BMW 600

I like the Isetta bubble car, I like its quirkiness, its barn door, the fact you have to carry two spare wheels as the fronts and the back have different offsets, it was good looking and so of its time. The one thing it was lacking though was two extra seats. BMW at the time wanted to expand their range to provide a economical four seat car and needed it on the cheap. The result was this elongated bubble car, with a bench rear seat and additional side door to get in the back!!!! It does remind me of the recent increase in size of the Fiat 500 to the 500L. Unlike the 500L it was well received thanks to its interior space, value and those modernising bumpers, they look they should be on something built in the 70’s rather than the 50’s.

A bit of Americana in Manchester

Back in April I headed over to Event City near the Trafford Centre in Manchester to go to the Passion for Power car show, a show I highly recommend, but on the Sunday it was also the monthly American Auto Club NW meet at the local Krispy Kreme. Located some 300yds away from the main show so within walking distance meant this meet had a massive turn out. With cars from the 50’s to the now, pickups, Jeeps, a big rig, hot rods and even a rockabilly model walking round for pictures as meets go this was a doosey!!!!

Mr Beep

Mr Beep was a character developed by BP Oil to promote road safety to kids and started with adverts in the late 1950’s. However a real one was built to tour local malls, shows and other events as well as visiting schools around Ontario from 1959 until 1964, and just like the adverts, it talked!!!!

Subaru Jo-Car

When you think of Subaru these days sophisticated, crisp and huge air intakes spring to mind, but back in 1987 things were a little different. This was a concept shown at the 1987 Tokyo Car Show and there’s no denying it’s built to grab your attention. In fact I don’t think there was a base colour that wasn’t used!!!!!!

GTM Libra

At first glance I thought this was just a modern Mini based kit car due to its proportions. To an extent I was right, well its DNA goes back to the Mini, but this thing is all bespoke. GTM started with mini based kits. This though is all lightweight sports car with thoroughly modern construction that had 3 years of development in it designed for the "ultimate performance". It was built around a fiberglass monocoque tub that everything was bolted to, just like a Ferrari.

Dodge Bumper Car

There are some truly awesome things that come up for sale ebay, some that take you back to when you were a kid like an old school plastic skateboards or BMX’s in blue and yellow (you know the ones).  But this takes you back to when you went to the fair coming to town was the highlight of the year and the bumper cars. Where else could you drive a car at you mate for a laugh (still love it today 20 years later). I also remember thinking, if only I could drive one of those on the road.