Let me guess. The two things you know about Isetta bubblecars is that they all have three wheels, and if you park too close to the garage end wall you'll get trapped because the door is at the front and there's no reverse gear. Well you're wrong on both counts. Only some of the British-made cars had three wheels and a disconnected reverse gear so that they could be evade legislation and be classed as a tricycle.

The rest had a conventional gearbox and four wheels, albeit narrow track at the rear. The Isetta was the brainchild of Renzo Rivolta, head of an Italian Engineering company called Iso SpA which made, among other things, motorcycles and refrigerators.

Rivolta visualised the need for a cheap and compact town car, and introduced the Isetta ('little Iso') in 1953 with a 237cc twin cylinder two-stroke engine.

Sales were good, and within a couple of years the design was franchised out to BMW in Germany (who wanted to bolster slow sales of their luxury cars) and Velam in France. BMW fitted first their 247cc single cylinder motorbike engine, which was later to 297cc.

When launched in the UK under franchise from BMW, Isetta of Great Britain produced the original four-wheeled car as well as offering a vehicle which people nowadays associate most closely with the Isetta name -the three-wheeled tricycle car which evaded heavier taxation and the need for a full driving licence to use it.

For a time, the Isetta was a popular mode of cheap and cheerful transport. But stiff competition from the Mini effectively killed the car by 1964 with a worldwide production of 161,721 which around 29,000 were made in the UK.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT

• Worn machinical parts. Little goes wrong,and the club runs a good spares scheme. Far more critical is the bodywork condition.
• Vague steering. All Isettas dance around on the road, due mainly to their bizarre shape. Consider it part of their unique character.
• Snatching clutch - this is normal
• Difficulty in engaging first gear. Many owners get over this gearbox shortcoming by raising clutch pedal slightly as they engage.
• Noisy engines. Indifference to cockpit noise is an intergral part of Isetta ownership.

Turning them over, especially three wheel versions. It's not the exaggeration you might imagine, so check the car you buy for lop sided bodywork and an ill fitting door. Wear in central stub axle on three wheel cars. Jack up the rear end and wobble wheel, looking for excessive sideways movement. Sagging rear suspension means hard worked rear springs, they will need retempering.