Isetta restoration a labour of love
As a young teenager, I once spotted a very rare Isetta, here in Victoria. I have wanted one ever since.
About a year ago, two 1958 300s were listed for sale on our local buy/trade/sell website. These came in a package with many spare parts. My dream of many years came true.
This would be my first post-retirement project. The two vehicles had been taken apart years ago but never reassembled. One was last driven in 1969. The owner thought he would take it apart and make it like new but that never happened. The car was parked with a little over 12,000 original miles on the clock.
Eight months ago, I got into restoration mode and started the complete rebuild with the motor, followed by the transmission and chain drive. I had a lot to learn, as not all Isettas are the same. My Isettas were U.K.-built for the Canadian market. That’s when I found out about the Isetta owners of Great Britain club and promptly joined. Lee Turnham was super putting my parts orders together and shipping them over to me, despite the weight of some items. Surprisingly, only one small order went astray on the long trip to British Columbia.
While preparing for the rebuild, I found out that the umbrella handletype hand brake cable that I needed was manufactured for the Canadian market only. Mike Ayriss was very helpful here. I sent him a sample and he replicated it perfectly. This is now a new item in club spares.
After the motor, transmission and rear end were completed, I started work on the frame, stripping it to bare steel and spraying it with epoxy sealer followed by Sikkens single stage urethane black. I reassembled the frame with new bushings, bearings, seals, etc. There were a surprising number of parts to clean and paint. With the chassis complete and rolling, I was able to start the motor and set it up to run like an Isetta should.
The next chore was to strip the body to bare metal and fix a few spots that had a little rust. This included the lower front fender lips and a battery box replacement. I used a product called All Metal instead of the traditional Bondo filler. All Metal is a lot more pricey and it is harder to work with, but it produces a better result in the long run. I put in a “few” hours to make the body nice and straight. Then I sprayed it with a coat of the epoxy sealer and many coats of 2k high-build urethane primer. Many hours of block sanding were needed to prepare the body for the colour.
The body was originally just the one shade of blue. But I decided to go the two-tone route with white on the top and blue on the bottom. Once again I used Sikkens single stage, but after the two-tone was applied I gave the body three good coats of Autoglas Euro Clear.
With everything ready, it was time to put it all back together — the fun part. Since I work alone, I made a lift jig so I could easily put the body back on the frame.
Reinstalling the glass was a challenge, especially the front and rear windows. I had all the chrome work replated locally, using the original components.
The new wiring harness came from Autosparks U.K. and fit well. However, I had to modify it to feed the front and rear turn signals and centre-mount brake light. I used the stock Lucas headlights, fitted with LED bulbs from bettercarlighting.uk. The LED lamps are quite bright compared to the stock bulbs. I was able to find NOS tail lights and a brake light on ebay.uk.
Next was the interior. To fix the sagging seat springs, I purchased a new lower coil seat frame and rear seat springs from Germany. David Raab in Orange, California, was my choice for panels and upholstery. David’s panels are better than the stock ones and fit like a glove. David was able to obtain the basket-weave seat material that the car sported when it first rolled off the manufacturing line. My experience with David was a good one. He aims to please his customers.
I have restored many cars over the years and this Isetta tried my patience many times. I am very happy with way the car has turned out and it is a blast to drive. It seems to garner a lot of attention and questions at car meets.
Since the original purchase of my first two Isettas, I was able to find another 1958 U.K.-built 300. It has been off the road since 1977 and the owner had it since 1961. As a retiree, I look forward to breathing new life into these in the near future. Perhaps one will be e-powered … ?
Thanks again to Lee and Mike, I could not have done it without your help.
The 16th annual Rock and Roll for Little Souls Charity Car Show is a show for the entire family. Entry into the show is by donation, with all proceeds going to support children’s health on Vancouver Island. For more information about the show, please check out rockforlittlesouls.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/RockandRollforLittleSoulsCarShow/.