Bubble Cars

I believe that those bubble cars had no reverse gear? I've heard tales of people driving up to walls and being unable to get out or drive back.

My first car was a bubble car, bought for £10 with the engine and gearbox in pieces. After putting it back together and brush painting in red Dulux household gloss, it was my transport on a motorbike licence before I turned 17 and got a full car licence. It was an Isetta (BMW) which did have a reverse gear. The one in your picture I'm pretty sure is a Trojan, but you are correct that many DID NOT have reverse, which I believe was a condition for driving on a motorbike licence until the rules were changed (or clarified) sometime before 1968 when I started driving it. I recall that driving it in icy conditions was somewhat challenging but I could fill the petrol tank completely for 10 shillings and 6 pence!

I, also, had an Isetta and travelled far and wide in it. If you only had a m/cycle licence, you could take out a `spacer` near the gear stick and this blanked off reverse gear. This could be replaced when you passed your test.

The Messerschmitt bubble car was quite unusual (see post 1) as the passenger sat behind the driver. However, back to the reverse gear subject, the Messerschmitt had a reverse which was engaged by stopping the engine and then re-starting it in reverse. This had the result of being able to use all gears in reverse which meant that very brave or foolhardy drivers could theoretically travel at the same speed in reverse as they could in normal forward travel. I don't know anyone who actually achieved this feat!

The Trojan bubble car was originally the Heinkel, it was first made l/h drive in Ireland then moved to the Trojan Works over in England. I bought one in 1963 brand new for around £300, reverse was blocked off but that same year the licence changed permitting the use of reverse gear. This meant you could no longer pass for a full licence with reverse gear in use. When I worked at Morris Engines somebody who had a Messerschmitt did just that before the law changed. The Trojan was quicker than the Issetta although it only had a 200cc engine compared to 350cc. We did Netherfield, Notts to Wyken, Coventry in 75 minutes, no motorways.

Bert Walker must be the one I saw at Morris Engines, he passed his test for a full driving licence in it then bought a NSU Prinz, a small rear engine two door four seater car.

Anyone remember the Messerschmitt owned by KHVIII art teacher - dammit I've forgotten his name! Nice, easy going guy, tall (impossible to imagine him fitting into one of these cars), balding. One day, we worked out that you can "unstitch" the wire fencing around the school tennis courts, move his little car into the court, and then "restitch" the fence. I don't remember the outcome, but it was a good prank. He was too nice a teacher that you would really want to upset, so I assume we enjoyed our joke and then released his car. Anyone else remember that?

That is an automatic detention.

I would love to have seen that on Candid Camera!!!

I remember 'Tick/Tic' Watson, art teacher, had a bubble car, but I remember it as either an Isetta or possibly a Trojan (with the front opening door). Some KH pupils, I don't know who, pushed it front first down the little dead end ally between the buildings opposite the, then new, physics block. I'm not sure how it was retrieved, presumably the same method in reverse! Very nice teacher, I've posted before about my experiences in his art classes.

Yes - Tic Watson! Of course! I may be wrong, but I thought it was the Messerschmitt. Another incident worthy of Candid Camera (though while I was at Uni in London) took place in the car park at University House. There were no vacant spaces, so this guy just parked across the back of two (properly) parked cars. blocking them in. One of the unfortunate victims came out, in a hurry, and had no idea how he was going to get his car out. A few bystanders, including myself, noted that there was a recess in the wall, just big enough to fit the offending vehicle end to end, and we "bounced it" into this recess, with a brick wall six inches away at both ends. I didn't stay around to see how he extracted it, but it would have been a brilliant Candid Camera lark!

My memory is vague on this so it could well have been a Messerschmitt. I like the candid camera moment! My next car after my Isetta was a Hillman Imp which caused much confusion among new owners and garage attendants about where to put petrol and top up the radiator. The car bouncing was common practice around the car parks (cleared demolition sites) at Aston University. I think everybody was blocked in at one time or another and other students would all muck in to clear the way for each other.

I bought a Heinkel for £10 when I was 16. It needed quite a bit of work to get it back on the road (only bought as my dad would not let me have a motorbike), spent a lot of time fixing it up before finally getting on road and driving it around. What killed me was the price of the spare parts, being a young Herberts apprentice, this eventually forced me to sell. Saw the car many years later sitting in a parking lot off Clay Lane.