The "outside luggage carrier with chrome finish" is a dealer installed option. Backup lights are rarely seen on Isettas, but the dealer installed them on this one. There are few Isettas as loaded as this one.

Isettas for European delivery did not have the rear chrome "nerf bars" and freestanding tail lights. Instead, the tail lights were mounted in the body where the chrome nerf bars are mounted on US Export Isettas. Theoretically, the front and rear nerf bars on US Export Isettas add collision protection (doubtful).

I purchased this Isetta in 2019 from the original owner, 93 year old Great Autos member Jack Charney. In 1957, Jack was so taken with the appearance of this car on the showroom floor, he bought it for $1,100 without a test drive. Jack drove this Isetta from his home in the hills of Topanga Canyon to and from his hair salon in Brentwood daily for several years. Jack's home is on a hill with a steep driveway, no problem for the Isetta's tiny engine.

View this link to see a fun video of Jack with his beloved Isetta made several years ago. https://petrolicious.com/films/jack-s-toy-is-a-bmw-isetta

Surprisingly, the door mounted interior light was a rarely purchased option. Available for installation by dealers for $8, few Isetta buyers opted for it. Sunvisors, inside and outside rear view mirrors, ashtray and windshield wipers are optional. This Isetta is loaded! It even has the rarely ordered dual windshield wipers. The tiny gray oval shaped Bosch wiper motor mounted on the door to the right of the instrument cluster barely moves one wiper blade, let alone two.

Instrumentation is sparse: speedometer, turn signal, generator, and high beam indicator lights. There is no fuel gauge. The fuel tank has a 3.2 gallon capacity. When fuel runs out and the engine stumbles from fuel starvation, the driver can flip a lever on the package tray behind his right shoulder to a fuel reserve for 15 more miles of driving to a gas station. There is no fuel pump. Fuel from the tank to the carburetor is gravity feed.

Shifting gears takes getting used to, with the lever on the driver's left side. The gearbox has 4 forward speeds + reverse. No synchromesh, so grinding gears is hard to avoid.

The tan flexible hose and gray snout to the left of the instrument cluster is the defroster. Below the tan hose are 2 levers: choke and heater. There is a heater outlet snout under the seat with a knob to control airflow up to the defroster snout or down to the underseat heater snout. It has been said a candle on the package tray is warmer than an Isetta heater, also said to have the warmth of a dog's breath.

The grille on the door panel is the optional "Isetta air conditioner" which is nothing more than air flowing from the outside door grilles.

Export Isettas for the US market used this basket-weave seat vinyl, also used on the door panel and passenger side pouch. Isettas for European delivery were equipped with plaid pattern fabric, not the basket-weave vinyl.

The BMW Isetta 300 is so named for the 300cc, 1 cylinder, 13hp, air cooled BMW motorcycle engine, accessed through the louvered rear side panel.

This Isetta is equipped with the optional "Isetta Air Conditioner." The two grilles on the door admit outside air through a grille on the inside door panel. These grilles are an early impletation of the trademark grilles featured on every BMW since.

This Isetta is equipped with optional and rare dual windshield wipers. Most Isettas have only one wiper blade.

Isettas were equipped with a cloth opening soft top which serves as an "escape hatch" in the event a front collision renders the door inoperable.

Ford was late to the game with no fully integrated AC until 1965. This below dash SelectAire unit was the best of the 2 factory AC options. Original AM/FM radio is located above.

Hazel is photographed in a carport in the famous Cul de Sac in Canyon View Estates, Palm Springs.