It's a Slughi!

I haven't had much time recently to work on my Isetta or other vehicle projects, but that hasn't stopped me from finding another bike. I recently acquired this 1964 Parilla Slughi. This is the 99cc 4-stroke version. The bike looks pretty nice in these photos, but it's a classic 10 footer. Looks good from 10 feet away, but the closer you get, the more you see wrong. The body paint wouldn't have been bad except for overspray in areas and all the hardware was painted over. Rather than re-chrome or clean metal, many parts were just spray painted silver. It's also missing a few items such as proper fuel petcock, speedometer, taillight, horn, and horn switch. The brakes are not working so I need to figure out whats going on with them.  I'm sure there are probably several other things that are going to need some mechanical TLC. It also needs some other things such as new tires, sprockets, and chain before it's rode worthy. If anybody reading this has post has Slughi parts, I'd love to hear from you.

My wife is convinced I need a Mahha GoGoGo (Speed Racer) outfit to go with this bike. Hmmm.... I don't know, maybe on Halloween or special occasions. 

A few photos with the side panels removed showing the engine. Note the cylinder and head that were spray painted silver over the original engine grime. An inline fuel petcock was added because of missing original petcock. Another thing not real visible in these photos is the engine chain guard is missing and chain has almost wore through the case above the gearshift lever. I had hoped this bike was going to be in good enough condition to ride and enjoy this summer, but now after getting the bike, I think I'm just going to completely disassemble it and give it a proper restoration.

Fuel Filter - OMG!!!

I'm not talking about the cool little Italian made OMG Fuel Filters, I'm talking OMG can you believe what this Isetta Everbest Fuel Filter sold for on ebay!

The Motor Cycle - November 1957

Resentment of anything German was strong in post war Britain. Realizing this, BMW made the decision to assemble Isettas for the British market in the UK and sourced many parts from British companies. They also designed a 3-wheel version of the Isetta to accommodate British tax laws and drivers license regulations. Some British Isettas were also fitted with Smith's "Selectroshift" transmissions.

Midwest Weather

A few weeks ago KC had back to back snow storms that each dumped about 12 inches of snow. Living in a 100 year old flat roof building really had me worried because roofs were collapsing all over town. Thankfully my building survived snowmageddon.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. Today was beautiful and 78 degrees! Perfect weather for a ride on the Csepel.

Isetta - Battery Blues

Before I put the interior panel in on the drivers side of my Isetta, I wanted to connect the battery and test that electrical system was working correctly. Unfortunately a mistake I made was I bought my battery a little premature in the restoration process. It's been sitting for a couple of years on a trickle charger. I occasionally used it to power a winch or with a power inverter during power outages. Now that I'm ready to install it in my Isetta, I made a couple of angle brackets that  basically moved the terminals from the top to the front side of the battery. The reason I did this was so that I could add a battery cutoff switch that was easy to access, and to move the battery connections away from the seat springs which has been the cause of many Isetta fires. It was a good plan but when I connected my cables I got NOTHING. At first I panicked thinking something was wrong with my wiring. Prior to installing the battery, I had a green light on my charger showing it was charged, but a quick check with the volt meter showed it was only at 7V and dropping fast. I removed it from the car and the next morning after leaving it off the charger overnight it drained down below 1V. Suffice to say, I think this battery is toast. Since not a single electrical thing worked on the car, I'm really hoping the battery is the only problem, and even though I'm not happy I have to buy another battery, I'd be thrilled if this is the only problem and everything checks out when I get a new battery. Until then?????

Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum Auction Results

Well it's all over. When I received my catalog, my initial thought were that the auction estimates were very high. I was stunned to see that most of the cars and other items in the auction exceeded their estimates. Some of the highlights would include a 1956 BMW Isetta Bubble Window Cabrio that sold for $89,700. A 1958 Goggomobil TL400 Transporter sold for $172,500. A 1955 Fuji Cabin sold for $126,500. A 1964 Peel P50 that sold for $120,750. A 1957 Jurisch Motoplan Prototype that sold for $103,500. A 1955 Inter 175A Berline that sold for $161,000. A 1951 Reyonnah that sold for $184,000 and a record shattering 1958 F.M.R Tg 500 Tiger that sold for $322,000. To see the complete results, click on the above photo to go to the RM Auction results page.

Isetta - Gas Cap

An original gas cap for the German made Isetta's. The material is bakelite with a painted aluminum emblem.

Here's another version of the Isetta gas cap. I've seen some metal reproduction caps that looked like this and didn't realize they were based on this original bakelite gas cap. I'm guessing this is an earlier version than what was on my Isetta's. As you can see from the final ebay bidding price, it was quite a hot commodity.