1958 BMW Isetta 600 Coupe

Bayerische Motoren Werk purchased Italian industrialist Renzo Rivolta's Isetta minicar enterprise in 1954. Prior to World War II, BMW had been a manufacturer of motorcycles and sports cars. After the war, they were in precarious circumstances as their Munich factory had been destroyed, and their plant in Eisenach lay in Soviet territory. Car manufacture did not resume until 1952, and it consisted of a single model, the 501. The car was nicknamed the 'Baroque Angel,' for its swoopy line. Unfortunately, sales languished, leaving BMW in need of a lower-priced model. So the company went to the other extreme, acquiring the rights to the small one-door Isetta. The 'bubble car' was given a four-cylinder BMW motorcycle engine, and in the next 15 years, they sold more than 160,000 of them.

The market the vehicle to an even wider audience, the Isetta was enlarged to allow seating for four. It was given a right-side door for the rear seat and a 582 cubic-centimeter flat-twin engine from the R67 motorcycle and mated to a four-speed gearbox. The front suspension was from the Isetta, as was the refrigerator-style front door, and new semi-trailing arm independent suspension was derived for the rear. Between August of 1957 to 1959, around 35,000 examples were built.

This example is a rust-free Colorado car which is powered by its original matching-numbers, and it has had only two owners from new. The car was stored for three decades by a dealer in Longmont, Colorado, and was given a restoration in 20013 at Agger Automotive in Englewood, Colorado. The work was a nut-and-bolt process that included a full mechanical rebuild. Upon completion, the car was painted in white over blue, and it is fitted with a cloth upholstery in two shades of grey.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2014