The BMW 328
The BMW 328 is one of the most important sports cars ever. Launched in 1936, it created the same fuss as the Jaguar E-Type did in 1961.
Even today a well-driven 328 can tickle the tailfeathers of contemporary BMWs and annihilate most hot hatchbacks.
Exotic, fast, handsome, and technically ingenious, BMW 328s ruled prewar race circuits, and their finest hour was coming in first, third, fifth, and sixth in the 1940 Mille Miglia.
Legend has it that a 3 ½ liter special was tested on an autobahn in 1940 and reached an astonishing 157 mph (253 km/h).
With a tubular chassis, independent from suspension, rack and pinion steering, hydraulic brakes, and hemispherical combustion chambers, the BMW 328 was so ahead of its time it made other sports cars drive like donkey carts.
Dramatically modern-looking, those sweeping fenders, tunneled headlights, and canted radiator grille are claimed to have inspired the shape of Jaguar´s XK120, and Sir William Lyons was known to have been mightily impressed by the BMW 328´s performance and handling.
After the war, one of the Mille Miglia cars was brought to Britain as part of reparations payments, and in 1946 appeared wearing a new grille as a Frazer Nash. Bristol Cars also based their new models on BMW 328 technology, and that sweet spinning 2 liter engine was used in ACs and racing Cooper Bristols. The BMW 328 is exhilarating, beautiful, powerful, and controllable; the perfect definition of what makes a sport car truly great.
The Racing BMW
The BMW 328 was designed for competition and won prestigious victories in the hands of famous drivers of the 1930s such as Prince Bira, Ernest Henna, and Dick Seaman.
At the last Le Mans race before the war in 1939, BMW 328s took fifth, seventh, and ninth places. The specially streamlined model that won the Brescia Mille Miglia in 1940 averaged 103.6 mph (166.8 km/h). But the car was equally at home in the more modest context of hill climbs and sprints. The BMW 328 set the modern style for all-enveloping bodywork, with the splashguards attached firmly to the main body structure and completely covering the wheels and suspension.
The styling has proved to have enduring appeal –it was paid the compliment of exact if superficial imitation in the 1970s with the Sbarro Replica, which repeats every detail of the BMW 328´s appearance in fiberglass.
Design and Production
The German car industry in the 1930s enjoyed every support from the Nazi regime. Adolf Hitler, an automobile enthusiast, declared car manufacturing the key industry of the future.
The world class BMW 328 was the perfect car to sweep along Germany´s newly-built autobahns, in its style, handling, and performance. The BMW 328 certainly was a masterpiece of innovative technology, from its welded steel tubular frame to its exceptional straight six engine, devised by engineering genius Fritz Feidler. The inclines valves in its hemispherical combustion chambers were operated by an ingenious “crossover” mechanism.
Conventional pushrods activated the inlet valves, while additional horizontal pushrods crossed over them to operate the exhaust valves. This boosted output from 55 to 80 bhp.
It is ironic that Feidler´s engine ended up powering British sports cars after the war.
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