El Siambrettista

For June 1966, Siambretta was producing some units of the 175 AV and 175 TV models. The adverse economic context, a market overcrowded with scooters and the rising popularity of small cars (like the Fiat 600) to a cost comparable with a scooter, made SIAM decide to close the Siambretta manufacture line.

Subsequently, Franco Hnos bought the actives and the debts of Siambretta and continued the history with the Franbretta. But this mini article is about another less unknown path of this history.

Apparently, according to what Pablo Petran told us , SIAM had a debt with a concessionary in Capital Federal and they agreed to the sale of a stock of unassembled Siambretta 175 AV as a way to settle that debt. These scooters were assembled and identified with the “90” prefix in the engine number.

Block with “90” prefix	Block with “90” prefix

But thanks to the contribution of Miguel Juarez, we could find that these AVs 175 scooters were assembled by “Moto La Estrella SAC”, in Lanús city, Buenos Aires province, as evidenced in this manufacturer certificate of his scooter.

Manufacturer certificate	Sale invoice

It’s not clear whether there was any relation between this unknown concessionary and “Moto La Estrella SAC” or if SIAM had the debt directly with this company, but we can assure that “Moto La Estrella SAC” definitively assembled these scooters.

Furthermore, there are no manufacturing records of this company, but the evidence makes it possible to affirm that production last -at least- up to 1973 and, looking at the engine numbers we’ve found, we believe that not so many units were built.

A peculiarity of this scooters is that the frame number isn’t placed where it’s located in the Siambretta TV/AV (below the fuel tank/toolbox). In this scooter, it’s located on the right side of the frame, below the rear sit just above the rear sock absorber, as you can see in the next photo.

Frame number location

Finally, Miguel assures that the scooters built by “Moto La Estrella SAC” came in a combination of white color, for the frame and mudguards, and orange for the fuel tank, luggage box and horn casting. Although there isn’t any respaldatory documentation, it’s worth mentioning because he has his AV 175 scooter, built by this company, from that time.