I claim guilt for the Isetta.
I have found out a thing or two about it too. There's a guy out in Mn. or
Mi. or somewhere named Kaye Whitnah who's quite a fan of the Isetta and
has a whole slew of parts (about 180 of them, actually) made new, mostly
limited-life rubber peices made new with modern rubber. The driveshaft
has two rubber doughnut U joints (A la' elan & GT6), for example, and he
has new door seals and such. He also has new windshields made to 1991
DOT spec ($250, which isn't bad considering he's sold much less than 100
of them in the few years he's been making them). I don't think the guy
even has a company name, he just does it for fun and his wife complains
that he doesn't even break even at it.
It seems there were (at least) 4 body styles - there was the original, I
think, that had side windows that didn't open, that one had a 250cc and maybe
a 300cc 1 cyl motor, there was the next model, which is what I have, that
has sliding side windows, and a 300cc 1 cyl motor, there was a 4 seater that
had another door (in addition to the one in the front) on the rear left
side, that one came with a 600cc and/or 700cc twin motor, and there was a
*pickup*truck* model that I have yet to find a picture of that came with the
same 600/700cc twin. I haven't found any "History of the Isetta" type books
so I wouldn't place any bets on my accuracy of details. I'm not sure what
the years of production were, mine's a '57, I think they were made in the
range of '55 - '61. The poor little thing didn't stand a chance with
competition from the likes of the Austin Mini and the Citroen 2CV, and for
good reason. The Isetta, incidentally, is actually taller than the Mini -
I have the two parked right next to each other in my one car garage. Both
the mini and 2cv make more efficient use of the space than the Isetta, the
Isetta should be quite a bit easier and more fun to drive and much more
comfortable than the early 2cvs, but the Mini made better use of the space
than both of the others and could keep up at highway speeds as well.
The Isetta 300 has a top speed of about 45 mph (with a tailwind), though
the factory claims 52. The 300 motor produces a claimed 13hp, probably a
fair bit or torque though, that's something BMW is good at. All the motors
are four strokes, almost identical to their motorcycle engines of the time,
with the exception of the graboxes that have reverse gears instead of
kickstarts.
So during long compiles I sit and read anything within arms length at my
desk - I've long since had the Aircraft Spruce catalog memorized, the
Classic Bikes and Classic and Thoroughbread Sportscars are the next to go,
then comes the latest copy of The Want Ads - I found the Isetta while
reading the Antique Vehicles section, which I never do, and about a month
later got bored enough to read the Vehicle Parts section, and saw a BMW
Isetta powered snowblower for sale, a homebrew job that's a museum quality
peice of yankee ingenuity and does wheelies as well. My Isetta motor had
a bunch of holes and a broken cylinder from a broken con rod when I got it,
this new one runs fine and will give me a bunch of spare parts as well -
Isetta headlights, speedo, wheels, gearbox and another box of stuff I haven't
had a chance to sort through yet. I'll get the two together as soon as I
can clear out a minor project or two, probably timed to coincide with the
coldest weather of the winter, and a driving report will follow.
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