Author Topic: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car  (Read 5294 times)

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 14141
  • Happily stuck in the past.
    • Antietam Classic Cycle
  • Location: Rohrersville, Maryland
Charlie

Moto

  • Guest
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2017, 02:45:47 PM »
Sure is! My Dad bought one of the originals, and I've been fond of them ever since.

The projected cost is given as follows: Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt können wir leider noch keine definitiven Angaben zum Preis machen. Der anvisierte Basispreis liegt bei rund 12'000 Euro.

I wonder if the  U.S. homologation or whatever they call it will be a lot quicker for an electric vehicle than we're accustomed to.

I could be enthusiastic about that one for the stated price.

Moto

Online PJPR01

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 3935
  • Norge, Scura, Griso
  • Location: Houston, Texas
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2017, 03:05:37 PM »
$12K Euro's seems quite pricey for such a small iconic vehicle.  You could get several motorcycles for that amount, or a decent used VW Diesel as well!

Das Preis ist ein bisschen zu viel glaube ich, nicht wahr?

:)
Paul R
2021 Honda Goldwing Bagger Manual Cement Gray
2015 Red/Black Griso
2008 Silver Norge
2002 V11 Scura

oldbike54

  • Guest
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2017, 03:11:14 PM »
 I would own that , for most of my driving it would be perfect  :thumb:

 Dusty

Wildguzzi.com

Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2017, 03:11:14 PM »

Offline Lannis

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 26507
  • Location: Central Virginia
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 03:39:03 PM »
http://www.micro-mobility.com/de/micro-erleben/microlino



For decades people have been trying to sell microcars - you can buy books showing all of them in their cuteness, lightness, maneuverability, and cheapness.

And yet they never seem to make it.   We all think we'd like to have one, but they never seem to sell.

Even "Smart Cars".   My Festiva gets better mileage than they do, so I have another name for them.

I have nothing against little bitty cars, obviously, having learned to drive in a Renault Dauphine, and owning a '67 Beetle, a '70 Honda 600 sedan, a Morgan 4/4, and two Festivas.    But I don't see the advantage in a microcar ...

Lannis
"Hard pounding, this, gentlemen; let's see who pounds the longest".

Offline guzzisteve

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 11423
  • "Just Ride It"
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 04:03:11 PM »
I think I would wear a helmet if I drove one.   The range is pretty good, and it will charge on high for 1hr to be 80%.
"Pray through Carlo & your bike shall be healed"
Location: Planet Earth

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 14141
  • Happily stuck in the past.
    • Antietam Classic Cycle
  • Location: Rohrersville, Maryland
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 04:22:48 PM »
For decades people have been trying to sell microcars - you can buy books showing all of them in their cuteness, lightness, maneuverability, and cheapness.

And yet they never seem to make it.   We all think we'd like to have one, but they never seem to sell.

Even "Smart Cars".   My Festiva gets better mileage than they do, so I have another name for them.

I have nothing against little bitty cars, obviously, having learned to drive in a Renault Dauphine, and owning a '67 Beetle, a '70 Honda 600 sedan, a Morgan 4/4, and two Festivas.    But I don't see the advantage in a microcar ...

Lannis

Well, this one is electric, so for cities that are banning or otherwise regulating IC powered vehicles within their borders, this one and others like it seem to make lots of sense. For someone living in the country or suburbia? Not at all.

The original Isetta was pretty successful, selling 162,000 units, so it seems like it "made it" after all.

One advantage of a microcar is the ease of parking, likely two Microlinos could park in the space of one "normal" compact car. Less parking room used, less need for more parking spaces, decks or lots. Light weight means the tires and brakes should last much longer. Less raw materials and energy used in their construction. Plenty of advantages if you ask me...

I knew your Festiva would somehow find it's way into this thread, so, I'll add my own "high miler". I recently purchased and "rehabbed" a '91 VW Jetta diesel - 2dr., manual everything. Peppy for only having 54 hp. First tank I got 48 mpg, mixed highway and town. Once I stop driving it like a gasoline powered car and take advantage of the plentiful torque, I expect that will go up slightly.

 
Charlie

Offline Aaron D.

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 5883
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2017, 05:30:55 PM »
This one could be a seller, because it looks cool. All other micro cars look like something a large person would use to remove unwanted hair.

Offline Sasquatch Jim

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 9600
  • Sidecar - Best drive by shooting vehicle ever
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2017, 07:54:18 PM »
To be able to use it I would have to fit in it.
Sasquatch Jim        Humanoid, sort of.

Offline Lannis

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 26507
  • Location: Central Virginia
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2017, 09:03:06 PM »

The original Isetta was pretty successful, selling 162,000 units, so it seems like it "made it" after all....


Didn't know there were so many Isettas ... so maybe it's the European cities that these little electrics will buzz around in, like the Isetta did ...


I knew your Festiva would somehow find it's way into this thread, so, I'll add my own "high miler". I recently purchased and "rehabbed" a '91 VW Jetta diesel - 2dr., manual everything. Peppy for only having 54 hp. First tank I got 48 mpg, mixed highway and town. Once I stop driving it like a gasoline powered car and take advantage of the plentiful torque, I expect that will go up slightly.


Well of course the Festiva is going to get a mention.   It's unique among commonly available cars in its combination of light weight, easy parking, 42 MPG, 70-MPH cruising capability, $45/ea tires, and lots of visibility and space inside, besides my last one going 275,000 miles before it was sold out of the family.   It's worth talking about.

I'll go title for title with you in a quarter mile, too, with your VW.   Ever since the advent of the Mercedes 200D (the ones that kept getting hit in the rear, and had a calendar for a speedometer), I believe it's a capital crime in some states to run a non-turbocharged diesel on a public road .... ?   :laugh:

Lannis (if you win, you get a Festiva.   If you lose, you get two Festivas, etc .... )
« Last Edit: October 11, 2017, 09:04:48 PM by Lannis »
"Hard pounding, this, gentlemen; let's see who pounds the longest".

Offline bad Chad

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 9551
  • Location: Central Il
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2017, 09:40:19 PM »
On a related Guzzi issue.  Guzzi small block motors where made at an Isetta factory, while the frames were put together at a Mazaratti factory, back in the day when De Tomas ran the show!
2007 Breva 1100  Red Arrow (and faster than yours!)
2016 CSC 250TT Zongshen
2017 V9 Roamer

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 14141
  • Happily stuck in the past.
    • Antietam Classic Cycle
  • Location: Rohrersville, Maryland
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2017, 10:24:23 PM »
On a related Guzzi issue.  Guzzi small block motors where made at an Isetta factory, while the frames were put together at a Mazaratti factory, back in the day when De Tomas ran the show!

Sure you don't mean Innocenti? The Isetta started out Italian (Iso SpA originally built them), but most people know it from the years it was produced by BMW. Production in Italy stopped in 1955, well before the small-block was even a gleam in Lino Tontis eye.  :wink:

The frame may well have been assembled at a Maserati facility, since Alejandro De Tomaso owned Guzzi, Maserati, Benelli and Innocenti. 
Charlie

Offline Tusayan

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 1788
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2017, 11:43:05 PM »
Frame manufacture is commonly subbed out by all manufacturers.  One Italian frame supplier was Verlicchi, which also made XB12 etc frames for Buell.

In the De Tomaso era, Guzzi manufactured Maserati and Benelli engines and components as well as a their own.



Offline Yeahoo Whoyah

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 1177
  • 1971 LAPD Ambassador - 1976 Convert
  • Location: El Dorado Hills California
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2017, 12:44:59 AM »
Microlino, how fun!  What's to become of my Maxrolino!

Greg Tillitson
El Dorado Hills Calif.

Offline Aaron D.

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 5883
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2017, 06:07:31 AM »
The original Isetta was made by an Italian appliance company called Iso. They made a few other cars too.

Offline mtiberio

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 4218
    • TiberioRacing
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2017, 08:08:27 AM »
my first car was an Isetta.
Land Speed Records w/Guzzzi:
SCTA M-PG 1000 141.6 MPH
LTA M-PF 1000 137.3 MPH
ECTA M-PG 1000 118.6 MPH
http://gjm.site90.com/mtiberio

Offline Dilliw

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 3674
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #16 on: October 12, 2017, 09:03:52 AM »
If I go electric I think it will be retro:




George Westbury
Austin, TX
2003 EVT "The Tank"
2011 Griso SE

L-824 and L-825

oldbike54

  • Guest
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #17 on: October 12, 2017, 10:48:38 AM »
Microlino, how fun!  What's to become of my Maxrolino!



 Always wanted one of the Buick Sportwagons from the '60's .

 Dusty

Offline Lannis

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 26507
  • Location: Central Virginia
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #18 on: October 12, 2017, 12:09:45 PM »
Always wanted one of the Buick Sportwagons from the '60's .

 Dusty



With a few suspension and tire upgrades to help the wallowing, a modern carb or FI to help the mileage, and a full debit card for the fill-ups, one of these would be a lot of fun and a good highway car.   I'd camp in that ....

Lannis
"Hard pounding, this, gentlemen; let's see who pounds the longest".

Offline organfixsing

  • Hatchling
  • **
  • Posts: 164
  • Location: ROMA Queensland Australia
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #19 on: October 14, 2017, 05:22:21 AM »
ISO also made a scooter. My brother bought one and pranged it the same day. Don't remember much about it except that it had a DellOrto carburettor on which the choke enriched the fuel rather than reduced the air. I think it was a 150cc job.
Cheers
Brian :grin:
If you remove the wings of a fly, does that make it a walk?

Offline hidn45

  • Gosling
  • ***
  • Posts: 446
  • Location: northwestern PA USA
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #20 on: October 14, 2017, 09:29:22 AM »
Is there such a thing as "too small"....?



Y2K Bassa - "Benedetta" (sold)
1986 Cali II - "Moose"
1977 T-3 [formerly FB] - name TBD

MGNOC member # 22,000

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • Posts: 14141
  • Happily stuck in the past.
    • Antietam Classic Cycle
  • Location: Rohrersville, Maryland
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2017, 10:02:15 AM »
ISO also made a scooter. My brother bought one and pranged it the same day. Don't remember much about it except that it had a DellOrto carburettor on which the choke enriched the fuel rather than reduced the air. I think it was a 150cc job.
Cheers
Brian :grin:

That how most Dellorto motorcycle carburetors work - the "choke" is actually an enricher circuit.
Charlie

Offline blackcat

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 8854
  • Location: USA
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #22 on: October 14, 2017, 11:54:56 AM »
The importer is in Michigan, smart money would open a dealer in San Francisco.
1968 Norton Fastback
1976 Lemans
1981 CX-100
1993 1000S
1997 Daytona RS
2007 Red Norge

Offline Arizona Wayne

  • Gaggle Hero
  • *****
  • Posts: 6257
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #23 on: October 14, 2017, 04:15:02 PM »
Is there such a thing as "too small"....?






At least this 1 has more front end protection than the Isetta when you rear end someone.  :wink:
« Last Edit: October 14, 2017, 04:16:16 PM by Arizona Wayne »

Offline craigclu

  • Hatchling
  • **
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 180
  • Location: NW Wisconsin
Re: The Isetta reborn - Microlino city car
« Reply #24 on: October 14, 2017, 09:43:05 PM »
Our family had an Isetta back in the 1960's....  We bought it from a friend who ran a Ski-Doo dealership and who had it painted in Ski-Doo yellow and black.  My folks owned a family shoe store at the time and my dad had it re-painted and used it in parades, etc.  It was a fun little scoot around town but if coaxed over 35-40 it felt suicidal.  Here's my kid brother showing how portable they were.  I learned to enjoy the left-hand shifter.  Steering with the right hand (it was left hand steering) and shifting with the cable operated shifter that ran within the left hand side of the car.



He who is without oil shall cast out the first rod...”-Detonations 5:72.

 

20 Ounce Stainless Steel Double Insulated Tumbler
Buy a quality tumbler and support the forum at the same time!
Better than a YETI! BPA and Lead free.
Advertise Here