Isetta
Source: ShutterStock
The Isetta was an Italian designed bubble car, far tinier than traditional cars of the 50s. The Isetta only measured 7.5 feet end to end, you could almost fit 3 of them side the ’59 Continental (mentioned earlier). The Isetta originated in Italy by Iso, which was known for building fridges and scooters before moving into the automobile industry. Iso created the Isetta by placing a motorcycle engine into the tiny car, as one of the rare single cylinder engines at the time. The entire front end of this oddly cool car opened on hinges (oddly similar to the fridges Iso was building…) to allow the driver & passenger into the car. While the motorcycle engine did great for fuel efficiency, it wasn’t ideal for performance, the Iso Isetta 30+ seconds to reach 30 miles per hour (50km/h). Eventually, Iso began licensing the Isetta to manufacturers in France, Germany, Spain & Brazil.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1955 BMW bought the license and body tooling for the Isetta to create their own line, and now BMW was releasing the majority of Isetta’s around the world. With the classic Isetta body and the new BMW one-cylinder motorcycle engine, the BMW Isetta (above) became the 1st mass production car to achieve the milestone fuel efficiency of 3L/100km (94 mpg), impressive when compared to the 2017 Toyota Prius only getting 52 mpg.
The BMW Isetta was in production until 1962, selling 161,000 vehicles across Europe. They kept the classic bubble car design of the 7 years of production with a few unique looks over the years, BMW launched a 4 door “family friendly” version in 56 and a 3-wheel style just for the UK market. The Isetta was one of the last economy cars BMW would make in the 20th century, only returning with the Mini in 2002.
