Record-Setting Sale of a 1957 BMW Isetta Microcar on the Hemmings.com Marketplace

This week on Hemmings.com a rare version of an uncommon BMW model sold for a record amount on an online marketplace. This rare “bubble-window” 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible sold for $79,800, inclusive of the buyer’s fee.

From our research, we can find no other Isetta that has sold for a higher price online. The highest recorded price of a BMW Isetta at auction is a 1957 300 model sold by Bonhams for $84,000 in Scottsdale, Arizona, in January of 2023. But if you dig a little deeper, the Bonhams sale, before the 12% buyer’s fee, hammered sold at $75,000. The bubble-window Isetta on Hemmings.com sold on a Make Offer listing for an agreed price of $76,000, not including the Hemmings 5% buyer’s fee.

1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible, front end view

Hemmings Make Offer

For those not familiar, vehicles sold on the Hemmings Marketplace, either as a Make Offer listing or via Hemmings Auctions, incur a 5% buyer’s fee, up to a maximum of $10,000. Other than the initial submission fee of $99.95, sellers on Hemmings are charged no additional fees when their vehicles sell. Typically, live auction houses will charge a seller’s fee, too, based on a percentage of the hammer price, meaning that the seller’s ultimate payment for a vehicle will be measurably less than the final reported winning bid that includes all fees.

So, what made this little Bimmer so special that it set a record on Hemmings.com?

1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible, side and top view, top up

Isetta Origins

BMW was on the ropes in the mid-1950s. It’s V8-powered luxury cars proved to be slow sellers and nearly left the carmaker bankrupt. To right the unsteady ship, BMW started building tiny city cars that were manufactured under license from the Italian company Iso, which itself was pivoting from refrigerators to motorcycles and some very small automobiles.

The Iso Isetta was a remarkably compact micro car with a 59-inch wheelbase, a rear-mounted 236-cc two-stroke single and a clever one-door, two-seat arrangement that had the entire front end open up, windshield and all, for passenger access. The steering column was mounted to the door via a stamped steel collar that also held the single gauge. A U-joint at the bottom of the column just before it met the floor allowed for the door to open and the steering column to swing out with it.

1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible, view from above, door open, showing steering column, open roof and tartan seat pattern

With the thin metal door separating the driver and lone passenger from the road and other cars, the driving experience is akin to a forward-control van, like a Volkswagen Bus or Corvair pickup, only much lower to the ground, and a with a curb weight of around 800 pounds. To give you an idea of the diminutive nature of the Isetta, it’s 89-inch overall length is shorter than the Shelby Cobra’s 90-inch wheelbase.

1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible bare chassis, freshly restored

BMW Introduces Its Isetta

Unfortunately for Iso, it didn’t sell many cars, but it licensed companies in France, Spain, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina to make the charming little car. In Germany, BMW held that license and also purchased some body tooling from Iso. While it largely retained the Iso’s body, BMW made some significant changes to its version of the Isetta, notably in the drivetrain by including a 247-cc four-stroke, single-cylinder motorcycle engine, sourced from the BMW R25 and slightly modified for use in the Isetta. BMW’s Isetta made the most of each of its 12 horsepower on tap to achieve a top speed of 53 mph.

BMW introduced its Isetta in the spring of 1955. Within a year, the Isetta 300 was introduced with a 298-cc version of the four-stroke single with slightly higher compression that yielded one more horsepower in total but was said to offer a more tractable driving experience, though the top speed rating was not changed. Later in 1956, changes were introduced as BMW began to put more of its own stamp on the design. Gone were the bubble windows, replaced by flat, sliding windows.

1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible interior

The Record-Setting Isetta

One of the rarest of all models was the early design Isetta Convertible with the bubble-top features. The sellers of this 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible shared that it was one of two bubble tops found on an Ohio farm in 2015. They noted in the listing that many experts believe just 50 Isetta 300 bubble-top convertibles were made, the majority sent to South America. With a production date of February 27, 1957, this example was a very late bubble-top model and included the vented “tropical door,” a feature otherwise only found on the later cars.

The sellers shared that “The car was completely disassembled and the body was taken down to bare metal,” with all rust remediated and the body epoxy sealed. The body was refinished with “top of the line PPG paint products” and the engine, transmission and chain drive were also fully disassembled before being rebuilt. The sellers noted that “all wear parts were replaced” in the rebuild, indicating new bearings, seals, gaskets, and a new piston “machined to the original cylinder.” An all-new top was crafted and the proper tartan upholstery for the seats was also sourced.

The listing notes that the Isetta is “sorted and drives as new” with “tight” shifting. It adds that the car is comfortable for two adults, and possibly with space for a small child in between. There is no denying the charms of a microcar, which can offer a driving experience that delivers a smile to everyone who gets in one, no matter the tiny amount of horsepower it makes.

A pair of unrestored bubble-window BMW Isettas found in a farmer’s field, loaded on a trailer

Take a look at this 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Convertible on the Hemmings.com Marketplace to get an idea of what makes it so charming and the details of the restoration that made this one so valuable to collectors.