In the early 1950s, Iso Spa made refrigerators and scooters. Owner Renzo Rivolta moved into cars with a tiny, egg-shaped model using a motorcycle engine. The Isetta was introduced in 1953 and sold well but trailed off with sales ending in 1955. Rivolta’s trick was to licence production, most notably to BMW, for whom the Italian bubble car was a life-saver, selling a total of 161,728 units and keeping the company afloat when production ended in 1962.















