BMW 327

BMW
BMW 327/28
Production period:	1937-1941
Class :	Middle class
Body versions :	Coupé , convertible
Engines:	Petrol engines : 2.0 liters (40–59 kW)
Length:	4500 mm
Width:	1600 mm
Height:	1420 mm
Wheelbase :	2750 mm
Empty weight :	1100 kg
successor	BMW 503 and BMW 507

BMW 327 Cabriolet

Covered spare wheel of the BMW 327

The BMW 327 is a touring sports car that Bayerische Motoren Werke built from 1937 to 1941 in its Eisenach branch . The bodies were supplied by the Berlin manufacturer Ambi-Budd . During the four-year production period, 1606  convertibles and 265  coupés were produced.

Chassis and body

The car has the same, but shortened box frame as the BMW 326 sedan . The front wheels are suspended from upper wishbones and a lower transverse leaf spring. At the rear, the BMW 327 has a rigid axle on two longitudinal leaf springs. The foot brake acts hydraulically on all four wheels, the handbrake with cable pull on the rear wheels.

The joints of the axles are lubricated by a central lubrication system with 4.75 mm thick lines, which the driver has to operate about every 30 km in wet conditions and 50 km in dry conditions while driving with a foot lever in the interior. The grease nipples customary at the time did not exist.

The body variants offered were a two-door 2 + 2-seater convertible from 1937 and a corresponding coupé from 1938, all in the then contemporary streamlined shape . To give the windscreen a slight wedge shape, it is divided in the middle by a bar. The rear window of the coupé is also in two parts. The externally accessible spare wheel is concealed in the rear. A small trunk, under which the fuel tank is located, can only be reached from the inside. The doors of the Cabriolet are hinged at the front, those of the Coupé at the rear.

The bodies were manufactured in the mixed construction method customary at the time, that is, a wooden frame placed on the frame carries the sheet metal outer skin.

engine and gears

The 6-cylinder in- line engine installed lengthways behind the front axle with a displacement of 1971 cm³ is essentially the same as the engine of the BMW 326. It has a through duplex chain driven side camshaft , overhead valves and two Solex - flat flow gasifier . By a higher compression ratio (1: 6.3 instead of 1: 6) and a min of 3750 ^-1 to 4500 min ^-1 raised speed, however, it provides 55 (40 kW) instead of 50 hp (37 kW).

In the sportier version of the BMW 327/28 with the three-carburetor engine of the BMW 328 , 80 hp (59 kW) are achieved. From the outside, this stronger variant can only be recognized by the wheels with central locking wing nuts and a modified speedometer.

A single-disc dry clutch and the gearbox are located behind the engine, from where the power is sent to the rear wheels via a cardan shaft. The transmission has four forward gears and one reverse gear. Only third and fourth gears were synchronized in the initial Hurth transmission; the first and second gears have a freewheel. The later ZF transmission is fully synchronized. The gear lever is in the middle of the car.

Technical specifications

#	327 Cabriolet	327 coupe	327/28 Cabriolet	327/28 Coupé
construction time	1937-1941		1938-1940
engine	Inline six-cylinder
Displacement	1971 cc
power	55 hp		80 hp
V max	approx .: 125 km / h		approx .: 140 km / h
price	7500 RM	7450 RM	8,130 RM	8,100 RM
number of pieces	1124	179	482	86
number of pieces	1303 + 1 chassis		568 + 1 chassis

EMW 327

EMW 327 Cabriolet

EMW 327 front with EMW logo

EMW 327/2 Cabriolet from 1954

EMW 327/3 Coupe from 1955

In the post-war years, the 60 percent destroyed automobile plant in Eisenach was rebuilt - initially under Soviet administration, later as an operation of the Vehicle Manufacturing Association . After a legal dispute with the now West German BMW group, it was renamed Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW) in June 1952 . At around the same time, production of the pre-war 327 was resumed as the EMW 327, almost unchanged.

During production at EMW, the shape of the bonnet was changed, which originally reached into the side parts of the front end and could be unlocked with a handle at the front left and right. This means that vehicles with a bonnet that is not pulled down from the side and unlocked from the inside are always EMWs (no gap under the side ventilation grilles). In addition, a body bead was introduced into the fenders over the wheel arches at EMW . Pre-war BMWs and post-war BMW / EMWs assembled from leftovers do not have this bead. In addition, the modernized dashboard of the EMW 340 and its steering wheel with steering wheel gearshift were taken over.

The production of EMW-327 convertibles (under the name EMW 327/2) was relocated from Eisenach to the bodywork in Dresden in 1952 . The Eisenach plant continued to deliver the chassis and engines to Dresden for this. A little more than 500 pieces were made from 1952 to 1955.

In addition, a coupé version of the 327 (under the designation 327/3) was handcrafted between 1953 and 1955 . The doors of the coupe were also hinged at the front. 152 copies were built, mainly for export.

Frazer-Nash BMW 327

The English sports car manufacturer Frazer-Nash took over the BMW sales program in 1935. He initially imported the vehicles, but produced them under license for the British market from 1938 until they were taken over by Bristol in July 1945. Except for the right-hand drive, the 327 was largely similar to the pre-war BMW model.

Bristol 400

After the Second World War, the design of the BMW 327 was taken over by the British Bristol Aircraft Company , which started its activity as an automobile manufacturer with this model. The company Bristol Cars produced and sold the vehicle with the coupé body from 1947 under the name Bristol 400 . The engine was used in numerous modifications in the Bristol 406 until 1961 and the frame, which had hardly changed in its basic structure, still formed the framework of the Blenheim, which was built until 2011 .

Web links

Commons : BMW 327  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Model BMW 327. In: BMW History. BMW AG, accessed on May 26, 2019 (dossier in the BMW Group archive with technical data). 
• Type BMW 327/28. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on May 25, 2019 (dossier in the BMW Group archive with technical data). 
• Manual for the 6-cylinder BMW cars - type 327 - 55 HP and 327/28 - 80 HP. In: BMW history. BMW AG, July 1938, accessed on May 23, 2019 (manual with pictures, 69 pages). 
• Spare parts list for the 2.0 liter 55 and 80 PS BMW Sport Coupé and Sport Cabriolet, model 327, 327/28. In: BMW history. BMW AG, April 1939, accessed on January 8, 2016 (spare parts list with pictures, 100 pages). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Report on the restoration of a BMW 327 Cabriolet. ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Accessed June 2, 2012
2. ^ Werner Oswald: All BMW automobiles 1928–1978. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-584-7 , pp. 46-49, 55, 78.
3. ^ Report on the restoration of a BMW 327. Accessed June 6, 2012.
4. ^ News from the automotive industry. In: Motor vehicle technology 10/1952, p. 314.
5. ^ Werner Oswald: All BMW automobiles 1928–1978. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-584-7 , p. 70.

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