BMW Isetta's...???

[Nachtycoupe]

Not sure if any of you noticed the recent sale of a 1958 BMW Isetta 300 Cabrio on BaT. This thing hit coupe pricing. I had two friends in high school that went in half on one (just a driver, nothing special) for $1,700. This would be circa 1985-'86 or so. Granted this one is very nicely restored but $55.5K? Can someone please explain the appeal of these to me? I know some of you probably own one.

These to me are like buying a Cushman Scooter vs. a nice Harley Knucklehead. It wouldn't even be a question on what I would pick no matter how nicely restored the Cushman was. Granted many Isetta's don't hit this mark but some have sold for much more. Anyhow...to each their own I guess.

One of the only BMW's with a name vs. a number, like Bavaria, so there's that.

1958 BMW Isetta 300 Cabriolet

Bid for the chance to own a 1958 BMW Isetta 300 Cabriolet at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #225,779.

bringatrailer.com

 

[CSteve]

It's the unconscious pull of returning to the womb.

I do not consider the Isetta a factory named car. It is Italian with an Italian name. The Bavaria is the only factory built BMW with a name. And let's keep it correct, the lower case
"b" is unusual. bavaria

 

[70sRescueGuy]

the bmw bubble car…very unique history but in todays world, even golf carts are bigger/safer..never mind mini coopers….guess that Isetta new Buyer lives in Arizona or the like where non-NorthEast roads are actually very nice, smooth, etc

 

[Nachtycoupe]

It's the unconscious pull of returning to the womb.

I do not consider the Isetta a factory named car. It is Italian with an Italian name. The Bavaria is the only factory built BMW with a name. And let's keep it correct, the lower case
"b" is unusual. bavaria

Italian design yes, built by BMW in Germany...so...I consider it German. Yes, lower case "b" is appropriate. I should know better...LOL

EDIT: I did a bit more digging, looks like the ISO Isetta was built in various countries through licensing, etc. However this is what stood out to me regarding the BMW Isetta made in W. 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."

 

[Stevehose]

Wasn’t Mersserschmitt involved?

 

[Lucas]

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/bmw-isetta-and-messerschmitt-kr175-are-tiny-cars-with-big-ideas/

 

[jmackro]

Not sure if any of you noticed the recent sale of a 1958 BMW Isetta 300 Cabrio on BaT. This thing hit coupe pricing. .... Can someone please explain the appeal of these to me?

I suspect that most end up as "garage art" in someone's man cave / museum / trophy room. Parked next to the pool table, or mounted sideways on the wall, they are bought to provide decoration, not transportation. $55K? A pittance when your trophy room includes V-12 Ferraris and the like. But I'm not passing judgement here; who am I to say whether displaying a BMW Isetta or a Picasso makes a better statement of the owner's taste?

 

[bluecoupe30!]

Well now...here is an Isetta. A relatively new and increasingly popular bistro in West Vancouver BC. So popular, in Fact, that the BC BMW club held their Christmas party there, last month. This is a wonderfully renovated new structure on the site of a former "filling station". The address rang a bell because I lived near there in the '80s.( But I remember stuff too!) Seems this was the site of a former, long-time Chevron gas station, that eventually ceased operation. Sometime in the '80s it was empty, derelict, and owner was willing to rent it out.
Enter 3 "wild and crazy" Austin Healey enthusiasts who needed a place to store and work on their cars over the rainy winter season. Many fine memories, Each of our Healeys emerged in the spring better off than when they went in, and this new realization that the new Isetta Bistro, has been reconstructed on the site of that memorable old Chevron station, is just, well, so cool!
PS...I am told the Pork Schnitzel Sando is the thing to order!