A BMW just may be in my future!

cars · Post by **cars** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:02 pm

This little BMW beauty has a 19hp engine, & a top speed of 62mph!

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:04 pm

Cool with gas prices it will come in handy if you can't drive it you can carry it. :driving:

cars · Post by **cars** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:16 pm

CARLA;886501 wrote: Cool with gas prices it will come in handy if you can't drive it you can carry it. :driving:
:yh_rotfl :yh_rotfl :yh_rotfl

Patsy Warnick · Post by **Patsy Warnick** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:31 pm

I Love It.. It's smaller than my Golf Cart - very cute

Is it @ the same size of that Smart Car, it's tiny, and flying out of the production line...

Remember the '70's - Honda's tiny little car, everyone thought it was a joke ??

Patsy

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:46 pm

That's the BMW Isetta, manufactured in Italy during the 1950s. My neighbour had one when I was a little kid. Later on, when I was about eight, a big, burly dude used to drive an acid green one to the weightlifting club across the street from our house. It was so light that four of us kids could move it, and we did one day, as a joke. The big guy thought it was pretty funny.

BMW is seriously considering reintroducing it to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SmartCar. Here is a rendition of the prototype. The freaky front door is gone. That was one of the coolest things about these funky little cars, although I'm sure it wasn't very safe.

Attached files

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:42 am

Here's a better one for you-a chevvy-65bhp, top speed 97MPH 60 to the gallon and it'll fir in the back of your suv when it gets tired

http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/matiz/matiz- ... ssion.html

cars · Post by **cars** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:00 am

Richard Bell;887224 wrote: That's the BMW Isetta, manufactured in Italy during the 1950s. My neighbour had one when I was a little kid. Later on, when I was about eight, a big, burly dude used to drive an acid green one to the weightlifting club across the street from our house. It was so light that four of us kids could move it, and we did one day, as a joke. The big guy thought it was pretty funny.

BMW is seriously considering reintroducing it to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SmartCar. Here is a rendition of the prototype. The freaky front door is gone. That was one of the coolest things about these funky little cars, although I'm sure it wasn't very safe.

Strange vehicles: BMW 600 Microcar

The BMW 600 microcar was shown at the 1957 Frankfurt motor show. The 600 was powered by a four stroke, 2 cylinder 585 cc engine developing 19 horsepower at 4000 rpm. This motor gave the BMW 600 a top speed of 62 mph through a 4 speed manual gearbox.

The BMW 600 sold well in America where it was fitted with sealed beam headlights and larger bumpers to conform to safety regulations. The BMW 600 also sold well in Argentina.

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:59 am

OK, now I can see the two rear wheels.

The Isetta was the three wheeled version that was built under license from BMW in Italy. Only one rear wheel.

The Isetta was part of the small car market here (such as it was) when I was a kid, along with Fiats, Austins, Renaults, and of course, the VW Beetle.

The Beetle soon dominated the market, until the Japanese started selling cars here in the late sixties. By the early seventies, Toyota and Datsun (what Nissan originally called themselves in North America) had taken over much of the small car segment, which had become much larger since the sixties.

Here's the three wheel Isetta version, and a peek at the luxurious interior :

Attached files

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:03 am

Anyone driving that car at 62 miles an hour is trying to commit suicide..:wah:

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:06 am

Patsy Warnick;886524 wrote: I Love It.. It's smaller than my Golf Cart - very cute

Is it @ the same size of that Smart Car, it's tiny, and flying out of the production line...

Remember the '70's - Honda's tiny little car, everyone thought it was a joke ??

Patsy

I had their other small car, the Civic. Oh, I miss it terribly sometimes, especially with gas prices.

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:08 am

gmc;887272 wrote: Here's a better one for you-a chevvy-65bhp, top speed 97MPH 60 to the gallon and it'll fir in the back of your suv when it gets tired

http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/matiz/matiz- ... ssion.html

That's what the Big Three auto makers should be selling here. (We do get the Korean made Chevy Aveo, and I see lots of them on the streets).:driving:

Where is the Matiz made?

Oh, and BTW, does anybody else think that "Captiva" is a weird name for a vehicle? Happened to see that one on the same page.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:11 am

Richard Bell;887685 wrote: That's what the Big Three auto makers should be selling here. (We do get the Korean made Chevy Aveo, and I see lots of them on the streets).:driving:

Where is the Matiz made?

Oh, and BTW, does anybody else think that "Captiva" is a weird name for a vehicle? Happened to see that one on the same page.

Yes I do think "Captiva" is a weird name. Like are you supposed to be trapped in your car at all times? Do the doors open at a certain time? Sounds like you need to be ransomed out of your car.:wah:

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:14 am

I'd be claustrophobic in them tiny things! :-3 :wah:

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:30 am

qsducks;887689 wrote: Yes I do think "Captiva" is a weird name. Like are you supposed to be trapped in your car at all times? Do the doors open at a certain time? Sounds like you need to be ransomed out of your car.:wah:

I read a magazine article years ago that said General Motors was horrified to learn that "camaro" was a word in Mexico for "diarrhea".

The same article also noted that Toyota's two seater sports car of the 1980s, the MR2, sounded very much like "merde" when it was pronounced in French. Merde translates to English as "sh!t".

"Captiva" makes me think of hostages. I guess it's derived from "captivating", but I still think it's a poor name.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:33 am

Richard Bell;887713 wrote: I read a magazine article years ago that said General Motors was horrified to learn that "camaro" was a word in Mexico for "diarrhea".

The same article also noted that Toyota's two seater sports car of the 1980s, the MR2, sounded very much like "merde" when it was pronounced in French. Merde translates to English as "sh!t".

"Captiva" makes me think of hostages. I guess it's derived from "captivating", but I still think it's a poor name.

Exactly! I also read that the Chevy Nova mean't "doesn't run" in Mexico.

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:50 am

Richard Bell;887713 wrote: I read a magazine article years ago that said General Motors was horrified to learn that "camaro" was a word in Mexico for "diarrhea".

The same article also noted that Toyota's two seater sports car of the 1980s, the MR2, sounded very much like "merde" when it was pronounced in French. Merde translates to English as "sh!t".

"Captiva" makes me think of hostages. I guess it's derived from "captivating", but I still think it's a poor name.
So when i was being served merde sauce in France I was eating.........

I thought I was there before the French started hating us Amercans..:wah:

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:04 pm

Richard Bell;887685 wrote: That's what the Big Three auto makers should be selling here. (We do get the Korean made Chevy Aveo, and I see lots of them on the streets).:driving:

Where is the Matiz made?

Oh, and BTW, does anybody else think that "Captiva" is a weird name for a vehicle? Happened to see that one on the same page.

They're all made in korea-used to be part of daewoo who sold their car division to GM but wouldn't let them keep the name.

The aveo comes out here later in the year. It's one I'm going to have a look at. I'm going to have to replace my car soon and am at the pleasant stage of thinking about it. I find myself looking at smaller cars. Chevrolet is a but naff so was daewoo con=e to that but they're actually quite good cars-my wife has one.

Naff is the new cool imo. The kind of car that says the owner doesn't care what other think.

cars · Post by **cars** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 pm

[quote=sunny104;887691]I'd be claustrophobic in them tiny things! :-3 :wah:[/quote

Just leave the windows open!!!:p

:rolleyes: :wah:

Patsy Warnick · Post by **Patsy Warnick** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:40 pm

Who remembers the Sunbeam ???

Tiny little car similar to this thread.

cute little toggle switches for the wipers & lights. rea; tiny car

Cozy

Patsy

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:18 am

cars;888065 wrote: [quote=sunny104;887691]I'd be claustrophobic in them tiny things! :-3 :wah:[/quote

Just leave the windows open!!!:p

:rolleyes: :wah:

A lot of cars sold here now have air conditioning. Windows have always worked fine for me. Heaters with three speed fans now they're much more useful.

cars · Post by **cars** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:06 am

I used to have a car called the "RONZONI", which stood for:

Runs Only When You Push it!:p

:wah: :rolleyes: