Does anybody else collect the post-WWII German "bubble cars"? I have always found these little critters fascinating, especially the Isetta with its front-opening door. The Messerschmitt was also unique with its aircraft-style tandem seating and bubble canopy. The three I remember are the BMW Isetta, the Heinkel, and the Messerschmitt. I saw all three of them on the streets of Detroit when I was a kid, even though Detroit was the stronghold of giant American cars. I can remember the first time I saw an Isetta, asking my father what it was. I was probably seven or eight.
The bubble cars were a solution to personal transportation in a postwar Germany where gas was expensive and money was short. Germany's climate precluded the Italian solution, i.e. swarms of Vespas. Interestingly, all three were built by military aircraft manufacturers. BMW got into both cars and motorcycles before the war, but it got its start building aircraft engines, and it built engines for the Luftwaffe during the war. The round blue-and-white logo is a stylized four-bladed aircraft propellor.
Anyone else collect these little guys? Do you have any other ones, like maybe a Goggomobil?
Here are a couple of photos of my three bubble cars. The first one shows, left to right, the Isetta, the Heinkel, and the Messerschmitt. The second shows the opening door on the Isetta. The steering wheel is attached to the door, just like on the real Isetta.
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