The return of the bubble car

 

Daily Mail -  With fuel prices hitting their highest level in four years, you might be forgiven for wanting to live in a bubble.

Well soon, thanks to an enterprising pair of young brothers from Switzerland, you’ll be closer to doing just that. For if Oliver and Merlin Ouboter get their way, our streets will be humming with the electric purr of their extraordinary new motor — a bubble car called the Microlino.

Boasting a 20-horsepower motor copied from a small forklift, a total length just shy of 8 ft, a range of 75 miles and a top speed of 56 mph, the Microlino is motoring on a small — almost microscopic — scale.

But while the size and performance may be positively bonsai, demand for this bubble car is booming. The brothers initially planned a reservation list of only 500 orders, but they have already received a whopping 7,200 and are hoping to hit an annual output of 10,000 cars.

....Those with long memories will recognise that the Microlino looks very similar to one of the first bubble cars — the iconic Isetta, which sold a staggering 162,000 worldwide.

Designed in 1953 by Italian Renzo Rivolta, whose company made fridges, the Isetta was a response to the public’s desire for an affordable vehicle, as well as one that could negotiate the narrow streets in Italian towns.

Sam Smith - In the 1950s, as a new Washington radio news reporter, I travelled the capital in two cars: a Nash Rambler and an Isetta. The light blue Rambler had WWDC NEWS, in reverse image, painted on its hood in large dark blue letters, thus allowing the sign to be read correctly in a rear view mirror. The style would become common, especially with ambulances, but at the time was the sort of novelty WWDC loved.

The Rambler had an even more startling, albeit unintentional, characteristic. The front seats of Ramblers folded down to become beds. Unfortunately, this capability had developed an anarchistic streak in our model, resulting in a tendency for the driver's seat back to become prone whenever sturdy brake pressure was applied, say at an ordinary stop light.

The Rambler was, however, the more conventional vehicle of the two. The Isetta, an Italian import, was far smaller than any car on the road, and powered by a motor scooter engine. It had four wheels, but they were tiny and the two in back were almost adjacent to each other. You sat in what amounted to little more than a cockpit with barely enough room for a 210-pound reporter and a radio telephone. The door doubled as the entire front end, with the steering wheel swinging out of the way for entrance and egress. More than once I pulled up to a wall or post only to remember that I had blocked my own departure.

A 1957 ISETTA OF THE SAME MODEL THE AUTHOR DROVE
AS A RADIO NEWS REPORTER.
[Microcar & Minicar Club]   Via Mr DC Memories
From its door-width bow, the Isetta slimmed almost to a point in the stern. It was painted bright red with the words WWDC NEWS inscribed in large white letters. In sum, the Isetta looked much like a lopsided, egotistical, overgrown tomato rolling down the highway.

It was not the best way to cover the news. The Isetta had a flank speed of 50 mph on flat, good pavement, and it practically had to be pedaled up hills. This sometimes interfered with arriving promptly at the scene of a distant fire, murder or drowning. Nonetheless, no one at WWDC would admit that novelty in this case had gotten a bit out of hand. Besides, the Isetta's light carriage allowed me to push it out of mud and sand in which a heavier car would have become mired.