noah and isetta

noah and isetta

Sunday, October 18, 2015

The Isetta Bubble Cabrio

After spending some time with this car and tearing it all apart for restoration we learned
a great deal about its history and demise.  For one it is a pretty low mileage car with only 11007
original miles, my other 56 bubble had about 36000.    The low mileage was  obvious when we tore into the motor, gearbox and chain drive.  All the internal parts had little wear.  This Isetta has all
original matching #'s,  including the bubble only gearbox.   The demise of the car was a broken exhaust valve that was found embedded into the piston next to the chewed up cylinder head.  After the motor blew the Isetta  sat for who knows how long.  The rarity of this car is quite interesting
considering it is a American spec bubble cabrio with original fresh air vents in the door.  Supposedly
most all 56 bubble cabrios were exported to South America and only a hand full of them had the fresh air vent option in the door.    How this car ended up in Ohio is strange.  This is a true  America spec Isetta.    I have to wonder how many out of the 50 cabrios made were exported to the USA with the fresh air vent door option?  Not to many...   Signal Red appears to be the original color with a matching red plaid seat cover.    We will be restoring this car as close to original as possible.
Stay tuned for more soon.  -Austin



This isn't easy to do!
Vapor blasting
new wheel cylinders
rebuilding the gear box
chassis cleaned, painted and ready for assembly