1939 BMW 328

Sold for $176,000 at 2014 RM Auctions - Automobiles of Arizona.
A decade after coming into existence, The Bayerische Motoren Werke Company began building its first automobile. They began life as an aero engine manufacturer and was purchased in 1928 by the Dixi Werke of Eisenach and continued to manufacture the smallest Dixi product, a license-built version of the Austin Seven. In January of 1929, the company adopted the BMW badge for these cars.

By 1934, BMW was building the Type 315 fitted with a 1490cc engine with 40 brake horsepower (in triple-carburetor tune). The Type 326 was introduced at the 1936 Berlin Auto Show. The 326 would serve as a replacement for the Type 320, a cheaper four-cylinder car. The 326, the company's first four-door sedan, featured a 1971cc engine offering 50 horsepower and a top speed of 72 mph. In comparison to BMW's prior products, this vehicle was much more streamlined and it would define the marque until World War II.

Shortly after introducing the Type 326, the company introduced the 327 - a short-chassis, two-seat coupe or convertible. Next came the Type 328 with a 1971cc engine with a new crossflow head with hemispherical combustion chambers, which used short horizontal pushrods to operate opposing exhaust valves from the single camshaft. This gave twin-cam performed with less complexity and lower cost. The cars had a twin-tube chassis and clothed in a two-seat sporting body. The standard model was capable of achieving 96 mph. British driver S.C.H. 'Sammy' Davis drove a lightweight prototype example at Brooklands to a speed of 102.16. A streamlined 328 won the two-liter class at Le Mans in 1939, and the same car, which was part of a five-car team, won the 1940 Mille Miglia outright.

This particular example was purchased in 2001 by a collector in Germany from Heinz Landzettel. In 2003, the car was given an extensive body-off restoration. During that time, the original M328, which is the heart of the 327/28, was replaced with an identical power unit that had been fully rebuilt. The exterior was finished in a two-tone grey scheme, with the interior in grey leather upholstery and carpeting.

In 2007, this 328 was sold to Latvian collector Mark Meerov, before coming to the United States more recently. Since the restoration work was completed in 2003, the car has been driven just 1,703 kilometers.

The engine is an overhead valve six-cylinder unit displacing 1971cc and offering 80 horsepower. There is a four-speed manual transmission and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2014