If you’re a BMW buff, and you probably are, given the website you’re visiting, you know the story of the Isetta. Times were tough in the mid-1950s when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Motorcycle sales were falling, while cars like the 503 and 507 were costly to produce. The solution? Sell a vehicle that could turn a profit, ideally one that wouldn’t cost much to engineer.
At the 1954 Turin Car Show, BMW stopped by Iso Rivolta’s booth and stumbled upon the Isetta, a quirky city car with a front door flanked by headlights. BMW bought the licensing rights to build and sell the car from the Italian maker of refrigerators and microcars. That’s how the BMW-badged Isetta Motocoupé was born, and not long after, it became a commercial success. In its first year, some 10,000 units were sold.
Between 1955 and 1962, BMW moved 161,728 examples of the so-called bubble car. Several versions were offered over the years, including models with a retractable roof for the German market. For export, the Isetta Motocoupé came with a fixed roof and retractable side windows. The UK also got a three-wheeler version with a single rear wheel, and there was even a Cabriolet. To our surprise, there was also this, the Pick-up.
BMW Classic has shared rare vintage images of the Isetta Pick-up, a tiny trucklet with a storage tray mounted at the back. Although we’re looking at a prototype, the diminutive truck was actually sold to customers. Buyers had the option to order either a closed or open loading platform, which had a maximum payload capacity of 250 kilograms (551 pounds). Not even Munich knows how many were made, only confirming it was even rarer than the Cabriolet. The open-top model with a fabric roof had a production run of fewer than 70 units.
The Isetta Pick-up was available with 250-cc and 300-cc engines. Like the Cabriolet, the Pick-up was only manufactured between 1956 and 1957. The single-cylinder engine produced just 12 hp in the Isetta 250 and a mighty 13 hp in the Isetta 300. Flat out, the little truck that could had a maximum speed of 85 km/h (53 mph).
So there you have it. BMW technically sold a pickup long before those rad M3 and X7 concepts came along, none of which were even available to customers anyway.
