Rides — Classic two-seat ‘bubble car’ turns heads

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This article was published 15/06/2018 (2850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Classic vehicle owners are used to turning heads when they’re out on a cruise, but few attract as much attention as Carl Landrie’s 1959 BMW Isetta.

The car, nicknamed the “bubble car” back in its day due to its circular bubble-like appearance, is an unusual sight.

It’s a two-seater whose lone door opens up from the front, with its steering wheel swivelling out of the way.

Powered by a single cylinder motorcycle engine, the tiny vehicle chugs along at a top cruising speed of 70 to 75 km/h, but is able to reach a top speed of approximately 100 km/h when going downhill with wind in its favour.

Built in England, the Isetta has been in Landrie’s family since his father, John, purchased it for $35 in 1961.

At the time, Isettas weren’t exactly worth a lot.

Built to be functional, the vehicle’s interior was made of a special cardboard.

The Landrie family’s Isetta was originally purchased by a Toronto man for use as a golf cart, until it was backed into by a semi-truck. The elder Landrie, a mechanic who also had autobody experience, restored the vehicle and gifted it to his son.

Landrie said that although the trip from Toronto to Winnipeg, where he was attending university, was a long one due to the vehicle’s limited speed, he reached his destination without any issues.

“It was very sturdy on the road. It got me home with no worry whatsoever,” he said, adding that he likes sharing this story with people because they often question the vehicle’s safety on highways.

Becoming a teacher in Minnedosa after his graduation, Landrie said he spent his early teaching days driving his Isetta to work, but that the practice ended after students began playing pranks on him. On one occasion, students carried the vehicle to block the door he used to get to the parking lot.

It was all in good fun, Landrie said with a chuckle, adding that he would have done it to his teacher back in the day.

Another time, he tried to see how many Grade 10 students he could fit into the Isetta, somehow managing to cram 10 students inside and onto the vehicle.

Unfortunately, the weight of the kids pushed down his original bench seat, forcing the springs onto the vehicle’s battery terminals, which burned a hole in the seat. The seat was subsequently replaced by two Volkswagen bucket seats.

The interior’s original cardboard components were reupholstered with a red velvet material in 1982, and Landrie had the vehicle painted with red metal flake paint. Rather than have it sit in his garage, he has taken it out to a number of area car shows, often as a member of the Minnedosa Valley Cruizers. Even so, he does so with a special caution, and usually transports it on a double-wide snowmobile trailer he has linked to the back of his 1937 Plymouth.

Although the vehicle wasn’t worth much of anything when it was new, collectors have bumped up the price to around $50,000 for pristine models.

While Landrie’s Isetta isn’t pristine, he figures it’s still worth more than he’s able to afford to replace.

The vehicle is technically street legal, but he doesn’t take it out on highways due to its limited speed, and stays clear of gravel roads due to the costly process it would take to replace its curved glass windshield.

“It’s nice to take these out, but you’re afraid to take them out,” Landrie said.

Something of a shame that he can’t do more with his Isetta, Landrie said he still tries to get it out as much as possible, especially since people seem to enjoy seeing it.

Kids are particularly excited to see the Isetta, he said, adding that they’re astonished to see how small it is, and to learn the fact that it’s street legal like any other.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB