Isetta

The following very interesting text is part of the manual I was given when I bought my Isetta in 1957. I will just present it to you without further comment:

Here the translation:

Let us be frank with you

In order to limit the insurance policy and tax money you will have to pay when driving your Isetta, we – like all other designers of micro-mobiles – only installed a motor with the capacity to go just fast enough for normal moving traffic.

However, this also means that you have to be able to accelerate for a short span of time – for instance when overtaking another car. This will also increase the general safety on the roads.

Consequently, your Isetta motor has been designed to temporarily achieve a high speed (up to 85 km/h). We are sure you will appreciate this very much in certain certain situations.

That was yesterday, so what will be tomorrow?

Perhaps the manual of your new electro-mobile ten years from now will read as follows:

Taking into consideration the necessary cruising range in the new e-mobile E1, we refrained from installing heating and air-conditioning. The battery and motor of your new vehicle have been designed so as to allow you to go a steady 85 km/h without problems, even at long distances. In order to achieve this, we also built your E1 as light as possible, forfeiting all unnecessary gadgets.

RMD

(Translated by EG)

For lovers of classic cars two pages of the manual: