Delivered to Germany, since 1948 in Austria!

Outstanding authenticity!

BMW presents the 327/28 in April 1938. These two numbers mean no less than the company was adding some speed to its flagship by mounting a race car engine. This was demanded by prestige alone, and 80 hp will always sound better than the 55 that powered the 327 just a year before. And it proved sufficient for the 328 to win the most coveted of all races, the Mille Miglia, by some distance, first in the 2-litre class, then as overall victors.

And while the beating heart beneath BMW’s kidney-shaped grille proved its worth on the racetrack, it was the look that enchanted the boulevard. The sports convertible and later the coupé are among the most beautiful vehicles that BMW has ever mounted on wheels. The influence of the French bodywork artists cannot be denied, and the clear trend was toward variations on aerodynamic lines. So it is hardly surprising that the BMW is suffused with flowing elegance, although the Eisenach version may be slightly less dramatic than on the other side of the Rhine. The prestige comes at a price, making the BMW virtually unaffordable, even after the Great Depression. Only 482 were built to these lavish specifications before tragedy loomed on the horizon and the world drove elegantly toward destruction.

February 1939, this BMW sports convertible, chassis 74431 with body 250969/8, is shipped via the Berlin general representative Doctor Franz Brenner. As confirmed by the factory, it is dispatched as 327/28 with sports engine, triple carburettor and 80 hp.

June 1948, a young Swiss diplomat registers this BMW sports convertible with the license plate W-2244 at the address Vienna 1., Schwarzenbergstraße 3. The circuitous route that the BMW took through the confusions of war to end up in Vienna is unknown. After all, it was delivered to the representatives in Berlin in February 1939. It must have been well cared for, as a photograph in the papers from 1948 show an unscathed, virtually new convertible. Individual approvals always tell a story, not only of the car, but also of its owner.

August 1970, the BMW is reregistered in Vienna and mothballed; evidently its final owner believes it has come to the end of its life. At least until an enthusiast happens upon it, restores it to former glory and mounts a license plate again for the first time in 25 years. Just under 10 years later, the consignor purchases the convertible and brings it back to Vienna, impressed by its details like the mushroom-shaped instruments, radio and toolbox, as well as by its original condition.

The right engine is at work beneath the bonnet, overhauled with a new cylinder head, the correct intake passage and the original Solex downdraught carburettors. Its 80 horsepower are transmitted by a rare, original, fully synchronous ZF gearbox. Even the central lubrication still works.

June 2018, a new chapter for this BMW 327/28 begins, 70 years after the young Swiss gentleman. Almost 80 years in the life of a car: it has survived many owners and a world war. Yet through all this it has preserved the authenticity that many of its peers lost aeons ago. And this is precisely what makes it stand out, and what its future owner will feel compelled to preserve. It will, after all, outlive the lot of us.

VIN: 74431, mileage: 36,544 km (read), displacement: 1,971 cc/R6, power: 80 hp, colour: black & blue/blue (leather), gearbox: 4-speed (ZF), papers: Austrian individual approval from 1948