09x13 - BMW Isetta 300

[bunniefuu]

If you like cars that are a bit different,
you've come to the right place, but this

cheeky 60s microcar isn't
exactly in mint condition.

Things don't go smoothly for our head.

And I find creative ways
to add value to our little car.

We take tired classic
cars and turn them around,

then sell them on,
hopefully for a profit.

It's the late 50s.

Cars are expensive and a
two-seater, three-wheeled

city vehicle that Bridges the gap between
a motorcycle and a car is making a splash.

It's known as the
Izetta microcar, and it

was dreamt up by a
refrigerator manufacturer.

BMW set up a factory
in the UK turning out

right-hand drive models
under license, using

a modest 300cc engine,
effectively half a motorcycle motor.

Decades later, the
Izetta makes people smile.

It's cheeky, it's different, and it proves
that sometimes less is definitely more.

You can find an Izetta on specialist sites.

Decent cars are 10 gram
plus, but I want to spend less.

Now, the cars that I'm
finding are on auction sites.

They're coming up with quite nice money,
but they're cars that need a lot of work.

There's some basket
cases out there in need

of complete restoration,
and that's not what I'm after.

On an Izetta fan site, things
start to get really interesting.

Now, I have found this website.

It specializes in bubble cars.

In fact, it's got a couple for sale.

There's one here that's
really got my fancy.

It's in yellow, and it
says offers of around

£9,000 to £10,000,
which, to be honest with

you, is a bit rich, but maybe
there's room for negotiation.

I'm going to give them a call.

How long have you owned it?

35 years.

Wow, that's a long time to own a car.

The owner tells me
the car is original and

rust-free, which is
exactly what I want to hear.

Well, he seems like a really nice guy.

He's advertised it on the website between
£9,000 and £10,000, but he said it's been

on for a while, and if I get
down there pretty sharpish, he

is willing to take an offer,
so I'm going to go and see it.

When you're looking
to buy a rare car, it's

worth speaking to a
specialist before you visit.

They can often give you useful tips.

Now, I've called one of
the country's specialists

in Izettas and asked
him what to look out

for, because generally, what you'll find
is damaged bodywork and rotten interiors.

What he said, it's a damaged
chassis that can really hurt your pocket.

So that's what I'm keeping an eye out for.

This looks like the place.

I don't see many other Izettas for sale.

There's a man who knows his cars.

Look, he's got a Morgan.

Are you Chris?

Ah, hi.

Hello, Mike.

How are you?

Yes, fine, thank you.

Nice to meet you.

Yes, and you.

Well, I found you, and I found the car.

Look at that.

Fantastic.

I've had it about 35 years.

Wow.

I bought it just to use
it for going backwards

and forwards to work, but never actually
found the time to really get it roadworthy.

So it spent 35 years
sat in various garages.

Well, let's have a good look round.

I don't think it'll take long.

I could probably walk
around it in two minutes.

First thing I noticed are these rubbers.

They're perished, aren't they?

Yeah, yeah, they're
pretty poor, but I tried to

keep it original, but
they're gone past it now.

And this doesn't look right, does it?

This wheel arch, it's got a dent
in it, and is this right, this strip?

No, no, that's not standard.

That's been flared out,
because originally, you

could have a spare wheel, which
would either go on the back or the front.

But the guy that I bought it off had worked
it out that if you had three rear wheels,

you were okay.

But to do that, you needed
to flare that out just a little bit.

Right, to get the wheel arch
the same width out as the wheel.

So that would need to be addressed.

Now, the bodywork
also had a little bit of

damage and filler down
the sides over the years.

What'd you expect, really?

35 years.

That's quite a few paint
pots dropped on that.

I'm sure there has been.

Now, usually, at this point, I would ask to
pop the bonnet, lift the hood, let's have

a look at that throbbing engine,
but I gather it's behind this little panel.

Yeah, that's right, yeah.

Let's have a look at it, then.

Tell me about this engine.

Well, it's a 300cc single cylinder, it
sounds like a motorboat when it's going off.

It all runs okay.

Yeah, it's fine.

Right, now, the chassis in these,
is it right to have a look underneath?

It looks alright, doesn't it, Chris?

Oh, yeah, it's in really good condition.

Okay, well, that looks good.

Right, now, inside.

Oh, look at that.

I love the way the steering
wheel gets up out of the way.

It's fantastic.

It looks a bit threadbare,
that steering wheel, doesn't it?

And the seats, well, there's not much
of a seat there at all, is there, really?

No, not good, that.

No, it's just a bit of foam.

Yeah, yeah.

And is that the battery down there?

Yeah, yeah.

The rubber cover on it is because if there
wasn't a cover on it, people used to sit

in and the metal used to
arc across the terminals.

And catch fire.

And catch fire and give
them a little electric shock.

Yeah, yeah.

And with my life and
body, if I was to sit in

that seat, I would
definitely be getting a shock.

Yes, indeed.

Does it fire up?

Yeah, yeah, sure.

Can I have a listen?

Yeah, sure.

Look at that.

It's fantastic, eh?

Look at the way you get in it.

Oh, here we go.

Wow.

Yes, she fires up.

She lives and breathes.

Do you know what?

That sounds quite sweet.

Yeah.

It's not bad at all, is it?

Yeah, it's pretty good, really.

Very nice.

Right, let's turn her off.

It's good, Chris.

It leaves me for nothing
more to say that it is road legal.

I want to get it out there.

Right, okay.

Experience this little bubble
car on the road, is that right?

Well, you'll certainly earn
your keep driving this one now.

Top lad.

Now, when I first sat
on this, I was expecting

a bit of a laugh, but
as it turns out, my

first experience behind
the wheel, it's one of fear.

You get that feeling at any
time, it's going to go over.

Apparently, the
prototypes of these cars had

three wheels, but in Europe, they insisted
on four wheels, I think, for stability.

But back in the UK, we wanted
this car as a three-wheel setup.

That way, it could be classed as a
motorbike and therefore, tax cheaper.

So if this one rolls over, don't blame me.

Blame the British public.

Now, you've got this tiny little body
wrapped around some very basic instruments.

There's no heater, no
ventilation, et cetera.

There's some roof, but
it's not uncomfortable.

And that's probably the appeal of this car.

It's a bit like a toy.

It's something cheeky
and something different.

And even after five decades,
it still feels kind of pretty fresh.

Well, now the fear has passed,
it's moving on to irritation because

although I've got four gears and
a reverse in this one, you really

do have to slam it into gear
to get yourself down the road.

And I'll tell you what,
there's something to miss

with this gearbox because
that doesn't feel right.

Come on, baby.

Oh, in it goes.

So what have we got here?

Well, we've got a car with a good engine.

It needs a respray and the
gearbox needs a bit of work.

But do I want it?

Good ones of these sell for around £12,000.

Now, Chris is asking
£10,000 for this, so I'm going

to go back and I'm going
to bid him around £7,000.

And if I can get it for that money
or even less, then you never know.

This little yellow baby could
be coming home with me.

MUSIC PLAYS.

Well, Chris, I don't know why.

I sort of want it. Oh.

So I'm going to make you an offer.

I think because of the amount
of work that needs doing,

because it is absolutely
everywhere, it needs attention,

it's probably only worth to
me about six and a half grand.

No, no, no, no.

I mean, I've come
down a fair orbit as it is.

I'll come down to seven and a half.

You paid £25 for this
car, Chris, 35 years ago.

It is the best-appreciated asset ever.

I'll give you one price, one price
only, otherwise I'm going to walk away.

£6,800. That's it.

Deal. Yes.

Just bought myself a bubble car.

What have I done?

What I've done is buy a car for less than
seven grand that could easily make 12.

But it can't do that in its current state.

I need to speak to a certain mechanic who
will need to get his hands pretty dirty.

Hey! Well, not bad at all.

I think I scored a pretty good deal there.

When you think the good
ones of these sell for 12 grand,

I paid just over half that for a
car that basically needs repainted,

and I think we will do that, but I still
think that this car could return the profit.

This is the smallest car
I've ever bought in my life,

and I'm delivering it to one of
the world's longest mechanics.

Ha-ha!

Oh, what's up there?

Pull over, pull over, pull over.

It's like somebody just
pulled up the handbrake.

Hasn't come on, has it?

No, handbrake's off.

Oh.

Oh, no! Come on!

Don't do that to me.

Oh, look, smoke pouring in.

Don't do that to me.

Oh, no! No!

I can't deliver another car
to the workshop on the trailer.

Come on, don't do this.

Handbrake's off.

Brake's off.

It looks like we've got a
problem with the rear brakes.

Bit of a shame, really, but you know what?

The mechanicals on this car
are going to be pretty simple,

so I'm hoping whatever
it is, Ed can fix it.

The thing is, this car has been
stuck in a garage for 35 years,

and I was really
hoping to stretch its legs.

The bad news is I think I've
stretched them a bit too far.

But the good news is I've been on the phone

and little Paul's on his way
to come and pick me up.

Hmm, he won't need a big trailer.

If you buy a classic car that
has a hiccup on the way home,

check carefully with your motor
insurers whether they will recover you.

If you have to call your
local car-moving company,

you'll be looking at £100
plus to get you out of trouble.

It's around 150 miles back to the
workshop, and that's where I'm heading.

Hi, you mate, you all right?

I'm good. That was a very quiet entrance.

Yes, it was a quiet entrance.

Don't worry, there is
something wrong with it,

and I'll get to it in a
minute, but don't panic.

It's nothing serious.

It is a fantastic little car,
a little Isetta bubble car.

Right-hand drive, but
you might have noticed it is

kind of tiny, and being
full-size, I'm kind of large.

Of course I notice.

In fact, I looked for another one

because I thought I'd get
you a pair like roller skates.

But no, Ed, look at it.

It's the perfect car to work on, isn't it?

You just pick it up in one
hand and spin it around.

It's great, isn't it?

The first thing I've
noticed is the paintwork,

got a lot of dents and nicks all over it.

It's probably going to need
a bit of a re-spray, isn't it?

Well, it will need a bit of
a paint job, and I'll tell you

from what I know there, the
guy owned the car for 35 years.

Wow.

Probably the longest car
ownership I've ever heard of,

and this car has been stuck in
his garage for that length of time,

and that is evidence of
step ladders, push bikes,

pots of paint, everything
rattling down the side of it.

And why we repaint the car, it
gives us a perfect opportunity

to do something fun with it,
because I do like this detail at the front,

and I thought it'd be
quite nice to pick that out.

Plus, we need to replace things like
these rubbers that are perished round here.

And look at this at the front.

This is a bit unusual.

Okay.

See these wheels?

They may look original, but they're actually
the wheels from the rear of the car,

and the previous owners have
done that to give it a better stance.

But unfortunately, back then,
it wouldn't get through an MOT,

because the wheel sat
prouder than the wheel arch.

Okay.

So look what one of the owners have done.

I've actually messed
around with the rolling.

So we're going to have to put that back,

get some original wheels,
and make it look better.

But I can see already
you're itching, aren't you?

I am.

You are itching.

How is six foot seven, a mechanical genius,

fit into the world's, well, one
of the world's smallest cars?

You ready?

Let's give it a go.

Go on then.

It does feel a little bit wobbly.

It is a bit strange.

Okay.

Well, the passenger seat is okay.

That's kind of nice.

Let's just try the driver.

Just close it gently,

because I've got legs
and things to worry about.

Mine are jewels, obviously.

This is good.

I like it.

Really?

It's very comfortable.

That's amazing, isn't it?

It's gobsmacking that
you can fit in that car.

Now, the seat, you may have noticed,

has seen better days.

Yeah, it's not ideal, is it?

A bit of manky old foam.

Have a go on the gear knob.

Yeah.

It's a bit clunky, isn't it?

It is a bit clunky.

It seems to fight to get into gear, but the
good news is the engine jumped back out.

Let me give you a hint.

Come on.

There you go.

There you go.

Right.

Now, the engine in this car,

it's got a new clutch.

It's a single cylinder, 300 cc unit.

It's just been rebuilt.

Nothing to do to the engine.

So, how come it turned up so quietly?

Ah, there's the problem.

When I was driving it here to the workshop,

it was like somebody
pulled up the handbrake.

It just locked up on the rear wheel.

Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll fix it.

I'm sure it won't be too hard
to carry it into the workshop.

We can carry it into the workshop.

Let me give you some figures, Ed.

This little car, done and finished,
could be worth up to £12,000.

Wow.

So, it's a good opportunity for us to
have some fun and earn some money.

Should we get it in the workshop?

I think we should.

You get the front.

Yeah, I'll get the back.

Mike reckons this car is going to be

loads of fun to work
on, and I think I'm going

to have to agree with
him wholeheartedly.

I love its cheeky little face.

I love the mad engineering.

And I love it when cars are a bit
different, and this one is properly quirky.

But just because it's fun doesn't mean
working on it is going to be an easy ride.

Let's face it.

The interior, the exterior,

and a whole load of mechanical
parts all need serious attention.

And Mike's little mishap with the rear
brakes is the first thing I need to look at.

So, at the moment, this
wheel is jammed solid.

Now, I don't seem to be able to
move it very much one way or the other,

but what I can see is that
the brake sl*ve cylinder is

kind of wiggling around as
I'm trying to move the wheel.

So, clearly, it's something to do
with the brake shoes inside the drum.

Now, the only way I'm
going to find out for sure

is by taking the wheel
off, taking the drum off,

and having a good look at the brakes.

The iSetter is refreshingly
really easy to work on.

Access is good, and
the engineering is basic.

As soon as the drum comes off,

it's clear that something is wrong,

and the brake linings drop straight out.

Well, that's actually a bit of a relief.

It's exactly what I thought was going on.

The liners have come away from the shoes.

In fact, both of them have.

And so what's been going on?

These things have been floating around
inside, which is why it's been intermittent,

and, of course, wedging into each other
and, therefore, jamming everything up.

Now, the good news is, it's only
the shoes that need replacing.

Everything else seems to be in
perfect working order, which is great.

But the bad news is,
there's only slightly bad news.

You can see on the inside here of the drum,

it looks like there's been a
bit of corrosion in the past.

Somebody's tried to clean it up,
maybe with a wire brush or something.

Haven't done a fantastically good job.

And perhaps this slightly sticky surface

has actually helped rip
the liners off the shoes.

So what we need to
do is just get this skim.

before we put it all back together again.

I've come down to a local engineering firm

who are just going to clean this
surface up by skimming it on a lathe.

Hi, Warwick.

Hi.

How's it going, sir?

Well, this is the drum.

We just need to skim that
surface just there, if that's all right.

No problem.

Fantastic.

Skimming isn't really a DIY job
unless you have a sensible-sized lathe.

The drum is mounted in the Chuck,

and the cutter evens out the surface.

For doing this, Warwick
only charged me a drink.

A new drum would have cost 50 pounds.

Well, now it's been skimmed,

our brake drum looks much better.

A nice, clean surface ready
for some new brake shoes,

which, of course, is the next
thing I'm going to have to fit.

The brake shoes for this car
were actually made in the UK.

rather than by BMW in Germany,

and I found some locally.

They cost just 30 pounds.

To fit, unhook the Springs,

and then they'll clip into place,

no special skills needed.

Well, our brake shoes are now in position,

nice and brand new, so all I need
now is my freshly skimmed drum.

Well, that is a vast improvement.

At least now this car will be
able to drive out of the workshop.

Mike was worried about
a graunchy gear shift.

I know the Isetta's linkage,

the connection between the
gearbox and the gear lever,

often causes problems,
so I'll look at this first.

Now, the linkage I'm looking for is
just here, which is nice and handy.

There are some rubber grommets
in between each of the bits of metal,

and there's one more in
the depths of the engine bay.

So I'll start with these.

I'm just going to take them apart.

The rubber grommets hold the linkage,

an articulated rod, in place,

and most of them are quite perished.

This means that when you try to select
a gear, the linkage can't always find it.

A four-pound kit allows me to
replace them for heavier duty ones.

Will this sort the problem?

Right, let's just try this out.

Oh, look at that.

Much smoother.

So, so far, the car's
been rather good to me,

and in fact, all these mechanical fixes
have been as small as the car itself.

Happy days.

How do you add value to a collectible car?

One way is to address a little detail.

Our steering wheel has seen better days,

and I've come to a company that's
been fixing wheels for decades.

Steve, how you doing, mate?

Oh, hello.

I'm Mike, spoke to you on the phone.

Hello, Mike.

That's what I like to
see, a man hard at work.

Now, when I spoke to you,

I told you about my little BMW Izetta
steering wheel, and this is the one here.

What can you do on that for me?

You can coat it, but it won't last long.

What happens is it will just break away.

Right, so what's the
best thing to do, then?

The best thing to do is recast it.

So you can make a whole new rim?

Yes.

Steve gets rid of the old plastic rim.

He then colours a plastic gel coat,

which he paints into a
fibreglass mould of the wheel.

Next, plastic resin and glass
fibre is mixed and poured in.

All the complicated stuff
looks like it's done there, Steve.

It's all in.

That's it, now we can bolt it down.

Right.

How long does it take to cure?

For this, half an hour.

About half an hour?

Yes, it's not hard.

It's what they call a
gel stage, so it's turning.

And here comes the messy bit.

Yes.

Yeah, look at that.

So in half an hour,
we're going to have

something that looks like
a steering wheel, then?

Yep, I hope so.

Here we go.

Give it a little... And
same again, around here.

Put it down.

Oh, there you go.

Are we there? Is it done?

Look at that.

Oh, that's fantastic, isn't it?

I can already see, that's amazing.

That is solid, it's in one piece.

And you're going to clean
all this up now, are you?

I'm going to do that now, yes.

Top that.

Next, the wheel is trimmed and
polished and bought up to a top standard.

It's not a fast process, though,

and can take another couple of days.

The price is around £200.

Well, so far, look at that.

Steve has done a cracking job,

and after all those
processes, it's still not finished.

He's still got to clean
it all up and colour it,

sort out these arms and the centre
boss, and it should look brand new.

So what I'm going to
do is leave it with them,

but I can't wait to
see the finished result.

So far, Ed's cured the
iZetta's braking problem,

but soon, he's going to
have to deal with the biggest

job yet on the car, a
costly four-body respray.

This car might be small,
but its legend is large,

and this BMW iZetta
bubble car belongs to us.

It's not exactly the best of breed.

Oh, what's that there?

Not yet, but if we make this one perfect,

we can add as much as £5,000 to its value.

With the mechanical bits
now sorted on our iZetta,

I can deal with the slightly
more troublesome matter

of the worst feature of
this car, the bodywork.

Okay, perhaps that's a little bit
harsh, because actually, I don't know.

Underneath everything,
all the bits you can't see,

like the chassis, are
actually really solid,

and that's a good thing,
because on a car like this,

those are the bits that
can really catch you out.

But as you can see, the
bodywork is in a bit of a state.

It's got dents and dings
and scratches all over it,

and it needs to be sorted.

It's got to have a full respray,
and that begins with a strip down.

Before I do that, I'm going to have
a look at these front wheel arches.

Now, we know we're going to
be changing these rear wheels

that are on the front of the
car for the original front wheels.

Now, the main difference is the offset.

At the moment, these
wheels sit a little bit

further away, or out
of the wheel arches.

The stock ones actually
sit slightly neater.

inside the wheel arch.

And that means, of course, you no
longer need this rather nasty flare.

So to get rid of it, what I need to do

is get it down to bare
metal and start to roll it.

and try and restore the original form.

As I strip the top coat off, what
I'm hoping to find is an obvious line

where I can start to roll
or fold the metal back.

But worryingly, I can
only see signs of welding.

This wheel arch might have
been replaced in the past,

and if that's the case, I
won't be able to reshape it.

As I remove more paint, I
uncover more signs of welding.

My suspicions are confirmed.

The only course of action is
to actually cut away that metal

and replace it with a
section from a brand new

panel, which obviously
I'm going to have to order.

But there's plenty to
start to be getting on with.

I might as well start taking things apart.

I don't need to replace
the Isetta's entire side.

I simply order a new set of repair
panels, which have to come from Germany.

Until they arrive, I busy myself
with stripping down the rest of the car,

which is at least a day's work.

With the shell stripped, I
take the car back to bare metal.

Now, this is much more work
than just stripping the top coat,

but it'll make for a much
better paint finish at the end.

Oh, deary me. Well, there we go.

Our little Isetta is now in bare metal,

at least as far as I can be
bothered to take it for the moment.

But it looks absolutely fantastic.

And yes, there are a fair few
dents that I've now discovered,

but nothing really, really
nasty, which is great.

So it's now pretty much
ready for the paint shop.

But of course, before I can take it there,

I do have to have another
look at those front wings.

And thankfully, some
new panels have turned up.

But of course, I think I need a bit of
a tidy up before I do a spot of welding.

The wheel arches are
only part of the Jigsaw.

I'm also going to repair the lower wings,
which have seen some abuse in the past.

So before I cut any bad metal away,

I still need to know exactly
where I should be cutting.

Now, luckily, some of the original beading

is still here on the
original bit of the car.

And of course, it will fit quite
nicely into the new beading.

So by offering all this up,

I can see exactly where
I need to Mark that line.

Once the rotten metal is cut away,

it reveals a skin underneath that has also
been corroded by botched work in the past.

And this will need to be replaced as well.

First, I work on a steel panel
that I've cut for the inner wing.

Well, I'm pretty happy this now fits.

So now we get to start welding.

So I'm just, as usual,
using a couple of magnets

on the back of the panel
just to hold this in place.

Any minute now, this will be permanent.

A little application with the MIG welder,

and we've got the first
piece of the Jigsaw.

My next port of call is
to cut out the rotten metal

above the wheel arch and trim my repair
panel to make sure it'll fit the hole.

It's a slow process,
but it has to be right.

Well, that is looking
pretty good now, I think.

So now I need to weld it into place,

and I'll be using two
different types of welding.

Now, the first bit will be tack
welding because if I was to seam weld,

then of course you end up
with a little bit of heat distortion

and that would ruin these
panels after all this effort.

So I'm just going to
do a little tack at a time,

let it cool down, and in that way, hopefully,
I'll get this joint nice and flush.

But also, this panel used to be
originally spot welded to the inner wing.

And of course, with spot
welding, what you need to do

before you do anything
else is actually cover

both of these surfaces of
metal with a protective primer.

There has to be a special
primer that conducts electricity,

so of course, that spot
welding will still work.

At last, I can get on with the
job I set out to do, so long ago.

With the priming complete,
I weld the arch on first,

and then the lower panel.

Right, so last piece of the Jigsaw.

This little repair here.

And then, the job's nearly done.

I spot weld the key
structural points on the panels,

clean the welds, and I've got the
iSetter looking half decent again.

This job was supposed
to take a couple of hours,

but it's turned into a two-day marathon,

for which a panel beater would
want several hundreds of pounds.

Our little iSetter has
reached a bit of a turning point.

It's not going to get any worse than this.

Sure, it looks battered and bruised,

but we have sorted out
that problem with the wing,

we've rubbed it down
ready for the paint job,

and even though we don't
exactly know which colour to go for,

one thing's for sure, from now
on, it's going to get better and better.

Ed, how you doing, me old son?

Wow, look at our little iSetter!

I see you've been up
to your old tricks again.

Well, actually, we've
made quite a bit of progress.

First of all, remember
those rear brakes locking up?

Sort of that, rebuilt them,
and now it drives beautifully.

But the thing is, you
might have noticed as

well, quite a bit of
bodywork's been done,

and those little wings you wanted me just
to roll back the edge of, remember that?

Roll the arches back in.

Well, it turned out, as usual,
it was an absolute nightmare.

I had to actually put
in some whole new

metal, take out a whole
lot of dead old metal,

the stuff that shouldn't even have
been there, and it's been a real mess.

Well, it's all the stuff
that you really like to do,

and I can see the evidence
of that down on the floor,

and it looks like you've
worked really hard, so well done.

And once it's together,
it'll look brilliant.

What colour are we going to go for then?

Well, I was thinking, actually,
I'm really loving it in this

kind of bare metal look, so I
thought, why not do it in chrome?

Can you imagine a
chrome painted eye setter,

button velour interior in
deep red or something?

It'd be awesome.

I love it, a chrome little eye
setter with a velour interior.

Sounds fantastic, but we're
not going to be doing that,

because the purists out there,
they like them in original colours,

and a good one of these
can sell for up to £12,000.

Plus the fact I've had the steering
wheel refurbished in original spec,

and that's on its way back to you,

so once it's all bolted together,
it's going to look fantastic.

But whatever way we go, Ed,

you've still got quite a
bit of work cut out for you.

The moment has come for
the eye setter to be reborn,

in a different colour.

Choosing a colour is
such an important decision,

it can seriously affect
the eventual selling price.

It's very exciting, our eye
setter is back from the paint shop.

Now, Mike and I did have quite a
discussion about what colour to go for.

We could have gone for
that classic original yellow,

maybe a nice pea green,
perhaps a blue on blue combination.

Chrome would have been fantastic.

In the end, we went for this.

Japan red and feather white.

It's actually an original combination
that was available from the factory,

and it really helps accentuate
those lovely lines of the car.

And the reason we've gone
with such a punchy colour

is because, of course, eye
setter owners, deep down,

they really want to be noticed.

I reckon it's about time I put it
back together again, don't you?

And before you accuse
me of having an easy ride

because the car is so
small, I've got news for you.

This eye setter may be little,

but many aspects of rebuilding
it are fiddly with a capital F.

Thankfully, the sunroof is
just a bolt-on job on the rear lip.

The important thing
is to make sure that the

metal support is completely
square at both ends,

as they often bend with time.

And this will stop the front-facing
seal being completely flush.

Ours, of course, is 100%.

Installing the window glass uses skills

that anyone familiar with
old cars will recognise.

Now, unlike modern cars, where you'd
actually bond the glass to the vehicle,

because it's a nice little old classic car,

it actually uses good
old-fashioned rubbers.

Now, all we have to
do here, as you can see,

is this bit here actually fits around
the metal frame of the window.

That side there is for the window itself,

and the glass is held in place
by this nice bit of beading,

which eventually is
forced into position there,

but looks rather smart once it's done.
Very simple.

These window rubbers replaced the cracked
old ones and were £70 from a UK supplier.

The rear screen is first to go back in,

as that can take a bit of manhandling.

The number one priority
is to not shatter the glass,

but it's also easy to damage the seal,

especially on the corners.

What's keeping me going is the knowledge

that a specialist fitter would
look at about £200 to do this job.

This little gizmo is specially
designed to push the bead into place.

You can pick one up
online if you feel like tackling

this job yourself, but it
definitely needs Patience.

Rather nice with the chrome, I think.

I've gone to the trouble of cleaning
out the inside face of the light lenses,

replaced the bulbs and checked
all of the electrical connections.

I know for sure everything works,

and every single bolt is
rust-free or has been replaced.

Our car was missing a rear bumper,

so I've spent £200 on a chrome replacement,
which had to come from the USA.

Now for the tough stuff.

So far everything's been going rather well,

but now it's going to
get a little bit more tricky

because I have to put together
this Jigsaw of the side windows.

They're rather notorious
for being a bit of a pain.

The side windows are made
up of fixed and sliding elements.

First I seal the base trims to
the body and rivet them into place.

The rubbers go inside the window cavity.

Now it's looking a
little bit tricky already.

There's this little channel here
for the locking strip or the bead,

but you can see this channel
here is completely closed up.

I've got to try and get the glass in there,

which is apparently
about four or five mil thick,

and you can see, look at that,
it's going to be a real struggle.

So it's going to need loads of lubricant

and I think might be
a really useful top tip.

It's to try and heat it
up with some boiling

water first of all, as
well as it's really supple.

And then a lot of wrestling.

If this doesn't work,
I'm not sure where to go.

You can't slim down the rubbers themselves.

This is a real headache.

I have to say there seems to be no way

I'm going to be able to push
this glass into these new rubbers.

The gap just doesn't seem big enough.

And to be honest, I just don't
want to risk breaking this window,

otherwise we're never going
to get hold of another one.

I need a plan B.

By fitting the seal onto the glass

and lubricating the outer edge with
penetrating fluid or washing up liquid,

it suddenly does what it's told.

Result!

In with the sliding glass and a
retaining trim to keep everything in place.

It's taken a bit of time, but with
the glass in, the iSetta looks great.

Sliding windows like these
disappeared from motoring

about 20 years ago, but I
think they add character.

Another change I've been
itching to do is with the wheels.

I bought some original spec steels

which were a few inches slimmer than the
outgoing ones and had them painted white.

A massive improvement.

Well, that glass was
definitely a bit of a struggle,

but with all the other little
bits and pieces in place,

it's now beginning to feel
like we're getting there.

Let's just hope that the
rest of the work on our

lovely little iSetta is a
bit more straightforward.

We're working on a three-wheeled star,

the BMW iSetta bubble car.

I bought it for less than seven
grand and I'd love to sell it for 12.

So, it's up to transform the car as
only top motors sell for top money.

We are on the home
straight with our iSetta.

I'm bolting all the bits
back onto our Bijou BMW

and to make it look even
better when it's finished,

many of these parts are going to be
either refurbished, replaced or upgraded.

The light pods are a big part
of the iSetta's cheeky looks.

They are usually body
colour but might chrome them.

Yes, it's not standard,
but the idea is that they'll

really stand out against
that vibrant red paint.

The wiring on this car is motorbike simple

and I just need to connect
the wires to the loom.

Worth every penny of £75, I think,

and for once, a good idea from Mr B.

Just finished wiring up.

I also need to check them now, so
just turn the side lights on first of all.

Fantastic.

There's the dip beam.

There's the main beam.

Fantastic.

I think it just looks a lot nattier.

You can't actually buy new interior
panels, so I used the old ones as templates

and had my trimmer make up a set
of vinyl panels which clip into place.

Then I reinstate the switch
gear and the rest of the interior.

And now for something rather special.

Now, as soon as I knew what
colour we were going to paint our car,

I got this bench seat commissioned and
it is a little bit off-piece, to be fair.

It's not quite stock, but
then nor is the rest of our car

with our lovely chrome headlamps

and it looks absolutely
fantastic in this lovely red vinyl

and better than that,
of course, originally,

it would have had a
little white panel there

and this is going to be
much easier to keep clean.

The retrimming was rich at £200,

but I'm more than satisfied with the look.

I've kept the original
carpets, but don't worry,

they've been given a
spring and summer clean.

Two hours later, the
interior is nearly complete.

Well, we're getting really close now,

I can actually feel it in me bones
and it's now time for our steering wheel

that Mike, thankfully,
managed to get refurbished

and look at that, it really is looking
very smart, almost brand new, I'd say,

and it's going to really finish
off the interior of this motor.

The previous bumpers had to bite the dust.

For a start, it was black
and it presented very poorly.

So I've put my hand in Mike's pocket
and treated us to a new one at £275.

Finally, it's time to put the
last major piece onto the car.

Now, the door is a bit big and unwieldy

and there's loads of lovely fresh paint
everywhere, so to be on the safe side,

I'm going to get my mate
Paul to give us a hand.

The door hinge is a common
problem area on the Isetta,

so make sure it works perfectly
before going back on the car.

Labour costs on a rebuild after a
paint job could run to about £1,000,

so it's well worth doing yourself.

The finishing touches and a full stop
to the work on this wonderful Isetta.

This little car has had
a really long journey.

It's been laid up for literally decades

and then in a short space of time,

it's been made to run,
given a new interior,

even a change of colour, and
has all that work been worth it?

Absolutely.

The Isetta is a gem of a motor.

It's always been small, but
now it really is perfectly formed.

Although it was intended as simply
a cheap way of getting from A to B,

it's become a design icon.

This BMW Isetta had
been on the market for a

while and they used
that to pull the price down.

£6,800. That's it.

Deal.

Yes, just bought myself a bubble car.

But after 35 years in a garage,

the Isetta wasn't up
for the long drive home.

Oh, what's up there?

Ed stripped and repaired the rear braking
system and fixed the clunky gear linkage.

Much smoother.

The Isetta's chassis was strong,
but the rest of the body needed work.

A little more work than Ed expected

and he had to re-weld
wheel arches and lower wings.

A bare metal respray was the order of the
day and we decided a bright original colour

would attract interest
and up the fun factor.

Isetta owners, deep down,

they really want to be noticed.

Added a host of upgraded
interior and exterior

details and the Isetta
has been reborn.

How have we done with the money?

The car was £6,800

and we kept the cash
rolling into the project.

to ensure quality at every stage.

The total spent was £10,500.

Oh, no way, Ed.

Not a chance.

This ain't the same car. This is stunning.

Look at the paintwork.

Oh, Ed, it's fantastic.

Well, thank you, sir, which
is practically a full restoration

and all that work on the wings you
gave me, that was an absolute nightmare.

But I have to say, apart
from loving the paint,

I also really love what we did
with those chrome pod headlights.

It's fantastic.

Oh, Ed, it's absolutely brilliant.

Surely it's got to be
one of the best out there.

I think you might be right, actually.

I can't wait to get it out on the road.

It's going to be so exciting.

Let's take our cheeky
little car on a little test drive.

We call it a magical mystery tour.

And where we're going, you
might want to dress up a bit.

There you go. Right, you all set?

I'm absolutely ready to go, sir.

OK. Jump in, you can drive.

What?

Yeah, go on, you can drive.

I don't think I'm going to fit.

Yeah, go on, squeeze
in, you'll be all right.

OK.

I'll try and just spin.

There's not a lot of room in here.

Yeah, you have to move
a bit more over than that.

Obviously, come on, come on.

There you go.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

Right.

I think we're ready.

Go on.

I'm leaving, I'm leaving.

I'm leaving.

Oh, my word, I'm having to stop now.

Let me hit the brakes.

I've never driven a car.
I think you need knee pads.

Now, you see, Michael, you
normally take us to these nice

sort of slightly exotic
locations for our test

drives, and I can't help
noticing we're in barches,

or should we say, perhaps,
one of its less aesthetic towns.

And, I mean, you know,
we've got shopping centres

on one side and office
blocks on the other.

Where are you taking us?

You're also forgetting the
fact we're creeping along

at 20 miles an hour in a
car that wasn't designed

to carry two lights and
lightweights around like us two.

So it's probably struggling a little bit,

and no doubt, look.

Oh, my word.

Yeah, we're going to have
this... Truck bearing down.

Yeah, we're going to have
a big tailback behind us.

Well, I'm actually taking you
on a bit of a surprise journey.

We're going to go and
meet a potential buyer.

Yeah, I'm bringing you
along with me for a change.

That's cool.

And you might be surprised to
know it's the people that made this car.

That sounds almost too easy, mate.

Yeah, no, I'm actually deadly serious.

I needed to get the
exact paint codes for

this car, and when I was
on the phone to BMW,

I got talking to one of the guys there,
and I was telling them all about the motor,

and he said that it could be something
that they could be interested in,

putting on their historic press fleet.

That's awesome.

So we're on their way to go and see them
now, show them the car, see what they think.

Oh, fantastic.

It's good, isn't it?

Yeah.

Well, there we go. We're here.

Wow.

Look at those cars.

That's wonderful. Thank you, sir.

They're pretty cool, aren't they?

Let's look at a Z1.

We've got to do one of those ones.

Oh, yes, please.

And look at this.

Wow.

Yeah, very nice.

Don't touch, don't touch anything, Ed.

We couldn't afford any of those.

Come on, come back here.

Wonderful thing.

We're definitely at the right place anyway.

Absolutely.

Aha.

Nice to see you.

Chris, you're marketing director,

and you look after this
wonderful press fleet.

Nice to see you.

This is Ed.

Nice to see you, hi.

What an array of cars you've got here.

They're beautiful, aren't they?

They're stunning.

And this is fantastic.

Oh, I'm glad you like it.

I love the colour.

What colour is it?

Well, actually, it's Japan
red, and with the white,

it's actually an original combination
available from the factory.

Anything that isn't original
are these chrome pod lights.

It's Mike's idea, but I think it
really sets off the car beautifully.

Yeah, I like it.

It suits the car.

Good, isn't it?

Went until you see the inside.

Oh, that's great.

I love the interior.

Yeah, the interior's had
a lot of work done to it.

That's new seats, piped white.

New steering wheel as well.

New steering wheel.

That was handcrafted,
that steering wheel, with

the original mould, and
we're really proud of that.

I think it looks absolutely fantastic.

That's beautiful.

Really nice.

You've done a great job.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Really like it.

If you was to go for
a little car like this,

what would you be using it for?

Well, a car like this,

it would be a great
addition to our classic fleet.

We've got a lot of beautiful BMWs
here, and we use them for events,

and our customers love
seeing them out on the road.

And a car like this,

well, it would be the icing on
the cake for the fleet, really.

Well, you can see there's
been a lot of work gone into this.

We're very, very
proud of our little iZetta,

so hopefully you're
just going to shake my

hand here, but it's a
one-shot, one-price deal.

Okay.

£12,000.

£12,000?

Yeah.

With three wheels?

Yeah.

Yeah, go on.

Go on then, mate.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Well done.

Thank you very much.

Well, Chris loved the car.

Maybe I should have asked
for more, but with a £1,500 profit,

that is a fantastic result.

Well, we really couldn't have hoped
for a better ending with our little iZetta,

and the good news is,

it's not just going to be parked up.

It's going to be used every day by journalists
and photographs all over the world,

so keep an eye out for it.

If you want to see more
faded icons turned around,

then join me and Ed
soon on Wheel Of Dealers.

Ta-la.