Recent comments on bubble cars prompts me to submit this photograph of my brother Ken’s car, an Isetta, photographed outside the family home in Linden Avenue, 1966.
Photograph and details courtesy of Cliff Thornton.
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A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
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It’s not an Isetta it’s a Trojan made under licence in Croydon from Heinkel of Germany.
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No, it’s certainly an Isetta, I had one, my first car, in the 60’s. The Heinkel Bubble Car Had two seats one behind the other, and a lift up roof, not a door at the front, a friend of mine had one.
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G Deakin is correct, there is definitely a winged Trojan badge on the front of it, Which makes it a Heinkel/Trojan 200.
http://www.simoncars.co.uk/heinkel/heinkel200.html
The Isetta was made by BMW, so would have had the well known BMW badge, that is still in use today (black ring around a blue and white quartered circle)
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ISO produced Isettas in Italy, they were then built by BMW in Germany, Heinkel saw it and decided he could do better and produced the Kabine in Germany later Trojan in the UK produced them. Info from the internet.
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I remember Mr Roger Lightfoot the geology lecturer at Billingham Tech in the 1960s travelling from Norton to Billingham Tech each day in a bubble car, though I am not sure of the exact make. As he used to say, for a short daily journey it made for economical motoring, what with the low tax rate and good fuel economy.
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Anon’s comments about the one wheel at the rear reminds me that in addition to the cheaper road tax, it meant that the car was a three-wheeler and therefore could be driven by anybody with a motorcycle driving licence.
Dave – the photo was taken outside no.16. Your house must be next to the huge garden of No.15. That house was known as the headmaster’s house, as in the 1960s it was the home of the Mr Bradshaw(headmaster at Grangefield Grammar School), and then Mr. Cain (headmaster of Stockton Grammar School).
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I have been to a few parties in number 16. On the glass panel above the door it has “ranleigh” in gold letters and a set of working servant type bells in the kitchen. The owner has recently sold and moved to Glasgow. The details and many interior photographs are still on the “right move” website if you google “16 Linden Avenue, Hartburn.” Does anyone have more pictures of the road and surrounding area from the 1960’s?
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A friend had one of these in the late 60s customised with mock leopardskin interior – quite a sight!
I think that the British models had only one wheel at the rear instead of the European twin wheel assembly so as to qualify as a three wheeler for tax purposes etc. They were really killed off by the coming of cars such as the Mini and as prosperity increased, but they performed surprisingly well for their size and time and were very economical and reasonably comfortable for that time. Mind , a trip down one of the then new motorways in heavy rain and winds in an Isetta was quite an experience!
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This takes me back, I had one in the mid sixties, it was my first car. Funnily enough I saw one a few weeks ago at the Kildale show in the vintage car class.
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Nice photograph…it must be number 4, 6 or 8 Linden Avenue, I live in number 17 on the other side of the road. Do you have any more old photographs of the area?
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My dad had two of these bubble cars in the 70s. One was blue and the other was white. I used to be terribly embarrassed when he picked me up from school, but my friends used to argue about who was going to have a lift! The first one originally belonged to my uncle, David Heselwood who lived in Arlington Street.
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