Isetta of Great Britain
| Isetta of Great Britain Ltd. | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Limited |
| founding | 1956 |
| resolution | 1964 or later |
| Seat | Brighton , UK |
| Branch | Automobiles |
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Isetta of Great Britain was a British manufacturer of automobiles .
prehistory
Iso Rivolta had developed the Iso Isetta in 1952/53 and presented it at the Turin Motor Show in 1953 . BMW acquired a license , revised the concept and launched the vehicle as the BMW Isetta . AFN , manufacturer of the Frazer Nash and official partner of BMW, presented a vehicle on its stand at the Earls Court Motor Show in the Earls Court Exhibition Center in 1955 . Since AFN preferred to sell BMW's expensive sports cars such as the BMW 507 , its sales efforts for the Isetta were lax, according to a source. The Suez crisis and the subsequent fuel shortage increased the public's interest in this economical vehicle. AFN offered both Standard Motor Company and Armstrong Siddeley to market the car, to no avail. Then Ronald J. Ashley came into play.
Company history
Ashley was on the board of directors at Armstrong Siddeley. He founded the new company in Brighton in 1956 . On April 2, 1957, the presentation took place in front of over 200 dealers and potential major customers at The Dorchester Hotel in London . Production began on April 15, 1957. Another source confirms the start of assembly in April 1957. The brand name was BMW .
The distribution took place not only in Great Britain, but also to Scandinavia and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations . An order for 1000 vehicles came from Canada .
In the summer of 1959, the Mini appeared as a strong competitor in the price segment. Nevertheless, production did not end until 1964. A total of around 30,000 vehicles were built.
It is not known if the company was liquidated immediately after production stopped.
vehicles
The only model largely corresponded to the BMW Isetta. In addition to the Motocoupé convertible , pick-up and possibly also a panel van . Initially, many parts came from German suppliers. Lucas Industries , Lockheed, Bendix, Girling, Smiths and other UK companies later supplied two-thirds of the parts.
Most of the vehicles were tricycles, which offered advantages in terms of road tax and driving license in the UK . Since left-hand traffic applies there, many vehicles were delivered as right-hand drive. As in the original, the engine was on the right behind the seat bench. Also, since the driver was on the right, most of the weight was on the right. A 70 kg weight was mounted on the left to compensate. This additional weight required the installation of the more powerful engine with 300 cm³ displacement , while the BMW Isetta was mainly available with a 250 cm³ engine.
A visual differentiator to the original are the front bumper bars on many vehicles. They arise from the front fenders , from there they run relatively horizontally to the front, then relatively straight downwards and disappear from there below the front door. They didn't hinder access as much as they did with the US version of the BMW Isetta, where the bumper bars ran further inside and which also had a front bumper on the door.
literature
- Georg Seeliger: Cars that made history: BMW small cars. Isetta, 600 & 700. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01500-5 .
Web links
- Isetta Owners Club of Great Britain (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Georg Seeliger: Cars that made history: BMW small cars. Isetta, 600 & 700. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01500-5 .
- ^ Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 420 .