Entry · Friday, August 14, 2026
BMW Isetta
/bee-em-DUB-yoo ee-ZET-ah/ n.- 1. A West German microcar produced from 1955 to 1962, notable for a front-opening single door that constitutes the entire forward face of the vehicle, a wheelbase shorter than most office chairs are wide, and a rear end that accounts for a disproportionate share of the total silhouette.
- 2. colloq. Rear-heavy by architectural necessity. The Isetta's back half is doing the structural and aesthetic heavy lifting while the front end is essentially a hinge. Viewed from behind on a cobblestone street, she reads as all rear, with a vestigial nose somewhere up front, reportedly.
"The vintage BMW Isetta parked outside the patisserie was so thiccc from the back that two cyclists stopped to take photographs before realizing there was a front. It is technically a car. The documentation confirms this."
From BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke, Munich, est. 1916) and Isetta, a diminutive coined by the Italian manufacturer Iso SpA, from Italian iso, itself the company's name, plus the diminutive suffix -etta, meaning 'little one.' BMW licensed the design in 1954 and proceeded to build a car that is, from the rear, not little at all.
Filed by
The rear of this car takes up more visual real estate than the entire front combined, which is frankly a geometric argument.
Ruling ADMITTED
The front is a door. The rear is the entire case. I cannot find a counter-argument and I have looked.
Also received REJECTED
Submitted: a pretzel rod. A pretzel rod is long and cylindrical, which, like the Isetta, rewards viewing from an unexpected angle.
It is a thin stick. It has one angle. Rejected.