Everyone loves the BMW Isetta, and rightfully so! Just the crazy front-mounted door setup is enough, of course, but then there's the rear-mounted air-cooled motorcycle engine just piling on coolness points to form a huge ziggurat of awesomeness. Of course, the hot ticket was the big Isetta, the 600, which featured double the cylinders and an improved suspension, and this '59 is a fine example of the breed. Priced at a cheapskate-ish $9980, this car does need the application of some time and money. The seller claims it's practically a slam-dunk to get this baby in top shape, though of course the engine doesn't quite run (though in the seller's idiosyncratically capitalized, spelled, and arranged words, the "Transmition have been Cleaned and Tested and passed with Great Results"). But hey, he or she "just Saw one on Ebay in Really Poor Condition with a Large Dent in the roof and Rear Ended and Major Rust problems and it sold for $7600 with lots of Bids," so you're really getting a steal. Quick, buy This Great motor Vehicle!

Whoa, hold on, don't pull the trigger on the Isetta quite yet- we just spotted this über-steal on a trio of project BMWs! Yes, for a hair less than half the price of the Isetta, you can be the proud owner of a '73 3.0 sedan and a pair of mid-80s 6 series cars. It's a shame the seller can't be more specific about stuff like year, make, and model, especially given that the photograph was apparently taken on a pinhole camera inside a dirty Ziploc bag. It goes without saying that we get no mention of mechanical condition, paperwork, etc. And it's certainly possible that the rainy Seattle climate has caused a few downgrades in body and interior quality, since these cars have probably been sitting since the Carburetor Era. But hey, maybe all three will fire right up and drive like precision German creampuffs, eh? Sure!

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As its name attests, the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum is the venue for all manner of microcar, from the Grataloup to the Vespa 400 and right up to the towering Isetta. In fact, funny story. There was this Hot Wheels car called the Whatta Drag. It was part Isetta, part drag bike and all the kind of Hot Wheels car that sat, unpicked, in the back of the box when cars were played. Nonetheless, the team at Bruce Weiner went about building a full-scale version of the Whatta Drag, using a 1959 Isetta 300 and a worked-over Chevy 502 big-block V8 - blown, natch — producing 730 hp. No word on trap times (we wonder if it's been dragged), but we'd imagine this could run in the threes of wheels. – Mike Spinelli

BMW Isetta Whatta Drag: Hotwheels inspired, 730Hp Chevy V8 powered [Carscoop]

Related:
Isettamino! eBay! Belgium? D'oh; Get Shorty: The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum [internal]

Our Schadenfridays are really turning into Zen-type moments of, uh, Zen. We can't help it. Mamma Jalopnik said if we have nothing nice to say, say nothing. What is the sound of one post-punk auto-blogger blogging? – Jonny Lieberman

[Bubble Jiving]

Related:
Isettamino! eBay! Belgium? D'oh; More: It's Still Schadenfriday Somewhere: Donks, Boxes and Bubbles Explained [Internal]

Quick; name a post-war, air-cooled, rear-engined BMW without the twin-kidney grill. Most pistonheads would answer, "Isetta." And they wouldn't be wrong. However, true Deutschaphiles will shout, "700!" And they couldn't be more right. After the tragic failures (from a sales standpoint) of the upscale 502, 503 and 507 models, BMW was forced to build dorktastic rolling eggs like the Isetta and subsequent 600. Yes, yes, those cars were cute, but as far from the ultimate driving machine as President Bush is from reality. All that changed in 1961 with the release of the 700. Learn more/make the jump.

BMW hired stud-designer Giovanni Michelotti, creator of such unbridled radness as the Triumph TR4 and the DAF 55 to save their weisswurst. Mr. Michelotti penned a little coupe that was not only fun to look at, but that set the stage for the vehicles which would come to define Bavarian Bruce, the 2002 and the icon-a-rific 3-series. Most importantly, people loved to race the 700s, re-establishing BMW's winning reputation for the first time since the 328 Mille Maglia. Even cooler, 19 special RS editions were built, and while the donor car's cutesiness was lost in the transformation, the resulting racecars were piloted by the likes of Hans Stuck and Jacky Ickx. Finally, the 697cc motorcycle engine out back might just be the very best of all possible candidates for the Jalopnik-endorsed Hayabusa-swap.

These two open-topped oddballs are the much coveted RS models doing what they do best. i.e, climbing hills and kicking ass. Please note how the back-bonnet is lifted for better cooling. So precise! – Jonny Lieberman

BMW 700 and RS [BMW World]

Related:
Know Thy Germans: 1921 Rumpler Tropfenwagen, a Slippery Tugboat; More: Know Thy Germans: Glas 2600 V8; AKA The Glaserati! [Internal]

When people think of post-war BMWs, the first car that comes to mind is the funktastic three/four-wheeled Isetta. But the 502, known as the "Baroque Angel," came first. Available as a sedan, a coupe and a cabriolet, we're more smitten with the 4-door. Not only is the best looking of the trio, but, well, suicide doors uber alles. Plus, it looks like a Jaguar with a VW Beetle grafted on top. More cool, it featured Germany's first post-war V8; an all aluminum baby that clocked in at just 2.6-Liters (later bored out to 3.2). Sadly, they were hella expensive and most Germans were flat broke. Hence, bubble cars. The "spiritual predecessor" to the modern day 5-series also ran La Carrera Panamericana. We love that. Make the jump for more old school Bimmer action. – Jonny Lieberman

1954 BMW 502 [conceptcarz]

Related:
Spy Photos: BMW 135ti [Internal]

There really isn't much we need to say about this. Either you get it or you don't. If you don't get it, please un-RSS us right now. The rest of you, well, feel free to salivate. Even better, bid. Even better than that, bid to the death and have Hayabusa motor at the ready. [Thanks to John for the tip.] – Davey G. Johnson

1961 BMW: Isetta Pick Up [eBay]

Related:
Totally, Officially, The Best Car in History: Isettamino! [Internal]

Simply put, these two cars (the second is featured after the jump) are the two coolest cars that the Bavarian Motor Works ever pumped out. Ironically, the car above featured a design by Giugiaro and an Italian-built chassis commissioned by BMW, while the car after the jump was designed by an Italian firm and licensed to to the Motor Works after the Second World War. Sheesh, the Monterey Historics make our pants tight.

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More Pebble Beach [Internal]

Well, another year — another Dream Cruise is over. But fear not, fans of the classic cruisers, we got so much fun stuff from this years Dream Cruise, we're gonna be dropping it like it's hot over the next day or two just to remind you of all the fun we had. Like spotting this modified BMW Isetta. And although we didn't get to see it happen, we just know this bad boy was built to make donuts. So if you happen to be the owner of this funny car, let us know the next time you want to rip loose in a Kroger parking lot. [Thanks to our Woodward-based bad-ass, wohho on this one!]

Related:
All our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

If there are two things the world should never be without, it's Isettas and El Caminos. Two lost marques. Two ridiculously rad vehicles. And well, when they're combined the sheer absolute radness of the whole thing basically forces us to don our Persols and then don a welding helmet. Screw the brightness of the future; it's the brightness of these past two chunks of automotive brilliance that suddenly makes our 501s too tight in a certain area. Which brings us to the Iso Isettacaro. Which, of course, is an Isetta with a pickup bed. Or a firetruck back-end. Now we just need a GSX 1300R version.

1957 Isettacaro [Microcar Museum]

More El Caminos [Internal]

Jesus. There's really very little we can say about this car that isn't evident from looking at the pic. The only way it could be improved upon is by adding a Hayabusa motor and a Chunklet sticker. Reader Adam is a god for making our evening. That is all.

BMW Blog

Related:
More El Caminos [Internal]

Your author's thoughts on being on the back of a Hayabusa doing over 160MPH on the Pacific Coast Highway between Watsonville and Santa Cruz: "Well, at least if we crash, I'll be dead before I have time to worry about it." One thing we'd bandied about with our Hayabusa-owning former roommate was the idea of shoehorning one of the killer 1.3L mills into an Isetta. So when this thing showed up on eBay, we were elated, yet deflated that somebody had beaten us to the punch. Now, Fred Parker, the man who won the auction, writes in with an update on the Hayasetta's status:

"When I bought it it was not really roadusable but work is progressing and I hope to have it up and running by April. The body has been sorted and now the mechanical work has begun." Judging from the pics, saying that the bodywork's been done is a bit of an understatement. While we personally liked the idea of a stock-appearing Isetta with the 'Bus motor in it, we might've gone for a Gee Bee-style scallop job. Fred, on the other hand, is going full-mod hot-rod on the thing with Frankenstyle ghost-flames galore. He also adds, "If you are interested I will send more pics when it is up and running." Uh, Fred, to say that we're interested is an exercise in understatement akin to calling an Antonov An-225 "large."

Related:
Hayabusa-Powered BMW Isetta For Sale on eBay