Car of the Week: 1957 BMW Isetta cabriolet

[dodgechargerfan]

Randy McMillen is a sucker for unique “fixer-upper” cars, and his wonderful 1957 BMW Isetta Cabriolet filled the bill on all fronts.

The quirky little German-engineered three-wheelers stands out in pretty much any crowd these days, and McMillen knew his ’57 had more potential than most. All it needed was some patience and TLC.

“I’ve been told only about two percent of the Isettas that came into the United States were cabriolets,” noted McMillen, a microcar buff and collector from Mansfield, Ohio. “This one had sat for about 20 years. I bought it from a used car lot and the only reason I know some history on it is by going through the archives at BMW in Germany. I know the date it was manufactured and shipped to the U.S. It came to New York and all we know is there is a 1966 safety inspection sticker in the corner of windshield. That’s not a lot of information … We know it was in New York for at least 10 years.”

“I had been watching around on the Internet and this showed up on eBay. An old retired school teacher in Plant City, Fla., had it sitting in the back of his garage. That was in December of 2012… and I bought it and had it shipped up here.”

Read more.

 

[69.5CUDA]

and those of us in the inner circle..know that these buggers have a SHIT drive axle angle and the engine is in the wrong spot..you have to push it back and spacer the axles..with custom 1 off shims..and a engine relo kit..again all custom....at this point the mpg and performance increases and the guibos quit dieing and you suddenly have an extreemly reliable car

funny thing about the cabs..ive personaly seen atleast 8 runners with my own eyes and another 4 that were either unsaveable or close to it

 

[Not A Duster]

Another ugly European car.

Why has the rule in Europe always been that if you can afford a super car, you can have transportation that looks good, but if you are regular folk you must accept ugliness? Guess that's part of what made the musclecar era so special. Average working guy could afford a roadrunner or a duster - and if the big cubic inch monsters were outside his reach, you could still get the look with a sport satellite or slanty powered a body.

 

[restoman]

To each, his own...
Not my cup of tea, but it is pretty neat.

There is a local sign painter that had one - a cabrio if I recall - painted as Garfield the Cat. It got a LOT of attention ...

 

[68R/T]

One step above lawn art. :dgt:

 

[Dr.Jass]

It looks like a toy no one wanted to play with.