Jog my memory

[james_davis_nicoll]

This looks like some model of 3-wheeler that I saw in the UK in the 1960s but for the life of me I cannot recall what they were called. I mean, I know we called them "bubble cars" but I don't know the manufacturer's name.

It wasn't the Robin Reliant, FWIW.

Comments

loser cars of Britain

[hot-soup.livejournal.com]

The Sinclair C5?
http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/036/sincc5.htm

The Bond Bug?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_Bug

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It's a bit like an older Morgan to my eye.

Check out the 1929 Super Sports and later models here.

[snowking.livejournal.com]

There was no single manufacturer of bubble cars but I think they were mostly German.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Whatever I am half-remembering, it was something that could have been parked in Herne Hill sometime between 1965 and 1966.

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember riding in something similar in the early sixties referred to as a Messerschmidt -- but that may have been slang -- the front hinged up for access, if it helps anyone.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Messerschmidt did produce bubble cars.

[casaubon.livejournal.com]

It wasn't slang, Messerschmidt built them. Or a lot of them, anyway.

[bellinghwoman.livejournal.com]

Messerschmit really did produce bubble cars - as did Heinkel and BMW - here's a picture of a Heinkel one, and here's a picture of a Messerschmidt one.

[brooksmoses]

Yeah, it looks like one of the Messerschmidts to me, too.

[rgovrebo.livejournal.com]

It's Messerschmitt, and yes, the same ones that produced the Bf109.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The bubble car that Jonathan Pryce drives in the movie Brazil is a Messerschmitt with a prop jet engine added to the top.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...Prop in the sense of "movie prop", not "propeller".

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Vague resemblance to an old 3-wheel Subaru we saw around the Michigan campus in the sixties...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Heinkel perhaps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_Kabine

You'll find all of the most likely suspects by links here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_car

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I saw a lot of them, growing up in Oxford in the 60s (hey, it's a motor town: my dad worked for Morris), and they were all just 'bubble cars' - and then I never saw one for decades. Until I was in Rothbury (remote Northumberland town) in the 90s and suddenly there they were, all around me, having a convention...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder how practical a little car like this or the Smart would be. Obviously it's not much good if you have to move a family around and is there enough cargo space for groceries?

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

My rides in a Messerschmidt (courtesy of a batty little old* lady who lived a few doors away) were to and from school -- and she carried shopping packed around me. A bit like the passenger in a Smart car is safely wedged in with shopping these days!

*For certain values of old -- I was six, and she was therefore unimaginably ancient.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, you certainly can't place a child in a car seat in the back seat of a Smart Car, since it doesn't have one. So it probably won't work out as the only car for a family, no.

On the other hand, it might be a great choice for the second car of a family; or the third. Or the car to give the new driver (especially since in more and more states they can't carry passengers anyway). It's remarkably cheap, among other things.

I haven't actually tried it, but it rather looks like there's room for my normal week's groceries in the back of a Smart. If you're eating at home all the time and a family of 6, maybe not so true.

[asyouknow-bob.livejournal.com]

I've looked at the Smart... and the astounding thing is, that for all the utility you give up, you gain very little in the way of economy.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it doesn't look to me like it gives up much utility. There are whole *months* when I never have more than 2 people in my car. And my car is already too small for plywood, sticks of water-supply pipe, and such, so no loss there.

It's also remarkably cheap.

The mileage isn't that spectacular, no. I haven't calculated the $/mile compared to a turbo-diesel, say, but those are definitely much bigger cars, as is the Prius. Then again a Prius will cost very nearly twice as much as a Smart.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I suspect as fuel prices rise and people need to economise, more and mopre will do what my mother did till she was in her sixties... She had a little wheeled cart to pull her groceries the 3 or 4 blocks it took to get home. It may be tougher in the suburbs. Maybe we will see the return of convenience stores that aren't 7-11 or Macs.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

They're known as "granny carts" here and are quite common.

[martin-wisse.livejournal.com]

What you see around here a lot are little moped based cars, once used exclusively by the physically disabled but now used more and more by people who can't afford a proper car.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I could see using something like this as my office-commute car, when basically all I have to haul is myself and a briefcase-sized laptop bag.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

When I get a little older and biking gets to be too uncomfortable I'm certainly going to look at a Reliant Robin or similar - I've never actually got a car license, just a full motorcycle license, and unless they've changed the law without me noticing I wouldn't need one for a 3-wheeler in the UK.

[armb.livejournal.com]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022547 implies that lightweight three and four wheelers are now the same category, and different from motorbikes with sidecars. But whether your licence covers you for that group, I have no idea.
Didn't it used to depend in part on whether a three wheeler had a reverse gear or not?

Isetta?

[(Anonymous)]

In Germany, we called them "Isetta". Googling will bring you nice pictures.

Best, Claudia

[timgueguen.livejournal.com]

The BMW Isetta "bubble car" became a semi familiar sight to some TV viewers in the 1990s when it appeared as the personal vehicle of ubernerd Steve Urkel on the popular sitcom Family Matters.

[mr-mediocre.livejournal.com]

Fans of these funny little vehicles might want to look at the Microcar Museum. BMW, Bond, Fiat, Honda, King, Messerschmitt, Subaru, Vespa, lots of others.