100 Cars That Changed History

“Paris – Retromobile 2013 – BMW 328 – 1937 – 001” by Thesupermat – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

14. BMW 328 1936–1940 Germany

The BMW 328 is a sweet classic sport car made by the German manufacturer. Designed by Fritz Fiedler and Peter Szymanowski, the BMW 328 featured a straight-6 OHV engine and a four speed transmission. The BMW 328 went on to win hundreds of races, including winning in its class at Le Mans in 1938. Unfortunately, after the Second World War the plant in Eisenach, Germany where the BMW 328 was produced fell under the control of communist Russia. All automobile production followed state-direction until Germany was unified in 1989. A 328 and BMW technical plans were taken from a bombed out BMW factory by representatives of the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Frazer Nash companies. The first Bristol car, the 400, was heavily based on those plans. Bristol motors were also used in AC cars.