THE BURFORD RALLY - 1979

by Tony Marshall (published in the Isetta Gazette October 1979)

The Burford Micro-car rally took place, as advertised, on 15th-16th September, at Burford, Oxfordshire. My own geeling is that it was probably the best so far, due in no part ot the very large number of Isetta's that turned up. I have always said in the past that isetta owners in Britain were about the least enthusiastic of all micro-car owners, but I will certainly have to change my views now. I did not count the total number of Isetta's present, or the total number of micro-cars, though I believe the grand total to be around 150. Of special interest were the cars that had come over from Germany and Holland to take part. These included Goggomobil cars and a van, Autobianchi Quatroposti, Messerschmitts, Citroen 2CV, and, of course, Isetta's, one of which sported full US trim, and looked really smart. There ws only one real disaster, and that concerned the Isetta of Herbert Bartsch, who managed to get all the way from Germany to Oxford, only to burn a hole in the top of his piston on Oxford by-pass. He was not able to repair the damage, so hitched a lift in the Goggomobil saloon driven by Bodo Eggers, leaving the Isetta to be transported home by the AA and their German equivelent, the ADAC.

We were particularly pleased to see Otto Kunecke at Burford, taking time off from his farm and the museum, as well as many of the friends that we had met and mate at Störy in May. Henry Rutgers was there from Holland, although he was driving the Autobianchi rather than any of his Isetta's. For the first time we had a celebrity to award the prizes. He was Henry Brown, the designer of the Hunslet Scootercar, and he actually arrived from his home in Cambrigeshire in his own immaculate Scootercar Mark 2. In fact, it really was a good day for Scootercars. In the past they have been rather thin on the ground, a fact that has never really been a surprise to anybody as the total number made was only about 1,500. However, this year, there was no less than SEVEN present. Other cars included six Peels in various conditions, one of which had been driven to the Rally from Bristol, some fifty miles distant. There were also the usual array of Berkeley's, Bond,s Heinkels, Trojans, Schmitts, plus one or two rather more unusual examples such as the Velorex, Flipper, Astra, Vespa 400, Weinsburg, and a Nobel 200.

The weather, once again, was excellent, the only problem was that the sun was too bright to take photographs from certain angles. In fact, I didn't have time to use my camera at all, and handed it to Jeremy Walton with the instruction that he should use up the film. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the film back from the processors. He's taken some great shots!

Unfortunatley, the Isetta's did not shine at the Treasure Hunt, probably due to the fact that winners, Schmitt owners, had had experience with this type of event. Likewise, Isetta's were not finalists in the other driving events. However, in the 'People's Choice' an Isetta was chosen as the most popular car at the Rally, according to non micro car owners. It was RBF 85, belonging to Mrs Margaret Farr.