Siam Di Tella was formed in 1911 and made a variety of products, and when di Tella died in 1948 the firm had become one of the leaders of industry in Argentina. By the 1960s it had 13 factories and 6000 employees.
In 1954 they began manufacturing the Siambretta under licence from Piaggio and Innocenti, producing some 200,000 of them up to 1968, although some sources indicate that they were still being made until 1970.
The first machines were fully assembled Model A Lambrettas which were effectively NOS, and 75 of these were donated to President Juan Perón's youth group. By 1955 orders were pouring in, to the point that delays of up to five months were experienced by customers.
The firm exported to other South American countries including Chile and Uruguay. A Siambretta club was formed, and a "El Siambrettista" magazine was published from 1955 to 1961.
When production ceased, the tooling was sold to the Franco Brothers who built a motofurgone named the Lambretta<.
Sources: motoargenta.blogspot.com, Wikipedia, ilambretta.co.uk, elsiambrettista.com.ar
N.B. Information on this page is not part of the original Puma archive.
