Jay Leno Drives The Tiny BMW That Helped Save The Brand

Tiny But ImportantBMW may be known today for M performance cars like the M2 and M4, but there was a time when the Bavarian automaker built a quirky city car called the Isetta. Some may recognize it as the inspiration for Guido from Pixar’s Cars, but to others, it is remembered as the tiny model that helped save BMW after World War II. With more than 160,000 units built between 1955 and 1962, the Isetta helped the company regain its footing.One example was recently featured on Jay Leno’s Garage: a 1958 BMW Isetta 300 owned by Danny Patlin. This was the slightly more powerful version, with an air-cooled 298-cc single-cylinder engine making around 13 horsepower instead of the 250-cc unit’s 12 …