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Profile Isetta

facturers offering a huge variety of bub- producer, its large, expensive cars lamps and a new engine cover had
ble cars and small cars to suit every would only sell in limited numbers with- transformed the tiny body, and the 125
taste and most wallets. Necessity and out returning any profit, while the cc motorcycle engine generating 12
sheer inventiveness turned out some motorcycle business had passed its horsepower promised a touch over 80
strange fancies. Two passengers might zenith. As a means of survival it was km/h. The general public received the
be sitting one behind one another in a decided – reluctantly – to take a highly comical Isetta with great enthusiasm. It
Messerschmitt, for example, or even saleable microcar up into the produc- was an opportune time for unconven-
back-to-back, such as in the aptly tion programme. This belated insight tional models, and the car’s Italian flair
named Zündapp Janus. meant there was no time for BMW to played no small part in its success as
Although in the mid-1950s BMW produce a new car of its own, since even the first wave of travellers headed south
had returned to car manufacturing, as the boom in small cars would not last to warmer climes.
Egg-shaped and bristling with original features, the BMW Isetta clearly stood out from all other microcars. The BMW badge well as having survived as a motorcycle forever in the further flourishing eco- In 1955, its first year of production,
inspired confidence and contributed to the Isetta’s phenomenal success. nomic miracle. no fewer than 13,000 Isettas rolled out
And so BMW engineers set out to of the Munich factory. While the Iso
trawl all manner of motor shows in Isetta recorded sluggish sales in Italy,
search of a microcar that would be suit- production numbers in Germany rose to
able for production under licence in almost 40,000 in its peak year of 1957.
Munich. It led to the discovery in Turin In the meantime, a “higher-perform-
of the extraordinary Isetta, built by the ance” version had been launched with a
Iso company of Milan, which had thus 300 cc engine giving 13 bhp, a modern-
far been successful in the field of cool- ized body and special variants in the
ing technology, as well as in the two- shape of a convertible, a tropical version
wheeled business. Despite its rather and even a micro-delivery vehicle. Next
unusual first impression with a front- to the Goggomobil by Glas, the Isetta
opening door, laterally offset two-stroke “bubble car” became the most suc-
mid-engine and narrow rear wheel cessful vehicle of its kind in Germany.
track, the BMW engineers nevertheless There were even regional versions in
recognized the potential of this egg- England, Spain, France and even Brazil
shaped vehicle. The noisy, low-perform- modelled on the BMW Isetta. Hard to
ance two-stroke unit was easily match in terms of its originality, the
replaced by a smooth-running BMW Isetta that BMW designated a
motorcycle engine, and at least in this “Motocoupé” remains one of the most
tiny vehicle the occupants were able to lovable witnesses to the motoring past.
sit next to each other as in a proper car.
The front door was especially unique,
opening as it did together with the
steering wheel and dashboard to enable
passengers, as it were, to walk right into BMW Isetta 300 Export
the car.
It took a certain amount of courage No. of units 70,350 (1956 – 1962)
to opt for such an unconventional
design, but terms were quickly agreed Original price 2,860 marks
and BMW took on the first specimen Engine Einzylindermotor
models for further development in
Munich. When the first BMW Isetta was Capacity 298 cc
eventually presented to the press at the
Tegernsee lake in spring of 1955, it was Bore x stroke 72 x 73 mm
greeted with great astonishment.
Visually and technically, BMW had mod- Output 13 PS bei 5,200 U/min
ified and improved the Italian original in
numerous small ways. Different head- Transmission four-speed constant mesh

Brakes drum brakes

Weight 360 kg
Heading south: for many
Germans the Isetta was the first Top speed 85 km/h
post-war cary.

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