Designer defies 'bubble car' parts blight

Pine River Journal, Volume 54, Number 17, 13 July 1989

Submitted by Blair Whitnah

Hay Lake man specializes in making BMW parts

Kaye Whitnah stands alone as the only person in the US who makes BMW Isetta replacement parts. A background in industrial design combined with a love for Isettas prompted Whitnah to craft the parts, which BMW ceased manufacturing over 20 years ago. Here, Whitnah displays one of his 13 1/2 Isettas, as well as the proper way to enter it. One must face the interior of the car, step up, turn toward the door and sit.

Photos by Amy Becker

by Amy Becker

    The BMW Isetta and Kaye Whitnah, Upper Hay Lake, have helped each other out in times of need.
    Whitnah, before his retirement an industrial designer in St. Louis, needed a car to cope with city driving problems.
    The Isetta, a 770-pound "bubble car" produced by BMW from 1956-1960 was highly efficient for city driving.
    "It saved me more than twice the cost of the car (in two years) because I didn't have to worry about gas or parking," Whitnah said. He paid $1050 for his first Isetta.
    However, soon after the Isetta's creation, BMW ceased manufacturing replacement parts.
    "After about '67, the parts just disappeared," he said. "All the people who had Isetta's just made do with what they had."

     "It was an economy measure and it was sporty," Kaye Whitnah said of his decision to buy a BMW Isetta. "And, if you've got a good tailwind, you can go 55."
    Whitnah's training in industrial design prevented him from just making do. He began designing parts for the Isetta.
    "I thought that, if the German's could make those parts 32 years ago, I had enough talent to make them as good and the technology to make them better," Whitnah said of his replacement parts for BMW Isettas.
    Whitnah is currently the only man in the United States who makes Isetta replacement parts. He makes over 160 parts, all by hand, for Isetta owners.
    His customer list is 350 strong.
Of the 8,500 Isetta 300 models imported to the US, 1,700 are still accounted for. Of the 150 Isetta 600 models, about 50 are still accounted for, he said.
    Whitnah owns 13 1/2 Isettas, four of which currently run. The one-half is his description of a car with no engine.
    "I really don't have time to work on them," he said of his own cars. "I'm making parts all the time."
    Whitnah began making parts by using "my hand," he said, and held his palms out. "I worked from the original parts, made prototype modes, then cast the dies."
    His replacement parts are nearly identical to the originals. For instance, the hubcaps he makes contain the same BMW stamp as the originals.
    When he does make parts different than the originals, it is usually because he has found a way to improve them. His gas caps are unbreakable and products once made of rubber are not made of weather-proof silicon.		     Whitnah, also the owner of Whitnah's Angler's Isle resort, works on his parts whenever he has the chance.
    "Once I get to molding, I might mold for 16 hours," he said. He added that he often scorches his fingerprints off, even through gloves, from handling the 350° Fahrenheit molds.
    "Everybody's really patient with me because they know everything is hand-made," he said.
    Not only are his customers patient, but many appreciate him and his enthusiasm for Isettas. One man called from out of state June 29 to tell Whitnah that the ordered windsheild had arrived and the package appeared undamaged.
    He is waiting until tonight's opening ceremony to find out whether the windshield itself is damaged, Whitnah said.
    Making parts seems to be an extension of his love for the Isettas.
    "I don't try to make a profit," he said. "Sometimes I don't even think I come out."

An interior view of the Isetta shows that the steering wheel is attached to the door frame. When the door is opened, the wheel swings upward to allow the driver to sit down.

Whitnah and daughter Blair lining up for the 1989 Summerfest parade. Whitnah often drives his Isettas in parades. Once, he squeezed seven Boy Scouts into his car for a parade.

    During his career, "I designed everything from hairpins to airplanes," or at least parts of them, he said. One difficulty he has with making the Isetta parts is that the work seems inefficient to him.
    "As an industrial designer, I prided myself on making things to go into production," he said. Now he goes through the painstaking process of producing each part by hand.
    Though Whitnah is busy between running his resort and making parts, he often drives his Isettas in parades.
    "I've had millions of questions asked about the car," he said. Some people think that it only has three wheels, some that it is electric, some that it is illega.
    He gives an emphatic "No!" to all these comments. The Isetta has four wheels, a single cylinder engine and is legal.
    "Doesn't have a door buzzer on it, though," Whitnah said.
    Isettas, though they resemble other cars in most respects, must be driven carefully.
    "You drive defensively. You don't try to show off...it's like a motorcycle," he said.		     "No one to my knowledge has ever been killed," driving an Isetta.
    Should the single door fail to open, escape is possible from the top or the side windows, he said.
    Whitnah has owned Isettas for 31 years.
    "He's always been fascinated with them," his daughter Blair said. "He used to take us to the drive-in, stick us in back and we'd watch the movies through the sun roof."
    "The most adequate word woudl be unique," Whtinah said when asked to describe the car, which he once fit seven Boy Scouts in for a parade.
    "You hardly even know you're driving," he said as he eased his scarlet Isetta 300 under a badminton net.
    Whitnah remembers a trip he made in 1958 with his first Isetta. "I used a quart of oil and five gallons of gas," he said and laughed. "That was when gas was cheap."
    "It was an economy measure and it was sport," he said of his decision to by his first Isetta. "And, if you've got a good tailwind, you can go 55."