[0:06] For how small it is, it's pretty
[0:08] comfortable going along. You're not
[0:10] getting rattled to death.
[0:11] >> Look what's coming up next to us here.
[0:13] >> Oh, nice Chevy.
[0:22] >> The horn's really above its pay grade.
[0:25] >> Yeah, it it screams like a big guy. I
[0:28] mean, it certainly gets points for
[0:30] originality.
[0:31] >> Oh, yeah.
[0:32] >> You don't you don't see many of them
[0:33] around. And if you do, typically not
[0:35] drive it.
[0:39] >> Just makes you smile riding along.
[0:43] >> It's a cartoon car.
[0:50] >> Welcome to the episode of Jay Lo's
[0:51] Garage. The car we're featuring today,
[0:53] 1958 BMW Isetta 300. This is the car
[0:58] that literally saved the company. It
[1:00] doesn't look like much of a hero, but it
[1:01] really did. You know, those of you that
[1:03] enjoy your BMWs and your MClass and your
[1:05] CLS coups and all the cool BMWs or even
[1:08] the motorcycles, you owe your success or
[1:12] at least what you have to this car.
[1:14] Because what happened was after the war,
[1:16] Germany was devastated. They were not
[1:18] allowed to build any automotive product
[1:21] that could be deemed war worthy, trucks,
[1:24] heavy equipment, that type of thing. So
[1:26] BMW really didn't know what to do. The
[1:28] Asetta was an Italian car. It was
[1:30] produced in Italy. BMW bought it and
[1:33] decided to produce it in Germany. They
[1:35] put a BMW four-stroke motorcycle engine
[1:38] in it. Single cylinder 300 cc's and
[1:40] using, I think, real good German
[1:43] engineering prowess. They made it a
[1:46] dependable family car. It seems silly
[1:48] thinking this is a family car, but it
[1:50] really was because Germany was just
[1:52] devastated. All of Europe was
[1:54] devastated. The Marshall plan was a plan
[1:56] where American companies went to Europe
[1:58] and without colonizing rather or or
[2:01] trying to take over we just helped them
[2:03] out. We gave money to Fiat, gave money
[2:04] this given to German companies and BMW
[2:07] produced this. This is how they made
[2:09] money. They sold over 160,000 of these.
[2:13] I mean, you know, you know how they say
[2:16] the uh SUV safe Porsche. How many 911s
[2:20] can you sell over the at the cost of
[2:22] $100,000? you know, so they produced the
[2:25] SUVs and that allowed them to grow as a
[2:28] company and produce more 911s and this
[2:31] allowed BMW to produce the high
[2:33] performance motorcycles and sports cars
[2:35] we see today. All right, let's meet the
[2:37] man who owns this one, Danny Paddling.
[2:39] Danny, come on in, my friend.
[2:41] >> You seem a little tall for this car.
[2:43] >> Yeah, very much so.
[2:45] >> These are fascinating. You know, the fun
[2:48] thing about this vehicle is this front
[2:50] door. The company that produced these in
[2:52] Italy, they also made freezers and
[2:55] refrigerators. That's why it has this.
[2:57] This is a freezer door. This is a door
[2:59] off a deep freezer. And you
[3:03] >> Etherm was Yeah. Just very funny, you
[3:06] know. Just use what you have, you know.
[3:09] I always like lowbudget movies because
[3:11] people are creative, you know. They they
[3:13] come up with ways to get things instead
[3:16] of using special effects or they really
[3:18] get good writers or good acting. And
[3:20] that's what this is. This is some real
[3:21] solid engineering in these because these
[3:23] were actually quite dependable. They
[3:25] came to this country and they were they
[3:27] were a hit here too.
[3:28] >> They were they they use them as yacht
[3:30] tenders a lot more here and golf golf
[3:32] carts in a sense.
[3:34] >> It would have been a little bit hard to
[3:35] go anywhere in the US with these other
[3:37] than in the city. But in Europe they
[3:40] really did well as a city car as a
[3:42] proper enclosed scooter in a sense. Now,
[3:45] when they built it in Italy and in
[3:48] Germany, often time it had four wheels,
[3:50] two in the front and two in the back.
[3:52] But when they built it in England, this
[3:54] is the one we all know because it's a
[3:56] three-wheeler. See, in England, anything
[3:58] less than four wheels did not pay the
[4:00] oppressive car tax. You had this huge
[4:02] car tax, which doesn't seem like much in
[4:04] hindsight, but at the time,
[4:06] >> half of what the car tax would have been
[4:07] at the time for a motorcycle.
[4:09] >> That's what it means. So, that you could
[4:10] register this as an enclosed motorcycle
[4:13] or whatever they want to call it. So
[4:14] that's why that's why they produced it
[4:16] with the three wheels and and put the
[4:18] steering wheel on the other side and did
[4:21] all that all that kind of stuff. Now, as
[4:23] I said before, when these were built in
[4:24] England, they built as three wheels to
[4:26] save money. But in Germany, France, even
[4:29] in America, that was not an issue. So
[4:30] they built them a little more stability
[4:33] with the four wheels. But it's basically
[4:36] the same problem that you have with the
[4:37] three-wheel. You got the two inboard
[4:39] wheels like this. If they building this
[4:42] today, it would just be one big wide
[4:43] wheel probably. Probably. So you got to
[4:45] So if if there's a pothole in the road,
[4:47] you're going to hit it with something
[4:49] because it is like an equilateral
[4:50] triangle. Like it's, you know, you guess
[4:52] like it's like like a Dorito. It's like
[4:53] this. You're going to hit it with
[4:55] something. The back.
[4:57] >> Yeah. Hilarious. Very funny. But this is
[4:59] this will probably be a little more
[5:00] stable than one of those three-wheeler
[5:02] ones. So because when I first saw this
[5:04] come in, I just assumed it was a
[5:06] three-wheeler, but now I realize no,
[5:07] that's not true. And it's a chain
[5:09] transmission, basically like a
[5:10] motorcycle.
[5:10] >> Chain drive straight to the axle.
[5:12] >> And this is would have been a family
[5:14] car. Dad comes home with a new car. Hey,
[5:16] take a look at that, kids. That's for
[5:19] the man who carries success with ease.
[5:21] Yes. S Bob, this is this is the future.
[5:24] Yeah, it's really funny.
[5:25] >> Yeah, they really had to go through a
[5:26] lot of work to redesign it to switch it
[5:28] over to right-hand drive, but that would
[5:30] have been um Brighton Railway Works, I
[5:34] believe, is the producer that car.
[5:35] >> Yeah. Yeah. So, there's kind of a fun
[5:38] story behind these. BMW beefed it up a
[5:41] little bit. See this? These big I guess
[5:43] this is part of the frame, but this
[5:45] keeps it
[5:46] >> that would be what bumper what you could
[5:48] call a bumper on this. I don't know what
[5:50] it would stop.
[5:51] >> Yeah. Yeah. I look, you get hit in this.
[5:53] I'm sorry. Yeah.
[5:55] >> Yeah. Not making that one, that's for
[5:57] sure. That's This wasn't a luxury. This
[5:59] was your escape hatch right here
[6:00] >> because Yeah. When you get hit, you're
[6:02] not getting out that door, you know, you
[6:03] get hit in this thing. But Yeah. But
[6:05] they're funny. I'm I'm anxious. You
[6:07] know, in all the years I've been doing
[6:08] this, we've never driven one of these.
[6:10] So, I'm I'm excited about it. But it
[6:13] just looks very German. You know, I had
[6:16] to say that even though it's Italian,
[6:18] it's Well, the Germans do well with
[6:20] Italian stuff. You know, they bought
[6:22] Ducati, they bought Lamborghini.
[6:24] >> They they seem to reinvent the wheel
[6:26] pretty good over there.
[6:28] >> Well, they're they're real good at
[6:30] wiring and engineering. I mean, you
[6:32] know, being Italian myself, I know how
[6:34] that is. I got a lot of Italian cars and
[6:37] let's put the wires. They're fine.
[6:39] They're beautiful to look at. They
[6:42] >> underneath maybe not so much.
[6:43] >> Yeah. Yeah. Not so much. Yeah. So,
[6:45] that's where you need the Germans. And
[6:46] they do and they do just a wonderful
[6:48] job. I mean, this looks like something
[6:50] right out of Volkswagen. That's a
[6:52] beautifully made steering wheel.
[6:53] >> Really?
[6:54] >> It really is.
[6:55] >> You know, there's nothing cheap looking
[6:57] about this car. I mean, it looks like
[6:59] all quality stuff. Look the way this
[7:01] door opens. Got your freezer unit right
[7:04] here. You put your frozen peas and stuff
[7:06] right in there. Yeah. Yeah. It's just
[7:09] It's just such an odd automobile. It's
[7:13] just It could only come from Italy. This
[7:15] would not come from the mind of a
[7:17] German. Why would the door open this
[7:18] way? It does not make sense for a door
[7:20] to open this way. You know, when I
[7:22] worked in Mercedes as a kid, cup
[7:24] holders, why would you drink in the car
[7:26] while you're driving? It is silly to
[7:28] have you do not a cup. You should not
[7:30] have a cup in your car. Well, of course,
[7:32] Americans want their 44 ounce big gulp
[7:34] and they eventually succumb. And when
[7:36] they come up with a you ever see the the
[7:38] the the cup holder, the German you press
[7:40] it say it turns, it goes this way, it
[7:43] comes around. Um you Yeah. Hilarious.
[7:46] >> They don't they're not so much a cup
[7:47] holder as a can holder in those. I have
[7:49] a I have a Porsche Cayman and that is I
[7:52] don't really use them. They never really
[7:53] pop out. So,
[7:54] >> Right. Right. Yeah. It's very funny.
[7:56] >> It's an afterthought. It's a single
[7:57] cylinder 300cc's.
[7:59] I would get that to be what, 12, 13
[8:02] horsepower?
[8:02] >> The earlier cars would have been 12
[8:04] horsepower and 250 cc's. The later cars
[8:07] had 13 with 300. And it didn't really
[8:10] add to the top speed. It was more torque
[8:12] to get up those.
[8:12] >> So, this is the big block.
[8:14] >> This is the big block.
[8:15] >> Okay. So, you got the big block. If it
[8:17] sounds like it's running on one
[8:18] cylinder, that's cuz it is. It's only
[8:20] got one cylinder.
[8:20] >> Very lumpy.
[8:21] >> Yeah. Very funny. Well, let's show
[8:23] people the engine. Can you open that up?
[8:25] >> Here. Let's pop the key out.
[8:28] It is an air cooled motor. Yes, it would
[8:31] be air cooled. And it's not a motorcycle
[8:34] motor, but it is designed off the the
[8:37] R25, I believe.
[8:38] >> Right. Okay. And the key is really just
[8:42] a uh
[8:43] >> just a a little wrench in a sense.
[8:45] >> Just a little wrench. Yeah. Okay.
[8:46] >> See, and this acts as a fan that throws
[8:49] cool air up to the cylinder head. Ammo
[8:51] carburetor, I think, isn't that? Yeah.
[8:53] Yep. Motorcycle carburetor. Very very
[8:55] simple.
[8:56] >> Yeah. Interesting. And you put the kids
[8:58] back here, which makes me laugh. Yeah.
[9:00] >> That or you know, you could squeeze them
[9:02] in between you, but it might be a tight
[9:04] fit. They'd have to be some really small
[9:06] kids to get more than two people in
[9:08] there.
[9:08] >> But here's your fan. This spins.
[9:10] >> Yep.
[9:10] >> And that throws cool air up into the
[9:13] sill. Yeah. I never heard about any of
[9:15] these overheating, so I guess it works
[9:17] quite well.
[9:18] >> It seems to. I mean, they they didn't
[9:20] really have too many revisions. The ESOs
[9:22] came as two-strokes and then BMW decided
[9:26] to make it a little bit more reliable
[9:27] with the four- stroke and the torque of
[9:29] a four- stroke.
[9:30] >> Right.
[9:31] >> So, that helped it out a lot.
[9:33] >> Only they didn't make too many changes.
[9:36] One of the significant ones, the ESOS
[9:38] had the headlamps in the in the wings
[9:40] right there.
[9:41] >> BMW then brought them up, mounted them
[9:43] on the side side windows. They slid so
[9:45] you didn't get hot boxed in there in a
[9:47] sense. And
[9:48] >> And what did this cost in America? new
[9:51] >> little over $1,100, I believe.
[9:52] >> Okay. Well, yeah, that's about what a
[9:54] Volkswagen was.
[9:55] >> Yeah.
[9:55] >> Well, the Volkswagen got three extra
[9:57] cylinders.
[9:58] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[9:58] >> But that was probably 13 or $1,400.
[10:02] >> Little I think
[10:02] >> you have to think of hundreds as we
[10:04] would think of thousands. Very much so.
[10:06] >> So, $100 is really $1,000. That's Oh my
[10:09] god, that's a third of the price of the
[10:10] car, you know, by the time you add it
[10:12] all up. Okay.
[10:13] >> And they had a optional heater. I don't
[10:15] know how much that was extra, but
[10:17] >> couldn't have been more than 40.
[10:18] Probably a gas heater. You light it with
[10:20] a match and Yeah,
[10:21] >> probably.
[10:22] >> And look at the minuscule. Look at the
[10:24] little gas pedal and the brake and
[10:26] clutch. And it's it's a four-speed
[10:28] transmission correct?
[10:29] >> Yes. It's a
[10:29] >> No skimping there.
[10:31] >> Four-speed motorcycle gearbox. And it is
[10:33] a reverse
[10:34] >> backwards. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
[10:36] >> All right. And it's got this optional
[10:38] sunroof. Paid a little extra for that, I
[10:40] imagine. Yeah.
[10:41] >> It's not luxury. It's a necessity. It's
[10:43] your escape hatch right there.
[10:45] >> Oh, I get So, did they all have it?
[10:46] >> Yes, they all have it. So
[10:48] >> if you get hit in the front, you're
[10:50] without that, you're in a situation.
[10:52] >> Oh, I see. No, you're in a tin can is
[10:54] what you're in. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
[10:56] Very good. Okay. And do you have do you
[10:59] have to tickle a carburetor to start it?
[11:01] No, you can just start it, right?
[11:02] >> Yeah. It started right up. Yeah.
[11:03] >> The other day today gave us a little
[11:05] trouble, but it starts for a single
[11:08] cylinder 13 horsepower car that you
[11:10] wouldn't think on the road, it does
[11:11] pretty good.
[11:12] >> And there's no provision to kickstart
[11:13] it, right? It's electric starter.
[11:15] >> Electric start. Uh generator start. D.
[11:17] They call it a dino start system.
[11:19] >> Oh, so it's when it's not starting the
[11:21] car, it's charging the system.
[11:23] >> Yes.
[11:23] >> Okay. So, it's always connected. All
[11:25] right. Very good. All right. And there's
[11:27] no trunk or anything. No.
[11:30] >> The back shelf. That's it.
[11:31] >> Well, let's get in. Let's take it for a
[11:33] ride. Let's put this the door back on
[11:35] here. And it's rear wheel drive, right?
[11:37] Not frontwheel drive.
[11:38] >> Yes, it is a rear wheel drive. And it is
[11:41] there's no differential on it. The
[11:43] reason the track is so skinny is so it
[11:45] can just chain drive right to the uh
[11:48] axle.
[11:49] >> And the advantage is with this, if
[11:51] there's a pothole in the road, you'll
[11:52] hit it with at least one wheel. If you
[11:54] don't get it with two outer wheels, then
[11:56] you'll hit it with the inner wheel. I
[11:57] got a Morgan three-wheeler. And you
[11:58] cannot avoid if there's a pothole, it's
[12:02] either here, here, or here. So,
[12:03] >> oh yeah,
[12:04] >> you're hitting it in one of the three
[12:05] wheels.
[12:06] >> Yeah. You got the equilateral triangle
[12:07] there where you're going to you're just
[12:08] going to hit anything that's in the
[12:10] road.
[12:10] >> Hilarious. Okay. It it's how it's people
[12:13] believe how devastated Europe was. There
[12:15] was just no money.
[12:17] >> There was nothing.
[12:18] >> The French car industry decimated. They
[12:20] used to build the most beautiful luxury
[12:21] cars. Nothing. There was no no money to
[12:24] buy any of this.
[12:25] >> They went I mean they went from making
[12:26] Bugattis to making the douche. Yeah.
[12:29] >> It was really Europe had to completely
[12:32] change everything that they were doing
[12:34] to survive. I mean, the way we think of
[12:37] Middle Eastern wealth now with the oil
[12:39] was the way people in Europe thought of
[12:41] people from Texas. They had oil, the big
[12:44] Texas guy with the cigar and the
[12:45] Cadillac and he would go to Europe and
[12:48] buy up all these great works of art and
[12:50] take them back to his ranch and and they
[12:51] built well over cuz I continued to build
[12:54] it also, didn't they?
[12:56] >> Oh, they sold it after.
[12:57] >> They sold the licensing. They produced I
[13:00] think it was some somewhere along the
[13:01] lines of 5,000 cars. They sold the
[13:04] licensing to BMW and then at the same
[13:06] time they sold the tooling to ROI in in
[13:09] Brazil and they produced a ton.
[13:12] >> So did Volam in France. They produced um
[13:15] some with a little bit of variation.
[13:17] >> So there are hundreds of thousands of
[13:19] these out there.
[13:20] >> About 203,000 is
[13:23] >> how many remain?
[13:25] >> How many? 25% I'd say give or take.
[13:27] >> Yeah, cuz I see them all over the place.
[13:29] You know, a lot of rich guys like to
[13:31] have these in their collections up near
[13:33] the front. You know,
[13:34] >> every good museum has one in their
[13:35] collection.
[13:36] >> Well, let's take a ride. Can we give it
[13:38] a shot?
[13:38] >> Yeah, let's go right ahead.
[13:40] >> Let's get inside this baby. Well, this
[13:42] is hilarious. Okay, let me see here.
[13:44] Just step in here.
[13:46] >> Yep.
[13:48] >> Well, it's easier to get into the
[13:50] mirror.
[13:52] >> Don't have to bend down as much.
[13:53] >> Oh, look at that. There you go.
[13:56] >> We'll just scoot over and squeeze on in.
[13:58] Good thing I'm skinny.
[14:00] >> Here we go.
[14:03] >> Then we just close the door.
[14:04] >> Here we go.
[14:09] >> That's closed.
[14:10] >> All right. Gee, it's not claustrophobic.
[14:15] Well, this is hilarious. Here we
[14:21] Oh, boy. All 13 horsepower.
[14:26] There we go.
[14:37] It goes pretty good.
[14:39] >> Yeah.
[14:42] >> Does make you smile. It's pretty fun.
[14:44] >> It does.
[14:48] >> Now, once again, this has a 300. So,
[14:50] this is the big block motor.
[14:52] >> This is the big block. All 13
[14:54] horsepower. Not the not the two not the
[14:57] 250.
[15:03] >> There we go.
[15:08] It feels pretty good.
[15:09] >> Yeah.
[15:10] >> It's a car.
[15:11] >> Yeah. Pretty nice.
[15:13] >> It's two people moving.
[15:16] >> I mean, going downhill, you can get some
[15:18] real speed with it.
[15:19] >> Oh, yeah. You I don't know if you'd want
[15:21] to get real speed, but you could. might
[15:23] be a little bit scary, but
[15:24] >> you know, for around town, it's
[15:25] perfectly fine.
[15:26] >> Yeah. For LA, it's the perfect car.
[15:29] >> Yeah. For LA. Yeah.
[15:30] >> You know those tiny parking spaces that
[15:32] everyone messes up on? You just pull
[15:34] right in and unload right onto the curb.
[15:38] >> And you get by long horizontally or
[15:40] whatever you want.
[15:41] >> Oh, yeah. 7 and 1/2 ft long. That's how
[15:43] long the whole car is.
[15:45] >> Yeah. It It was actually designed so you
[15:47] could just pull straight into the curb
[15:49] and just open up the door and walk out.
[15:51] All right. It's kind of the most
[15:52] well-built micro car of them all. Why it
[15:55] was so popular.
[15:58] I mean, the Mesher Schmidt, you had a
[15:59] little canopy like a, you know, fighter
[16:02] plane. You had to climb in and that had
[16:04] the uh the yolks
[16:06] >> and that had the bigger motor. Was that
[16:08] a 500?
[16:09] >> I actually believe that was a smaller
[16:11] motor. I think it was still only 250.
[16:13] >> Oh, yeah.
[16:17] >> Let me drop down a third. Yeah. I get a
[16:20] little more power.
[16:21] >> Yeah. Fourth is the downhill gear.
[16:24] >> Yeah. You know, this is all right. It's
[16:26] pretty good.
[16:27] >> Yeah.
[16:28] >> And everyone smiles at you.
[16:30] >> Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[16:33] >> The horn throwing above its pay grade.
[16:36] >> Yeah. It It screams like a big guy.
[16:42] >> For how small it is, it's pretty
[16:44] comfortable going along.
[16:45] >> It's quite comfortable.
[16:49] You're not getting rattled to death.
[16:50] >> Look what's coming up in excellence
[16:52] here.
[16:52] >> Oh, nice Chevy.
[16:59] I
[16:59] >> mean, it certainly gets points for
[17:00] originality.
[17:02] >> Oh, yeah. You don't you don't see many
[17:04] of them around. And if you do, typically
[17:06] not drive it. They typically, you know,
[17:08] sit in a museum and they're eye candy.
[17:11] >> And this was this was in a you know, in
[17:13] a shop for a long time.
[17:14] >> I mean, it's really an enclosed motor
[17:16] scooter. Yeah, very much so. It's a it's
[17:19] an in between. You know, there's not the
[17:21] full creature comforts of a car, but
[17:23] it's not, you know, open and out in the
[17:26] elements like a motorcycle.
[17:27] >> Yeah. I mean, if you want to go look at
[17:28] Christmas lights, it's perfect.
[17:30] >> Yeah.
[17:34] >> Just makes you smile riding along.
[17:36] >> Yeah.
[17:38] >> It's a cartoon car.
[17:41] >> Well, I like that era when you could
[17:42] just design anything you wanted and you
[17:45] could put it on the road. Nowadays, the
[17:47] headlight has to be this high. The
[17:49] wheels are too close together because
[17:51] there's just all kinds of reasons why
[17:52] you wouldn't even be allowed to build
[17:54] it.
[17:55] >> Yeah. This was a time when the idea was
[17:58] to get Germany back on its feet. People
[18:01] had to go from one point to another as
[18:03] cheaply as possible,
[18:05] >> you know. So,
[18:07] >> it was a war torn nation and, you know,
[18:09] war torn Europe in all honesty. And this
[18:12] is why so many people this work this was
[18:15] the perfect car for them.
[18:17] >> I mean 160,000 that's pretty amazing.
[18:21] >> It really is. I mean I I don't know the
[18:23] measurement production numbers but I
[18:25] know ESO with their original version
[18:27] didn't even come close to that. None of
[18:29] the other licensed built copies did
[18:31] either.
[18:32] >> BMW makes up a good 34 of the production
[18:36] of my
[18:44] Yeah, you you can keep up with traffic.
[18:46] Almost.
[18:48] >> Almost.
[18:49] >> You wouldn't want to go on a freeway,
[18:50] but around LA, you don't get up to
[18:52] enough speed to
[18:54] >> No, I don't even think this engine is
[18:55] big enough to be allowed on the freeway.
[18:59] >> I I don't think I'd ever test it. I
[19:01] would be too scared with the semiis and
[19:03] pickups but
[19:03] >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, my 1909
[19:07] Baker electric car, I would take when I
[19:10] drive it sometimes to NBC, I would take
[19:12] it on the freeway, but only if the
[19:14] freeway is bumper to bumper cuz the top
[19:16] speed was 22 mph. So, I could get on and
[19:19] go to exit to get off.
[19:20] >> Yeah.
[19:21] >> Had to be middle of a middle of traffic
[19:24] though, rush hour in LA.
[19:28] >> That would have been a sight to see. I'm
[19:30] surprised there's no tachometer in this
[19:31] thing just to give you some idea what
[19:34] your revs are.
[19:36] >> It was a very basic car and I guess you
[19:38] know they weren't worried about somebody
[19:40] damaging it.
[19:50] We're doing all right now. Look at this.
[19:52] And today's a perfect day cuz in a hot
[19:54] California day you burn up in this
[19:56] thing. Very true. I mean, when you have
[19:58] the Yeah. You target your roof there,
[20:01] hold back,
[20:02] >> the necessity, not a luxury.
[20:04] >> Yeah. Walk here is really almost an
[20:06] overdrive. You got to be going flat out
[20:08] on it.
[20:10] >> I mean, it's fun to drive. And if you
[20:13] live in a little village in Bavaria to
[20:15] go from here and your factory is like 5
[20:18] miles away, it's perfect, you know.
[20:20] >> Yeah.
[20:20] >> You know, put your basket eggs in the
[20:22] back that you take home pick up on the
[20:25] way home and you're good to go.
[20:29] I think I think your t I think your
[20:31] tachonometer is right here. See
[20:36] red ready for each gear.
[20:37] >> Yeah.
[20:43] >> Yeah. It's not bad. It's all right.
[20:46] >> It goes and it stops. Keeps up. It's
[20:49] about the speed of my Topelino. And
[20:51] that's a fourcylinder.
[20:54] And that had 500 cc's, right?
[20:57] >> Yeah, about that. I got 6 on the
[21:01] job done as a city car.
[21:03] >> Very very well. Yeah. Couldn't ask for
[21:06] anything more.
[21:08] >> Well, actually, you could.
[21:09] >> You could, you know, then you just been
[21:11] picky.
[21:12] >> You wouldn't have gotten it, but
[21:13] >> yeah. All you get was a heater.
[21:17] >> And Germans are pretty big, so they put
[21:19] a lot of leg room in this thing, you
[21:21] know.
[21:22] >> Yeah. A lot lot of area for it to
[21:24] collapse into your knees.
[21:25] >> Right. Right. Yeah.
[21:27] >> The nice thing with this car is you have
[21:29] an accident, you're the first one on the
[21:31] scene because it's right here.
[21:33] >> Yeah.
[21:33] >> It's a foot away from you.
[21:35] >> Yeah. There you go. Right here. Yeah.
[21:36] >> It's quite good ventilation, too, with
[21:38] these sliding windows.
[21:39] >> Not bad. Not bad.
[21:48] Look how many cars. Look how many cars.
[21:53] I guarantee you we're in all their days,
[21:54] though.
[21:55] >> Look at that. Jesus.
[21:57] Where did they come from?
[21:59] >> I know.
[22:02] Sounds about right.
[22:09] >> Here comes the first real test.
[22:11] >> Yeah. And we're climbing the hill. Okay.
[22:14] >> Yeah.
[22:14] >> Not struggling yet.
[22:16] >> I don't think we could climb in fourth
[22:18] gear, but third gear are okay. for this
[22:21] more of a downhill overdrive.
[22:23] >> Yeah.
[22:28] >> Took that pretty good for having two
[22:30] people on it.
[22:31] >> Yeah, it's usable.
[22:34] >> We're going for the speed record here.
[22:44] >> Honda Civics look like Peter build
[22:45] trucks going by.
[22:46] >> Yeah. really makes you realize how big
[22:50] cars have gotten over the years. You
[22:52] feel dwarfed.
[23:14] Actually,
[23:18] a climbs hills okay. It's not great, but
[23:21] you can climb the hill.
[23:22] >> Yeah, with one person it would do a lot
[23:24] better, but it was all right. It gets
[23:28] you there, just not quickly.
[23:30] >> I mean, the two of us together probably
[23:32] almost match the weight of the vehicle.
[23:34] You have to think like an ant carrying a
[23:36] cube with sugar, you know?
[23:38] >> Yeah. It's carrying twice as in between
[23:41] >> and it's doing it pretty well, I got to
[23:43] say. Yeah, not bad. I really want to
[23:45] take this up through the Rockies, but
[23:49] that would be an interesting one.
[23:50] >> I mean, we are getting up the hill,
[23:52] especially in Germany where they're real
[23:54] hill.
[23:54] >> Yeah.
[23:56] >> I can only picture it in the German Alps
[23:58] out there, you know.
[23:59] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[24:00] >> Trying to struggle up
[24:03] >> now. Downhill. This is where you make up
[24:05] your speed. Now you almost feel like
[24:07] you're in a real car.
[24:09] >> Yeah. Can almost trick you into taking
[24:11] it on a trip.
[24:18] You know, I think with a twin cylinder
[24:20] engine, it would be not perfect, but a
[24:22] lot better.
[24:23] >> Yeah,
[24:24] >> it's just a, you know, a 300cc single
[24:27] cylinder, even on a motor scooter that's
[24:30] small.
[24:31] >> I guess that's where the people get the
[24:33] Kawasaki idea for these things. But I
[24:35] I'd be too scared.
[24:37] >> I don't know if I
[24:38] >> I guess some people have done it, right?
[24:39] >> Yeah. Yeah. There's been a few of them
[24:41] that have been building. Actually, a
[24:43] company started building them, I think,
[24:45] in the '9s called the um
[24:47] >> uh Zetta or something with a Z.
[24:49] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[24:50] >> And they they were a replica of the
[24:52] Isetta with a Kawasaki motor.
[24:54] >> Wow.
[24:54] >> I'd be nervous about rolling it over
[24:56] like an egg.
[24:57] >> I know. Yeah.
[24:59] >> Definitely got a look to it. That's for
[25:02] sure. Nothing else like it.
[25:03] >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's it's a lot of
[25:06] fun to drive. I mean, it's a quality
[25:08] built car. Yeah, I like this German
[25:11] plastic. Mercedes had the same color
[25:14] wheel. I wonder if this is the natural
[25:17] color of the plastic cuz all anytime I
[25:20] see it and all sorts of different German
[25:22] vehicles, it's always exactly the same.
[25:25] I I never seen like a red steering wheel
[25:27] or brown one. They all seem to be the
[25:29] 356s as well.
[25:31] >> Yeah, this must be the natural color. I
[25:33] don't know.
[25:34] >> It is a very pretty steering wheel.
[25:36] Simple.
[25:36] >> Yeah, very simple. It's really
[25:39] interesting to think that within 10
[25:41] years they went from this to a 2002 well
[25:44] 1600.
[25:45] >> Right. Right.
[25:46] >> And and that was
[25:48] >> Well, you know, I've got a Bristol
[25:51] and that has the uh the engine out of
[25:54] the uh 1930s BMW.
[25:59] What a what a great motor. It's a 2 L 6
[26:03] and it's extremely powerful. It feels
[26:06] like a 3 and 1/2 L. I mean, it's a very
[26:08] good motor.
[26:09] >> BMW has always been good with their
[26:12] motors in my in my opinion
[26:14] >> and really good engineering.
[26:17] They only built this cuz they were
[26:18] forced to. They weren't allowed to
[26:20] build,
[26:22] you know, a big powerful vehicle.
[26:23] >> Actually, they built the the 502
[26:27] >> and that was a V8 handbuilt luxury car
[26:31] >> and they and they failed. It was a flop.
[26:34] And so this was they had to they had to
[26:36] buy the rights to this to save the
[26:38] company pretty much. It was already
[26:39] there easy to be made.
[26:42] >> That was the 507 sports car.
[26:44] >> I mean Elvis Pres.
[26:47] >> No, this would have been the saloon and
[26:48] then the 507.
[26:49] >> Right. Right.
[26:50] >> I mean the same V8.
[26:51] >> Same V8. Yes. Yes.
[26:52] >> It's so funny. The saloons are are not
[26:55] dirt cheap but pretty cheap. The 507s
[26:57] are millions.
[26:59] >> Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, and the the
[27:01] 50 uh 502 was was like a flagship car
[27:04] for them. It was the first car they
[27:06] designed after the war and the head at
[27:08] that time wanted to come out with a
[27:10] flagship, you know, Rolls-Royceesque
[27:13] car.
[27:14] >> Trouble is, nobody in Germany had their
[27:15] money to buy it.
[27:17] >> Nobody anywhere.
[27:18] >> Right. So, it was just it was a giant
[27:21] flop and and he had to turn around and
[27:23] go, you know, this was at the uh
[27:26] 53 or 54 um Turin Motor Show, I think.
[27:30] And that's where they that's where he
[27:32] stumbled across it.
[27:33] >> When I was a kid, I was in and nobody
[27:35] had any money. Okay. Somebody had all
[27:38] the money. I mean, the same amount
[27:40] exists. So, where is it? If nobody has
[27:43] it, where did it go?
[27:45] >> Ford was spending it on the GT40s.
[27:47] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[27:49] But it's really crazy to think that, you
[27:51] know, these ran four of these ran at the
[27:53] Millilia in in 1954 and they all
[27:57] finished the race. Started first and
[27:59] finished last
[28:00] >> and that was 1,000 miles.
[28:02] >> 1,000 miles in a lesser version of this
[28:04] cuz that was a two-stroke, you know,
[28:07] 250cc.
[28:08] >> Yeah. But just as I were talking and
[28:11] having a conversation and driving it
[28:13] like it's a normal car, it makes me
[28:16] laugh. You know,
[28:17] >> you would I mean, it's not like we have
[28:18] to constantly, you know,
[28:20] >> fiddle around and look for a steam car.
[28:22] You're const Oh, you're checking this,
[28:24] you're doing that. You're making sure,
[28:26] you know,
[28:27] >> you just put the foot down and drive.
[28:30] You don't really lift it either.
[28:31] >> No, no. You just This is a classic case
[28:34] of use all the power all the time.
[28:37] >> Very much so. Going fast in a slow car
[28:40] is a lot more fun and scary than going
[28:42] fast.
[28:42] >> I mean, it does it hasn't stalled. It
[28:44] runs nice. No, it cleaned up pretty
[28:47] good.
[28:47] >> Well, Danny, thanks for bringing this.
[28:49] This thing's a lot of fun.
[28:51] >> Thank you for having me. It's been a
[28:52] really fun day and I appreciate the
[28:55] great conversation.
[28:56] >> Yeah, I can't believe it took me this
[28:58] long to drive one of these things, but
[29:00] I'm glad I can around. There's so many
[29:03] micro car museums in
[29:06] >> the the Lane Auto Museum. There was the
[29:09] Bruce Winer Microar Museum.
[29:11] >> Oh, yeah. What happened to that one? uh
[29:13] that he passed away and then RM actually
[29:17] auctioned off a lot of those cars about
[29:19] 10 years ago, I believe.
[29:20] >> Yeah, that's right.
[29:22] >> He actually had one of these things with
[29:23] a V8 in the back and it was a full-blown
[29:25] drag car.
[29:26] >> Oh, that's funny.
[29:27] >> But it was really a interesting uh car.
[29:31] >> And this is a nicely restored example.
[29:33] It's nice and tight.
[29:35] >> I think you got a good car on your hand.
[29:37] >> Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.
[29:40] Got the Leno seal of approval.
[29:41] >> Yeah, there you are.
[29:43] Well, Danny, thank you for bringing
[29:44] this, my friend. A lot of fun. I can't
[29:46] believe it took me this long to drive
[29:48] one of these things. So, uh
[29:52] you hope you enjoyed our little micro
[29:53] car here. Uh it's a lot of fun. You
[29:57] know, we're pretty eclectic here. You
[29:58] never know what we're going to have. So,
[30:00] check with us next week and we'll have
[30:01] something totally different again. See
[30:03] you later.
[30:07] >> Just makes you laugh, I got to say.
[30:09] >> Yeah, it does.