ROLLERei und MOBIL - Sept. 1955

Isetta - Center Brake Light

As far as I know, most of the sliding window export models that found their way to the United States did not have center brake lights. Most of the Isettas exported to the US had a black opaque plastic insert manufactured by Hella that provided illumination only for the license plate.

As you can see, my tag light lens is in pieces. One side of the lens was already broken when I removed the housing. After I had carefully ground the head off the rivet on the other side, I was pushing it out and broke the other side. WARNING - these lenses are VERY brittle and easily break.

The plastic of the US tag light insert looks to have been crudely notched by hand to accept a different type of bulb and socket than what was originally intended. I guess either Hella or BMW did not want to spend the money making a new mold for the US export models.

I wanted to have a center brake light on my Isetta so I picked up a new reproduction brake/tag light from Isettas "R" Us. Now I need to call Werner and see if he has a replacement for the tag lens I broke.

Rheingold Beer

Beginning in 1940 and continuing through 1964 Rheingold Beer's media campaign held a "Miss Rheingold Pageant" with the winner decided by votes from the public. It was a wildly popular advertising campaign. The above advertisement features Madelyn Darrow "Miss Rheingold 1958" posing with an Isetta. Miss Rheingold (Madelyn Darrow) also appeared on a BMW Isetta 300 and 600 brochure produced by BMW.

Isetta - Cushion Between Frame & Body

The Isettas original padding between the frame and body was kind of a fibrous webbing type material. I'm not sure what it was made from, but it was pretty crumbly when I was scraping it off the frame. For it's replacement I picked up a roll of 1.25" wide x 3/16" thick camper top weather strip from Metro Molded Parts (look under universal parts). A 25' roll sells for about 17.00. Metro Molded Parts also sells exterior rubber kits for the Isetta as well as the bumper to body seal, engine cover bumpers, and the stop bumpers for the front steering knuckles. Even though Metro is the manufacturer of these items, often Isetta parts suppliers sell them for less than you can purchase them for from Metro.

Isetta - Speedometer

For me, the Isetta's VDO speedometer is another iconic design feature of the Isetta. Anybody who knows Isetta's instantly recognizes the graphics of this beautiful little speedometer. I'm getting ready to ship mine off to Palo Alto Speedometer to be refurbished. I'll update this post with some pictures of the refurbished speedometer when I get it back.

7/11/2011 - I just received my speedometer back from Palo Alto Speedometer. It received a full cosmetic and mechanical restoration. As you can see from the photos, they did a beautiful job. I can't wait until my car is painted and this baby is back in the dash.

The original number dials which were replaced during the restoration of my speedometer.

Saab 96

On my way to the hardware store yesterday and saw this Saab 96 sitting in a parking lot. Ok, it's not a microcar, but I still like them. I get the impression that old Saabs aren't that popular with collectors in the US which is fine by me. I've seen some pretty nice ones sell on ebay for very reasonable prices. While I was snapping these pictures, a rather grumpy man informed me this one was NOT for sale.

Microcars Swarm the Big Apple

An ultra rare 1932 Martin Martinette. Clicking on the photo will take you to a post on Hemmings Blog about the great microcar exhibit at this years New York International Auto Show.