When was the last time you saw an Isetta?

[MacGyver]

I was out on the deck this afternoon, and could hear a small single cylinder engine winding it's way up through the valley. It's a pretty steep section of road, and it sounded like a small motorcycle screaming it's heart out trying to make the grade. Pretty soon it popped into view and lo and behold, it's a bright yellow BMW Isetta! The driver wound that little motor up as tight as it would go and grabbed a higher gear but the gear ratio spread was obviously too much and after a few seconds of lugging it he dropped back to the lower screaming gear and disappeared up the hill and around the corner.

It's been a over 30 years since I've seen an Isetta on the road....


Steve

[dpollo]

I cannot recall seeing an Isetta running for 40 years anyway. A friend had one more recently but never ran it. I was fascinated by the way the steering wheel fastened to the front door with a universal joint.

 I remember a time when I could recognize many makes of cars and trucks by the noises they made.  Who of us born in the first half of the last century will ever forget the sound of a Ford V8 starter, or of the gears in the flathead powered trucks. Or how about a Chev six with a split manifold winding up to a sizzling 3500 rpm ? My favourite engine sound is a sweet running Plymouth six. I have several now and have never actually  been without one for 50 years.  Music.  Except when a rod went bad in the first one. But the car with the most unique exhaust sound has to be a Model A Ford.    dp

[mobile_bob]

there are a few of the isetta's as well as a couple messersmits (sp) here in a collection in tacoma.
if i am not mistaken the collection has a couple of other rare oddities that fit that group as well.

special sounds

a properly tuned 12v71, sweet
a VT-903 cummins, nothing on the planet that is a 4 stroke diesel has such a sweet note
and the infamous four and a quarter cat, (1693), has a special place in my heart as well.

my favorite will always be the VT-903 cummins, just is no cleaner, sweeter and more recognizable diesel sound ever conceived by man.

bob g

[dieseldave]

 
Last summer(07). I was at the Mainstreet Cruisers Wednesday get together. Usually the same stuff all the time(Rods,Customs etc) .

    The next thing that comes around the corner is a BMW Isetta, then a Citroen 2CV! Then a Messershmit! Then a NSU Prinz!

     It was the 'Nothing over 1000Lb club' on tour!  The suspension layout on the 2CV is interesting. The frame rails consist of 2 round steel tubes,inside these tubes are coil springs. Very clever!

[Canuck]

My Father bought a Prinz back in the early sixties... He and my Mother drove that thing from Vancouver B.C. to London Ontario. Very few people along the way had ever seen one. I remember that the little twin cylinder engine needed frequent exhaust valve work, but it never let us down. Once we even towed a utility trailer full of fruit back from the interior with it; with a thunderous 26 hp on tap we got passed by fully loaded semi trailers going up hills! 

Much later I bought a NSU TT110,  kind of a souped up big brother to the Prinz. That car had a 1 litre, overhead cam, inline four in it; still air cooled but lots more power than the Prinz. That car took me back and forth to University until a broken headlight caused it to be written off. I tried for months to find a replacement but there were none to be had anywhere. Eventually I sold the engine to a guy that was going to put it into a motor cycle. Sort of a Munch Mamoth clone.

Rob

[MacGyver]

special sounds

a properly tuned 12v71, sweet

Oh yes, anything with cylinders in multiples of 3 sounds nice to me..
I love the sound of well tuned inline or flat sixes.

And the 12V71.  Yes, they do sing a sweet song when heavily loaded!

Long ago I worked for a yard that had a pair of 350KW 3-phase generators powered by 12V71's.
Just the thought of them gave me a warm fuzzy feeling...  852 cubic inches of 12 cylinder 2-stroke. Complete with the obligatory pair of blowers PLUS a pair of turbochargers, one to feed the inlet of each blower. How much HP does it take to make 350KW?  550-600HP?  Let's see...  600HP @ 1800RPM = uhhh... about 1750 ft lbs of torque! Not too bad for 852 cu in, even if it is 2-stroke.

 One of ours blew up out on a job site when a turbo scattered and dumped bits of vanes through the blower.  Very bad...


Steve

[4x4_Welder]

Multiples of three do sound sweet-
I used to work security at this little shipyard next to the Coast Guard academy in New London, CT, and their security guys drove around in this little Daihatsu cart.  It had a three cylinder engine about 600cc, manual tranny, and the exhaust was long rotted off.  The guy on night shift would pull around the corner in front of my guard shack, and gun that thing in first up the hill.  It must have been turning somewhere north of 6,000rpm the whole way, just screaming and sounding way more potent than it really was-  especially at 3am when everything else is quiet.
The straight six in my truck is pissing me off though-  Five liters, almost no exhaust, and it just doesn't sound throaty.  My wife's old Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0 sounded tougher.  There's a guy here in town with an old Ford station wagon that has a 170 straight six that sounds WAY meaner than my truck.

[Tom]

I'll go for the multiples of 3. I built a Spit6 which is a '71 Triumph Spitfire with a '67 GT6 engine. It had a 6 into 1 chrome header and a little bitty muffler. Man did that car sound great at around 6 grand in a parking garage.  I made a custom bell housing to fit a Toyota 5 speed tranny and I swear I could go through the gears so fast, it sounded like a bike. It was geared a bit low though as 70 MPH was about 4 grand on the tac.

[max.network23]

Pulling out of lurk mode here...  I'm a british car guy. I have an 85 jag xj6. Very nice straight six. Sounds wonderful. (I also have a Midget. go-cart for the road.)

There is a guy in the brit club around here that has a beautiful Isetta in his "barn". Get to see it every few months for tech nights.

[dpollo]

Did a top end overhaul on a 1938 SS (Jaguar). It was a fairly conventional pushrod OHV six but it had dual exhausts.  That thing surely sounded nice. It was for sale and fetched $1750.  Way beyond my budget in 1969 but I have often regretted the lost opportunity. Sterling silver jaguar on the radiator cap. It had right hand steering and was a "drop head" coupe. Beautiful transmission , 4 fwd speeds with "herringbone" gears.  Cable operated mechanical brakes , not really up to date but they worked OK.

 I did learn about Whitworth torque specs......... you know , tighten it up until it strips then back it off half a turn.  just kidding.  dp