Isetta Rally Car Project
I am lucky enough to have acquired 3 BMW Isetta project cars through my friend and customer Bruce Smith.
The cars were found at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, home of the Alaskan Air Command, Alaskan NORAD Region and other units. A couple of the doors still have Emendorf base registration stickers, and the titles are all registered to the base as well!
Turns out that mine was owned by an accomplished naval captain Everett A. Tricky. I managed to find a picture of him when he was very young. I wonder what compelled him to buy an Isetta… probably for he and his wife to get around the Base with? I have found some contact information for his surviving relatives and hope that maybe they have some photos from back when he owned it. We’ll see!?!
Basically… what I have is a huge pile of parts!
However, one of them is less common in the US, a German / ‘Home Market’ 300 sliding window model.
You can see there are several distinct differences like smaller headlamps, different bumpers, side market lights, different badges on the front door, and different air intake and rear lamps on the rear of the car. These were much more like the first 250cc model. I think the look is a bit more refined… somewhere between the original Iso model and the US Export model 300.
I will keep the Euro model and restore it… while building a period-faithful Isetta rally car. I intend to actually campaign mine, so I am choosing to do it not as some “theme” or “gag”… but as a real contender. I am not going to go overboard… rather using some restraint to build up something that looks more genuine and less custom.
Richard Lewis just built, and subsequently sold his rally build at the Barrett Jackson 2010 auction. His looks like a great car and a rarer bubble window version as well! He had extensive documentation of his restoration and modifications… very well done with period rally accessories and the like. The model and the accessories surely helped the price along, (although lesser machines have been getting similar money the last couple years). Here’s a video from the auction, covered live by the SPEED channel. Be forewarned.. these cheesy- morning radio-style announcers are idiots. They *really* need to get some people that know about something other than muscle cars at Barrett-Jackson, especially if the microcars keep setting sales records for them like they have the past couple years.
The ‘all-in’ price for this machine would be somewhere at about $47,000 range with auction fees, etc. You can check out Richard’s build at http://www.RallyIsetta.com
A 13hp Race Car?
In spite of its small 250cc or 300cc power plant, the sub-800lb Isetta was used in many races, rallies and endurance contests. The Iso company of Italy originally designed and built the Isetta, debuting it at the 1953 Turin Motor Show. In 1954 it successfully competed in the 1000 mile / Mille Miglia Rally. The team placed first, second and third in the index of performance category where both speed and economy are judged. This outstanding rally result was witnessed by BMW representatives who were present at the event. The Isetta’s handling and noteworthy average speed of almost 45MPH (an *average* speed of 45mph in a 1000 mile rally is outstanding, especially considering the road conditions in the Mille Miglia), and the positive reaction of enthusiastic fans along the roadside were all contributing factors that led BMW to acquire a license from Italian refrigerator manufacturer.
An interesting historical note is that the BMW Company might not have survived except for the Isetta. The following year in 1955, the cars were back to race again with added horsepower. They cut another 2 hours off their 22 hour time from the previous year, raising their average speed to almost 50mph! This was an amazing average speed and result for a one cylinder, 300cc car with a rated top speed of only about 55mph. The team drivers remarked that the cars drove very well and had exceptional handling due to a unique suspension and steering system that keeps the front wheels parallel no matter how rough the road surface. In the 1954 and 1955 Mille Miglia events approximately half of the 400-500 car fields were unable to even complete the difficult course. The Mille Miglia was rated as one of the toughest, most grueling car races in the world. Among the casualties were powerful and often factory supported Austin Healeys, Ferraris, Porsches, Lancias and Maseratis. Just finishing the 1000 mile race was a major accomplishment. The Isettas ran in a 750cc class beating some Fiat 500s, 600s, a Fiat 1400 and Citroen 2CV cars that had twice the size engine. The Isetta is one tough little race car!