Lambretta - Italy
This beautiful example of a Giardinetta was found at the Innocenti plant by Vittorio Tessera. It was used as an ambulance for sick bay transport for employees becoming sick or injured at work. The restoration has just been completed, returning this Giardinetta to it's original splendor.
It was noticed upon dismantling that the chassis was painted in 'Irish Green' but the outside havd been painted white on its conversion to an ambulance. Vittorio chose to replicate this in his restoration with superb results!
The Giardinetta has already been in an exhibition at Novegro in February 2017 and will appear at tha Lambretta 70th Anniversary in June 2017.
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Location: UK - Warwickshire
This Giardinetta was a taxi on the Island of Ischia where Micro taxis are still used for tourists today. It is believed that when the owner moved to mainland Italy he took this Giardinetta back with him. The daughter of the previous owner sold the Giardinetta to a restorer and collector after his death but struggling to find the parts required for the restoration he put the Giardinetta back up for sale.
This Giardinetta was imported to the UK in 2016 where she is currently undergoing a full restoration. It is hoped that photos may be found of her days on the Isle of Ischia.
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Location: USA - Savannah
It is widely believed that this is the Lambretta Surrey from the famous Hotel Safari advertisements from the late 1950s. One of only two known to have survived in the US.
The previous owner saved it when it appeared on a classified site in the USA in 2015. With so little information available at the time it could very easily have been a very sad end for this Giardinetta but the story will end well and it is hoped that this Surrey will be restored to her former glory in the near future. She has now been purchased and moved to Savannah from where we hope to hear some news soon!
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Location: Sweden
The Swedish Giardinetta was rediscovered in 2015 after more than 30 years in hibernation.
It was imported in early spring 1959 by Lambretta AB in Gothenburg, the Lambretta concessionaire for Sweden, subsidairies to Bil & Truck, mainly for publicity reasons. Its first appearance was at the “Lilla bilsalongen” (The small car show”) in Stockholm. The Giardinetta is featured in an article in the largest daily paper at the time in Sweden. The article shows a picture of Lennart Bergelin at the handlebars inside the cabin. Bergelin was then the owner of the concessionaire, but also a Swedish tennis player and later became the manager of icon Björn Borg. In the passenger seat sat the Mayor of Stockholm with the owner of motorcycle dealership.
After the Giardinetta was purchased by its new owner, a former employee of Bil & Truck told the story of when the sales manager tried to sell the Giardinetta to the newly crowned world champion in heavy-weight boxing, Mr Ingemar “Ingo” Johansson who then lived in Gothenburg (it was on the 26th of June 1959 that “Ingo” knocked out Floyd Patterson).
Not having any luck selling to Ingo, in January 1960 the Giardinetta was sold to a disabled cobbler living in a small village north of Gothenburg. His son had seen three-wheelers with cabins on a trip to Italy. The father had previously driven a three-wheeled Husqvarna with no roof. The cobbler drove the Giardinetta around the village, to and from the church where he was active and mostly on gravel roads! During his ownership it was resprayed in blue, except for the inside of the cabin which was left in it’s original white-grey hue.
It's last MOT was obtained in 1978. Around 1982 it was bought by a classic car collector who started dismantling the Giadinetta, but didn’t clean it! The collector passed away in 2013 and it was his widow who put it up for sale in 2015. The advert caused a stir across Europe but it was important to the seller that the Giardinetta remained in Sweden, and that is where she remains. The Giardinetta is currently undergoing a restoration, undertaken by it’s new and fourth owner, if you count Lambretta AB as the first.
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We hope to gain permission from the owners of the other known Survivors in the near future and to share with you information and photographs. These are the locations of the other 5 we know of so far, bringing our current total to 10!
Location: USA
Location: Italy
Location: Italy
Location: Italy
Location: Italy
Do you own a Lambretta Giardinetta? We would love to hear from you!