A LOOK AT THE ISETTA
by Tony Marshall (published in the Isetta GazetteFeb 1978)
I expect that the majority of members have joined the club as a result of owning one of the most popular model of Isetta, the 300cc three wheeler. This has always been one of the most popular three wheelers in this country, and certainly the most popular of the 'bubble cars'. However, it is only when a large number of Isetta's are together that the many detail differences between them become apparent.
As I mentioned, most of the 300cc models were three wheelers, the reason for this undoubtedly being the vast difference in road tax between them and their four wheeled counterparts. Apart from this obvious difference, there are many others, some of which are technical, while others are more obvious to the casual observer. All the variations though make the Isetta an even more interesting vehicle to the enthusiast.
My own Isetta is a 1959 car. It is a left hand drive, a fact which I find a little surprising since it is a Brighton car. Was it perhaps one of the first Brighton products, before they were sufficiently involved with British component manufacturers to offer a completely English version? It has large Lucas headlamps, and separate side lamps. I have also seen the large headlamps with side lamps incorporated, and small headlamps of both types. In addition, the continental Isetta's were fitted with Hella lamps, large and small, in place of the Lucas units fitted over here. The Hella lamps seem to usually incorporate the side lamps, as they used the separate side lamp nacelles for direction indicator lamps. At the rear, my own car has the early small Lucas rear lamps, the ones with glass lenses. These were a common sight on vehicles of the 1950's, and are usually associated with the very popular Austin A30 cars. Later Isetta's were fitted with the slightly larger Lucas rear lamps with plastic lenses. On the continental cars, of course, the rear lamps were, like the front, of Hella manufacture. There was yet another alternative on the American Isetta's. Over there, the Isetta was fitted with nudge bars at the rear which were mounted in place of the rear lamps. It was necessary therefore to fit another type of rear lamp, and this was done by mounting it above the rear wings. On the subject of nudge bars, my Isetta has the, to my mind, rather smart cow catcher bars at the front. I believe that these were a feature on the pre 1960 cars, after which a one piece blade bumper was used.
The continental and USA cars had the 'cowcatchers' with a small door mounted bumper between them. Most of the English Isetta's had a louvred air intake on the rear panel, but mine, in common with other early 300's, has a cowl over the air intake, which incorporates the mounting for the number plate illumination lamp. This cowl-
Away from the subject of lights, another difference can be seen at a glance at the window trim. On most of the Isetta's I have seen, the aluminium strip below the side windows extends past the edge of the windows, but on mine, and some others of the same vintage, the trim ends at the edge of the windows. I do not think it necessary to go into the different types of upholstery used, as I believe this depended largely upon the date of manufacture, but the one item that does intrigue me is the wheels. Since I first became involved with the Isetta I have noticed that there are at least three different types of road wheel. The difference is in the depth of the dishing of the centre. It would appear that the first change coincided with the change from horizontal to vertical suspension units (another difference there!) but I do not understand the reason for any subsequent change. Just to confuse things, some of the German built Isetta's had split rim wheels, and some, but not all, of the American cars were fitted with these wheels too.
The American Isetta seems to be as mixed up as our own British models. I believe that all the American cars were built in Germany, but for some reason some of them were fitted with ventilation grills in the door, usually fitted to Isetta's destined for tropical conditions, while others did not. I am yet to find a car on this side of the Atlantic with this feature.
Even with the Isetta 600, the Americans seem to have their own specification. The pictures I have seen of American 600's all have the early 300 type cowcatchers on the front, together with a door mounted bumper. English and German 600's all seem to have been fitted with rather smart chrome bumpers, the ends of which were up-
The automatic clutch Isetta is, I think, a purely English affair. It used the Smiths 'Selectroshift' electric clutch which was actuated by grasping the gear lever. The only known example at the moment is in the Manx Motor Museum.
Well, that may give you some idea of the variations of Isetta which exist. There were many more variations, but I will save them for a future article.