MY BUBBLECAR EXPERIENCES -
by Stephen Willis (published in the Isetta Gazette Jan 1979)
It all began in June '77, when in the local paper I saw an Isetta chassis advertised. After being told that an Isetta was a bubblecar, I decided that it would be ideal for trying to build my own car. After it had been towed home and had been pushed around the garden a few times, I thought an engine might be of some use, and managed to get one from the brother of the chap who had sold me the chassis.
There were still a number of vital parts missing, and I was stumped for ideas. It was then that I remembered the whereabouts of a black Messerschmitt parked by a pub near St. Albans station some years previously. I called in one lunchtime and the owner was eventually found. Although he couldn't help me, he gave me the telephone number of an Alan Beech (who had used to be an Isetta serviceman) at Leevesden, near Watford. That evening I rang him up and was offered a tatty RHD Isetta 300 for £30. Tuesday evening I went to see him and beheld TBF 237 for the first time. I decided to have it, since if battery and petrol were added it went! Later that week it was towed home, and on arrival it had to be pushed up our steep drive due to a broken gear change cable. This was dult silver soldered back together and sufficed for the time being.
At the beginning of August TBF 237 was towed to a lock up garage in St Albans, where it was to live for several months.
After my holiday, I cycled the five miles every day, armed with wire brush(to cure 'measles'), wet and dry paper, a gallon of water, bucket, body filler,and a radio. These items were later replaced by paint, brush and turps.
School then resumed, and so bubble activities had to be restricted toweekends, and later to Sundays due to the acquisition of a saturday job tosubsidise bubble car number one.
At the beginning of December, Dad came home with an unusual looking newspaper which turned out otbe the Exchange & Mart. A few evenings later I was browsing through the motoring secion and noticed 'Isetta'. There appeared to be an advert by a Martin McKeever who wanted to start an Isetta Owners Club. I wrote to him and was told about a meeting planned for 7th January, which Dad and I duly attended and became members.
From then until May I didn't really do anything to my car since it was complete. At the end of May I had my seventeenth birthday and TBF 237 came out of hibernation to be MOT'd, taxed, and insured. Between then and the 1st August, when I passed my driving test, it travelled over 600 miles, including a trip to the Messerschmitt rally at Kettering where, apart from the Schmitts and me, there was one Heinkel with 'zebra' type paintwork, belonging to Jurg Schmidt of Switzerland. He also owned the other main types of micro-
On 5th August, TBF 237 travelled 240 miles up to Yorkshire for my holiday. The car was averaging 69.8 miles to the gallon, and 80 miles to the pint of oil!
During that week I did a bit of bubble hunting around Whitby, and picked up a window, a sun roof, two manuals, and a bag of assorted nuts, bolts and springs.
A week later I headed west to near Keswick for a further week. By this time my trouble of oil being blown out of the breather tube had got worse, along with a rattle from the engine. On the Wednesday I went to see Gordon Fitzgerald in Kendal with the hope of getting some bits for a very tatty Isetta 300 that I had bought for £30 in Oxon.
19th August arrived in no time, and it was time to return home. At 8am I set off, reaching Otley, West Yorkshire at 11:30am, and stopping off to buy a couple of bits from Paul Champney. At 1pm I departed Otley, stopping later to have lunch. Just as I was setting off again, my parents, who had set off an hour later, caught up with me, not having had any lunch temselves. They didn't catch up again for another hundred miles, and for the last 75 of the 285 miles, we travelled in convoy. So bubblecars aren't that slow!
Unfortunately, by that time my rattle and oil trouble had got dramatically worse; 52 mpg and 15 miles per pint of oil!
The evenings of the following week were spent trying to fit a re-
On 31st August I went down to see Martin in order to get a few remaining parts for car number 2 (YHR 361). It was while I was in Brentwood that I suffereed an unfortunate accident causing a large dent to TBF 237, which has since been off of the road.
Work was urgently transferred to YHR 361 so that it could be ready for Burfors a fortnight later. It took a week to start the engine, since it appeared to be exhausting out of the carburettor. This was rectified after a lump of rag was removed from under the intake valve. Then engine then fired and ran first time. The floor had to be patched up as I didn't think the MOT people would take to kindly to the 'sieve' effect, novel though it was. It passed with a final comment from the tester, "It could do with a coat of paint, couldn't it?" Those of you who were at Burford know what he meant, but for those of you who weren't, but should have been, it was black, blue, grey, three shades of red, white, and rust coloured.
We arrived at Burford in time for the treasure hunt, although Dad and I only got half way round before breaking down. I would like to thank all the people who stopped to help, and also for the tow back to the Wildlife Park.
By lunch the car was going again, and we staggered home. On dismantling the carburettor, it was found that the main jet was broken and the filter filthy, hence the 42 mpg. This has now been rectified to give a minimum 56mpg. The body has now been painted poppy red with beige bumpers, rack, and interior.
At half term, one of the notorious drive couplings broke and jammed the drive shaft so that the car couldn't even be pushed. Luckily, two kind boys in blue lifted the back end up and deposited the car on the pavement, where I dismantled the drive shaft and got towed home by Dad.
YHR 361 is now back on the road, and working well, but neither of my cars has yet got a name. Any ideas?