Isetta


The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar initially manufactured in 1953 by the Italian firm Iso SpA, and subsequently built under license in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The name Isetta is the Italian diminutive form of Iso, meaning "little Iso". Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a bubble car, a name also given to other similar vehicles.
In 1955, the BMW Isetta became the world's first mass-production car to achieve a fuel consumption of. It was the top-selling single-cylinder car in the world, with 161,728 units sold.

Iso Isetta (Italy)

The car originated with the Italian firm of Iso SpA. In the early 1950s the company was building refrigerators, motor scooters and small three-wheeled trucks. Iso's owner, Renzo Rivolta, decided to build a small car for mass distribution. By 1952 the engineers and Pierluigi Raggi had designed a small car that used the motorcycle engine of the Iso Moto 200 and named it Isetta.
The Isetta caused a sensation when it was introduced to the motoring press in Turin in November 1953. It was unlike anything seen before. Small and egg-shaped, with bubble-type windows, the entire front end of the car hinged outwards to allow entry. In the event of an accident, the driver and passenger were to exit through the canvas sunroof. The steering wheel and instrument panel swung out with the single door, simplifying access to the single bench seat. The seat provided reasonable comfort for two occupants, and perhaps a small child. Behind the seat was a large parcel shelf with a spare wheel located below. A heater was optional. Ventilation was provided by turning out the front triangle windows and/or opening the fabric sunroof.
Power came from a, two-stroke split-single motorcycle engine. The engine was started by a combination generator–starter known as Dynastart. A manual gearbox provided four forward speeds and reverse. A chain drive connected the gearbox to a solid rear axle with a pair of closely spaced rear wheels. The first prototypes had one wheel at the rear, but having a single rear wheel made the car prone to roll-overs, so the rear wheel layout was changed to two wheels set apart from each other. This narrow track eliminated the need for a differential. The front axle was a modified version of a Dubonnet independent front suspension.
The Isetta took over 30 seconds to reach from rest. Top speed was about. The fuel tank held ; the Isetta would get somewhere between and.
In 1954, Iso entered several Isettas in the legendary Mille Miglia where they took the top three spots in the economy classification. Over a distance of, the drivers achieved an average speed of over.
After its initial success, the Isetta was beginning to slip in popularity at home, mainly due to renewed competition from Fiat with its 500C model.
Renzo Rivolta wanted to concentrate on his new Iso Rivolta sports car, and was interested in doing licensing deals. Plants in Spain and Belgium were already assembling Isettas and Autocarros using Italian-made Iso components. BMW began talking with Rivolta in mid-1954 and bought not just a license but also the complete Isetta body tooling. Rivolta also negotiated licensing deals with companies in France and Brazil.
After some 1,000 units, production of the Italian built cars ceased in 1955. Iso continued to build the Isetta in Spain until 1958.

Iso Autocarro

In addition to the Iso Isetta vettura described above, Iso also built the Autocarro, a commercial version with full-width rear axle. The Autocarro was offered in several body styles—a flatbed pickup, enclosed truck, a tilt-bed or even a fire engine—although some of these might not have been sold. The Autocarro was very popular in Italy, and many manufacturers produced some variant of the type.
Iso had previously produced a motorcycle-type Isocarro. The Iso Autocarro was larger than most, with its four-wheel layout, conventional rear axle with differential and leaf springs, and a large tubular, ladder-type frame. It could carry a load. The name Isetta Autocarro was also used. It is thought that more than 4,000 Autocarros were built between 1954 and 1958. The Autocarro was also built in Spain.

VELAM Isetta (France)

In 1954, VELAM acquired a licence from Iso to manufacture a car based on the Isetta. Since Iso had sold the body making equipment to BMW, VELAM developed their own body but used the original Iso engine. The VELAM body was rounder and more egg-like than Iso's Isetta and was known by the French as the 'yogurt pot'. Instead of a chassis like the Italian and German versions, there was a sub-frame bolted to the body at the rear, which held the rear tires, engine, and transmission. The front suspension was bolted to the front of the body. The front door was opened by push button instead of a handle, and the speedometer was mounted in the center of the steering wheel.
VELAM started production of the car in June 1955 at the old Talbot factory at Suresnes, France, and the car was introduced at the 1955 Paris Motor Show. All told, five versions of the car were built: the standard Isetta, a convertible version, a luxury version, a one-off "Sport" version, and a record car with a roadster body. The luxury model, called Écrin, was presented in 1957 and built in 500 examples. In 1957, the streamlined roadster set seven world records for the sub-250 cc class at the Linas-Montlhéry autodrome. Due to competition from the Citroën 2CV and then the Renault Dauphine, production ceased in January 1958.

De Carlo – Isetta (Argentina)

The Metalmecánica Company in Buenos Aires commenced automotive manufacturing in 1959, when they started assembling a licensed version of the BMW Isetta. This received a light redesign, with a tiny, two-piece grille being installed on the door. 798 examples were made, but they soon changed over to the BMW 600, which was built in 1,413 examples from 1959 until 1962. Metalmecánica went on to build the BMW 700, which they later redesigned to look similar to the Simca 1000. In 1965, they changed over and began building Simca Arianes under license from the French company SIMCA.

Romi-Isetta (Brazil)

In 1955, Iso licensed the Isetta to Indústrias Romi S.A., a machine-tool manufacturer headquartered in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, in the state of São Paulo. The Isetta was chosen, because it was considered an ideal vehicle for use in the cities by virtue of its size and economy. Released on September 5, 1956, it was one of the first cars produced in Brazil, after Ford do Brasil and General Motors do Brasil. The car had received government approval as a part of a state-supported drive to establish an automotive industry in Brazil, but ended up being built without government backing.
Some 3,000 of the Romi-Isettas were manufactured from 1956 to 1961. They kept the Iso design and used Iso engines until 1958, in 1959 they switched to the BMW 300 cc engines.

BMW Isetta (West Germany)

The BMW Isetta differed widely from the Iso model. While the major elements of the Italian design remained intact, BMW re-engineered much of the car - so much so that none of the parts between a BMW Isetta Moto Coupe and an Iso Isetta are interchangeable. BMW changed the powerplant to a one-cylinder, four-stroke, 247 cc motorcycle engine of their own manufacture which generated.
The first BMW Isetta appeared in April 1955. In May 1962, three years after launching the conventionally modern-looking BMW 700, BMW ceased production of Isettas. A total of 161,728 units had been built.
In the 1990s, the BMW Isetta had garnered a resurgence through the television show Family Matters, in which one of the main characters, Steve Urkel, drives a 1960 BMW Isetta.

BMW Isetta 250

While it retained the "bubble window" styling, it differed from the Italian model in that its headlamps were fixed separately to the sides of the bodywork and it carried the BMW badge below the windscreen. The car was also redesigned to take a modified version of the 250 cc four-stroke engine from the BMW R25/3 motorcycle and the front suspension was changed. The single-cylinder generated at 5800 rpm. The crankcase and cylinder were made of cast iron, the cylinder head of aluminium alloy. The head was rotated by 180° compared with the motorcycle engine. The twin-bearing crankshaft was also different in the Isetta motor, being larger and featuring reinforced bearings. One of the reasons for this was the heavy Dynastart unit, a combined dynamo and starter-motor. The fuel mixture was provided by a sliding throttle side draft motorcycle carburetor. In addition to further changes of detail, the BMW engineers enlarged the sump for installation in the car and cooled the engine by means of a radial fan and shrouded ducting.
The power train from the four-speed gearbox to the two rear wheels was also unusual: fixed to the gearbox output drive was something called a Hardy disc, which was a cardan joint made of rubber. On the other side of it was a cardan shaft, and finally a second Hardy disc, which in turn was located at the entrance to a chain case. A duplex chain running in an oil bath finally led to a rigid shaft, with the two rear wheels at each end. Thanks to this elaborate power transfer, the engine–gearbox unit was free of tension in its linkage to the rear axle and well soundproofed.
In West Germany, the Isetta could be driven with a motorcycle license. The top speed of the Isetta 250 was rated as.
The first BMW Isetta rolled off the line in April 1955, and in the next eight months some 10,000 were produced.

BMW Isetta 300

In 1956, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany changed the regulations for motor vehicles. Class IV licences issued from that time onward could be used only to operate small motorcycles and could no longer be used to operate motor vehicles with a capacity of less than 250 cc. At the same time tax classes were restructured, with one category limit set at 300 cc. Class IV licences issued before the change in the regulations were grandfathered and allowed to be used as before.
This change in regulations encouraged BMW to revise the Isetta: In February 1956 a 300cc engine was introduced.
The engineers enlarged the single cylinder to a bore and stroke, which gave a displacement of approximately 297 cc; at the same time, they raised the compression ratio from 6.8 to 7.0:1. As a result, the engine power output rose to at 5200 rpm, and the torque rose to at 4600 rpm. The maximum speed remained at, yet there was a marked increase in flexibility, chiefly noticeable on gradients.
In October 1956, the Isetta Moto Coupé DeLuxe was introduced. The bubble windows were replaced by longer, sliding side windows.