BMW 326

BMW
BMW 326 sedan
326
Production period:	1936-1941
Class :	Middle class
Body versions :	Limousine , cabriolet
Engines:	Otto engine : 2.0 liters (37 kW)
Length:	4600 mm
Width:	1600 mm
Height:	1540 mm
Wheelbase :	2870 mm
Empty weight :	1100 kg
Previous model	BMW 319
successor	BMW 332 , EMW 340

The BMW 326 was a four-door passenger car manufactured in Eisenach for the Bavarian vehicle manufacturer BMW in the late 1930s. A similar but two-door car with 45 hp was built under the designation BMW 321 . The BMW 335 corresponded to the 326 model except for a larger engine (3.5 l displacement, 90 hp) and a modified front end.

history

development

In 1935 BMW developed the Type 326 as a four-door mid-range car with the six-cylinder engine from the BMW 319 , which was slightly increased in displacement and power. The chassis was newly developed with hydraulic lever shock absorbers on all axles and torsion bar springs on the rigid rear axle guided by links .

BMW presented the car at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition (IAMA) in February 1936 in Berlin.

According to BMW's plans, the 326 was to be replaced in 1940 by the BMW 332 with a pontoon body , hatchback and modified 2.0-liter six-cylinder in - line engine and modified chassis of the 326 . However, after the Second World War began, only three pre-production models were built of the intended successor.

marketing

The car became a real volume model; By the time production was discontinued in 1941, 15,936 units had been sold, despite a sales price of 6650 Reichsmarks for the small convertible.

BMW 326/2

In the first months after the war, the remaining workers began to clear up and rebuild the 60% destroyed automobile plant in Eisenach . In the process, some original parts made before the war - some of them lying under the rubble - came to light. These parts were used in addition to other vehicles (such as type 321/2) until the end of 1945 / possibly. At the beginning of 1946 three convertibles 326/2 (chassis numbers 116'001 to 116'003) and 18 sedans 326/2 (chassis numbers 120'001 to 120'018) were assembled.

To distinguish between the vehicles produced earlier, these BMW vehicles from the Eisenach automobile plant received the above new chassis numbers and the internal additional type designation / 2. In these "out of the rubble productions" there were inevitably isolated deviations in the execution.

From 1949 to 1955, a modernized version of the 326, the EMW 340 , was built at the Eisenach automobile plant .

technology

engine

The engine of the 326 was a two-liter six-cylinder with two carburettors and an output of 50 hp. The transmission had four gears, was partially synchronized and had a freewheel for the first two gears . The maximum speed was 115 km / h, which is appropriate for the motorway.

Frame, chassis and body

BMW 326 Cabriolet

The box frame was welded to the body and was supplied by the Ambi-Budd pressing plant in Berlin-Johannisthal , as well as the roof, doors, seats, glazing and all fittings for the body. BMW manufactured the fenders, bonnet, tread plates, bumpers, gearbox cover, cardan shaft cover, all floor covers in front of the front seats and a cover plate in the trunk itself. Accordingly, there were two spare parts lists - one from BMW and one from Ambi-Budd.

The rigid rear axle was guided on the support levers of the torsion bar springs via short connecting rods and a triangular link mounted on the differential housing . The front wheels were individually suspended: at the bottom guided by the leaf spring below and at the top by the actuating levers of the shock absorbers ( lever shock absorbers ). The drum brakes of the service brake were operated hydraulically. As Karosserievarianten one were sedan and a two and a four-door convertible available, all in the then contemporary streamlined shape . The spare wheel was already covered.

literature

• Werner Oswald : All BMW automobiles 1928–1978 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-87943-584-7 .
• The new BMW type 326 . A fast 5-seater for high continuous performance. In: BMW (ed.): BMW sheets . 80,000 circulation. No. 25 . Berlin February 1936, p. 2–5 ( bmw-grouparchiv.de [PDF; accessed on February 10, 2016] in-house communications from Bayerische Motoren-Werke AG).

Web links

Commons : BMW 326  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Model BMW 326. In: BMW History. BMW AG, accessed on February 10, 2016 (dossier in the BMW Group archive with technical data). 
• Manual for the 50 hp BMW 6 cylinder car, model 326. In: BMW history. BMW AG, June 1936, accessed on February 10, 2016 (manual with pictures, 80 pages). 
• Car price list No. 21. In: BMW History. BMW AG, February 1, 1936, accessed on February 10, 2016 (document in the BMW Group Archive). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Adolf Hitler in front of the BMW 326 at the IAMA 1936. In: BMW Geschichte. BMW AG, February 15, 1936, accessed on February 11, 2016 (photo in the BMW Group Archive).  
2. ↑ ABP spare parts price list BMW all-steel inside steering sedan, type 326/50 hp, model 36, 4 doors, 4 seats. List B1 - 2nd edition. In: BMW history. Ambi-Budd Presswerk, September 1936, accessed on February 11, 2016 (spare parts list for the body with pictures, 29 pages).  
3. ↑ Spare parts list for the 50 hp BMW 6-cylinder car, type 326. In: BMW history. BMW AG, February 1937, accessed on February 11, 2016 (spare parts list with pictures, 173 pages).  
4. ↑ BMW 326 chassis. In: BMW history. BMW AG, 1936, accessed on February 11, 2016 (drawing in the BMW Group Archive).  

Timeline of the Dixi , BMW and EMW models from 1927 to 1955
Type	1920s				1930s										1940s										1950s
	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th
Small car		Dixi 3/15
				BMW 3/15			3/20
Lower middle class									309
								303	315
Middle class									319/329			320		321			...			321/2
											326						...			326/2				340		EMW 340
upper middle class														335
Roadster / Coupé / Convertible					BMW Wartburg				315/1 / 319/1			327					...			327						EMW 327
												328
Kübelwagen												325															EMW 325
Under the “Dixi” brand ; The Austin 7 compact car is built under license Produced under the brand "EMW" in the GDR by the Eisenacher Motoren Werk