Pocket-sized BMW Isetta for sale
Microcars are back in vogue. Here's what put the mighty bubble on the map
Who’d have thought the humble microcar would ever make a comeback? Not that they ever truly went away, with France still a hotbed for teeny cars that can zoom about narrow Parisian streets without a care in the world, yet elsewhere they’re few and far between. But in recent years, we’ve had the arrival of the Citroen Ami on UK shores, which was then rebodied as the Fiat Topolino, while Toyota’s new FT Me concept hints at a replacement for the Japan-only C+ Pod.
Then there are the countless startup brands looking to get their foot in the (tiny) door. Most come from China, though British firm Dogood has thrown its hat into the ring with its dinky Zero EV. But it’s the Italian firm Microlino that’s been hogging the microcar headlines of late, mostly because it’s one of the few quadricycles you could comfortably drive without that nagging feeling that people are laughing at you. Unlike most microcars, which tend to fly beneath the radar, the Microlino does something that the Fiat 500 and Renault 5 have done so successfully: revive a classic design that’s bound to turn heads (in a good way) pootling through the streets of London, Paris or Rome.
And what better car to take inspiration from than arguably the most recognisable microcar ever made? No, not the Peel P50, or the follow-up Peel Trident. It is, of course, the Isetta bubble car, much like the example we have for sale here. Debuting at the 1953 Turin motor show, the Iso Isetta was launched by fridge magnate Renzo Rivolta as a means of getting a penny-pinched, post-WWII Europe back on the move again. It was an immediate hit, so much so Rivolta were able to flog the license to companies around the world to build their very own.
One such company was BMW, which not only acquired the Isetta rights from Rivolta, but the tooling as well. Never one to slap its badge on something and call it a day, BMW set about drastically reengineering the plucky bubble car, to the extent that most of the original parts were scraped. The first of the BMW-badged Isettas rolled off the line in 1955, and by the time production had come to a close in 1962, the company had shifted 161,000 of them - nearly four times the combined total of all other Isettas.
Various outputs were offered over the years, with this Isetta 300 being the middle ground. Powered by a titchy 298cc single-cylinder engine, the Isetta 300 mustered a whole 13hp with just 353kg to push along. It’s said that a 0-30mph sprint takes in excess of ten seconds, and the only way it’s reaching 62mph is if it were dropped from a great height. But it’s more than quick enough for zipping through cities, and with such little power and weight it’s incredibly frugal, too, having achieved a then-record-breaking 94mpg back in 1955. So for a car that’s over 70 years old, it ticks a heck of a lot of boxes for the modern, urban motorist. Minus any sort of phone connectivity or crash protection.
This particular example is one of the latter Isettas, having been registered in the final year of production in 1962. It’s a UK car, too, meaning the steering wheel’s on the correct side (not that it makes much difference in something this small) and with the door hinged on the right for easier access. It even comes with its original tax disc from July ’62, and looks to be in remarkable condition. The seller wants £32,000 for it, around double the price of a lightly-used Microlino like this. But while the new model is by far the coolest microcar we’ve seen for some time, it’ll take some doing to topple the Isetta as the king of the bubble cars.
I’m struggling to see how and why this has a price tag of 32k, I guess the price will be what someone will pay for it and what the vendor will accept. . Although whilst away at the weekend I saw a four wheeled modern version all electric (microlino?) and that had a price tag of 20k . .
That all said, it’s nice to see that they’re (the originals) still about.
She is a beauty/aesthetics doctor, uses it to get around her clients as well as it being quirky for marketing/promo reasons. Park it anywhere, 200 mile range, 60mph, it seemed a great option (aside from the death-trap element), until I discovered it was nearly £25,000!!!
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