By: Ute Wessels
Munich, Germany - The egg-shaped Isetta “bubble car” was the oddest vehicle ever made by German premium carmaker BMW and a weird precursor of today's Smart urban runabout.
Production of the quirky little four-wheeler - which had its rear wheels so close together it looked like a wrong-way-round trike - ended 53 years ago yet it still has a loyal following in Germany.
Enthusiasts and sociologists agree that the Isetta marked the start of mass mobility as the country recovered from the ravages of World War II.
The first Isettas appeared 60 years ago and for Raimund Bruche from Gennach in Bavaria the bubble car has never been bettered.
The first rays of spring sunshine are the signal for Raimund to rouse his bright-red Isetta from its winter slumber and take it out for a spin.
He only has to pull up at a service station for a crowd to form, heads craning to catch a glimpse of the wacky car that became a bestseller not only in Germany but in Britain and the United States.
It may seem odd now but this tiny car with its single-cylinder motorcycle engine and tiny bench seat was one of the most popular of the bubble cars which ushered in mass transportation. It featured two steerable wheels at the front and a single rear wheel under the engine
The entire front served as a door, and both steering wheel and instrument panel swung out to enable access.
INSPIRED BY AIRCRAFT
The bubble car trend was started by aircarft manufacturer Messerschmidt, which started building small cars with tandem seats after being banned from producing warplanes. The success inspired many others.
Isetta as a name does not sound very German and that is because the car was originally produced by a firm called Iso in Switzerland which went on produce the upmarket Rivolta sports coupe. The name means small in Italian. BMW bought a licence to produce the car and later refined the design. It even developed a more stable four-wheeled version.
Today's Isetta enthusiasts spend their time keeping the bubble cars in fine fettle, and their Cologne-based club has about 1300 members, according to chairman Norbert Schardt.
Raimund Bruche's Isetta has been in the family for many years. He inherited the runabout from his father at the tender age of 16, before he had even learned to drive on public roads.
“The Isetta was just left standing around in a corner but it was too good to just sell-off,” he said.
And so he decided to hold on to the minicar built in 1960 and spent 18 months restoring it to former glory.
“Even as a boy I enjoyed playing in an Isetta,” said 43-year-old mechanic Bruche.
He now has a second, pristine Isetta example in the garage. It is finished in the pastel shades of light green and primrose yellow.
“Once you've been bitten by the Isetta bug, that's it,” said club chairman Schardt. Members are all enthusiasts, most of whom own at least one Isetta. Membership helps them to lay their hands on elusive spare parts and gives advice to would-be purchasers.
‘CUDDLE-BUBBLE’
The Isetta's odd shape is what makes it so popular with fans. Driver and passenger sit close together which prompted contemporary jokes about the “cuddle-bubble”.
The primitive suspension and complete lack of safety protection led to accusations of the minicar being a deathtrap on wheels. In the end, the advent of four-wheeled “proper” cars such as the Fiat 500 and Mini put paid to bubble cars.
In 1962 BMW pulled the plug after more than 160 000 examples had been built. Would-be buyers can expect to pay between €3000 (R45 000) for a basket-case in need of a lot of repair and ten times that for a finely restored bubble car.
Bruche is genuinely in love with his Isetta and has even decorated its garage with 1950s posters and all manner of memorabilia.
He turns to a shelf and picks up a transistor radio. “You could plug this into the Isetta to provide the music for a picnic,” he said. Isettas made it to Italy and back and even further afield.
When it comes to parking, the Isetta is easier to slot into a tight space than a four-wheeled Smart city car - in fact Bruche says the bubble car is even more economical on space.
“We once parked three Isettas on one parking lot and paid for just one ticket,” he recalled. “Even the traffic warden turned a blind eye.”
DPA