SCOOTER WORLD The Motor Scooter Magazine (Editorial May, 1964) "The new emphasis in scootering is on the machine with the small engine. Lambretta have brought forward theirs. Vespa are selling a 50cc scooter abroad and their 90cc model puts them in line with the scooter leaders in the under 100-cc school. This is how scooters began: Back in 1946 d'Ascanio designed the first Vespa and fitted it with a 98cc engine. It was only in the following year that he went up to 125cc. Scooters were utility vehicles, to carry people short distances, to and from work. In a war-shattered country transport was needed to get people moving, working. Pleasure - the long holiday journeys, the luggage carrying, the bigger lights - that came later with the big machines. Today we are almost back to 1946. The small scooters are aimed at the workers in factories and offices, the people who would use an efficient bus or train service if such existed but who find the transport and road network absent or inadequate. Scooters for use. Scooters as work tools. Scooters as the individual's reply to packed roads, rising bus and train fares. Scooters as part of everyday life, part of the scene. This is how scooter manufacturers see the picture. This is the scene they are painting. When they see the roads of the future they see scooters as part of them."

THE CENTO 98cc ARRIVES A Lambretta lightweight at £109-17-6 Extract from: "SCOOTER WORLD" May, 1964 Latest Lambretta startlingly departs from tradition. Long wedded to tubular notions, Innocenti designers took a deep breath and for their 98cc lightweight Cento plumped for sleek streamlined spot-welded steel sheet, style first set by scooter pioneer Vespa in 1946. Long established, the Lambretta tubular steel chassis has no place in the Cento. Director P.J. Agg, at introduction in London's Waldorf Hotel, told press of the bad years (1961-1962 lambretta sales dropped by over 60%) and the good year (in past six months lambretta sales up over 50%), was optimistic for the future, not only for Lambretta but for other two-wheelers, skated swiftly away from Jap competition. ("The Aziatic horde" in his words), said Lambrettas now claimed one third total scooter sales including mopeds in Britain. He added: "The addition of the Cento means that we shall now enter a new and ever-growing section of the market - that of the under-100c machine. From our experience over the last three years we are in no doubt that the new scooter will soon take the same share of this purely commuter market as our higher capacity models have done in the over-100cc field." The Cento has a single cylinder two-stroke negine, bore 51mm, stroke 48mm, engine capacity 98.05cc with a claimed output of 4.7 bhp at 5,300 rpm and compression ratio 7.5:1. The cast iron cylinder is placed horizontally; light alloy piston and cylinder head; needle roller small end; crankshaft mounted in ball journals; flywheel magneto with external HT coil; fan cooled; multi-disc clutch in oil bath; final drive by chain; three gears, handlebar controlled, mounted on rear wheel drive shaft; gear ratios 15.432, 9.216 and 5.970; Dell'Orto SHB.18 carburetter; kickstart; spot-welded pressed steel framework; front suspension - trailing links with helical springs in fork legs; swinging arm rear suspension with double springs and hydraulic shock absorber; tyres 3.00 x10; 6 volt lighting - dual filament 25/25w headlamp bulb with 5w parking light; 15w stop light operated from footbrake pedal; AC horn; lubrictaion by SAE.40 oil-4% for first 950 miles, 2% from then on; fuel tank holds 1 and a quarter gallons with 1 and three quarter pints in reserve. Price £109-17-6d In some foreign markets the 'Cento' badge was replaced with 'baby' as in this picture.

Had the Cento been available in 'kit form' it would've looked something like this! Extract from: "THE SCOOTER with POWER & PEDAL" April, 1964 HARD on the heels of the announcement of a sports 150c.c. Lambretta comes news of yet another model from the huge Italian factory - the 98c.c. Cento (pronounced 'Chento'). Following the international trend to small capacity engines with high output, Innocenti decided to produce a machine cabable of carrying two people and having a lively performance, but with an engine under 100c.c.. The new scooter is the outcome, with new being the operative word. Although the frontal styling is similar to exisiting Slimstyle models, the Cento has no chassis as such - it is built from welded pressed steel sections and has a very much smaller engine compartment. The absence of chassis tube has resulted in a very low overall weight (176lb). Other outstanding points include the 2% fuel mixture, the three-speed gear-box and the power output of 42 b.h.p. Fuel consumption of 150 m.p.g. and a top speed of 47 m.p.h. are claimed. A large publicity campaign is planned for the new model, and P&P hopes to publish a test report at an early date. It was available from March 17th and costs £109 17s. 6d.