BMW 332

BMW
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332
Production period:	1939/40 (pre-series)
Class :	Upper class
Body versions :	limousine
Engines:	Otto engine : 2.0 liters (40 kW)
Length:	approx. 4650 mm
Width:	approx. 1650 mm
Height:	approx. 1500 mm
Wheelbase :	2750 mm
Empty weight :	approx. 1175 kg
Previous model	BMW 326
successor	BMW 501

The BMW 342 (foreground; prototype), which was built in 1951 in the Eisenach plant without the involvement of BMW headquarters in Munich. He largely adopted the front design of the BMW 332 planned for series production in 1940 .

The BMW 332 was a passenger car from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG ( BMW ) that was largely developed for series production in 1939/40 .

It was a four-door sedan of the luxury class with pontoon body , hatchback and 2.0-liter six-cylinder - inline engine (links to pictures :). Due to the Second World War , BMW was no longer able to start the planned series production . Only three pre-production cars were built for testing purposes, none of which exist anymore.

Overview

Since 1936, BMW had built the BMW 326 as a four-door sedan and - with bodies from Autenrieth , Baur and others - as a two- and four-door convertible at the Eisenach plant , the former Dixi plant. With almost 16,000 vehicles, it was the most successful pre-war model alongside the small BMW 3/15 PS (1929–1932). In 1939 , the sedan bodies supplied by Ambi-Budd in Berlin with their tall, narrow bonnet , the classic, curved front and rear fenders and the running boards looked rather conservative compared to the latest models from Adler , Opel and others. Due to the rapid expansion of the motorways, there was also a need for an aerodynamically more favorable body in order to be able to achieve higher speeds. The BMW 332 took this into account with its modern pontoon body.

In 1940 three test cars were built, which differed in small details. Although the Second World War had already started, BMW extensively tested the vehicles on public roads.

The 332 model was to replace the 326 from 1940. It was intended as the starting point for a future model family, just as from 1936 the 326 had provided the technical basis for the 327 , 327/28 and 328 (sports convertible and coupé or open sports two-seater). The BMW 332 should have become a mainstay of BMW automobile production in the 1940s . This was thwarted by the Second World War.

Backgrounds of origin

Aerodynamically optimized vehicles with pontoon body and fastback had BMW already been tested earlier, the test car BMW K1 (1938-39) and BMW K4 (1939-40), in each case based on the larger, 1939 presented BMW 335 as well as the racing sedan based of the sporty BMW 328 , developed for the Mille Miglia 1940. The model was the streamlined shape with a shortened rear (so-called comb-rear ) by Professor Wunibald Kamm ( FKFS Stuttgart ). With their unusual bulbous shape and covered wheel cutouts (on the K1 also at the front) and partly large fins on the roof (at times on the K4 ), these vehicles did not meet the general public taste, which is why the shape was revised for series production and further developed into the 332 model .

In contrast, the engine, power transmission and chassis and chassis of the BMW 326 were still up-to-date in 1939, and in some cases were even classified as exemplary, so that BMW wanted to adopt them for the 332 model with only minor changes.

Typology

The BMW 332 was like all new BMW -Serienautomobile from 1933, starting with the Model 303 (1933-1934), a model number with three digits and a "3" at the beginning. There is no connection with the designation BMW 3 series, which was only introduced in 1975, for relatively compact, sporty BMW models in the middle class.

The designation 332 was made without a recognizable system: Although the models 309 , 315 , 319 , 320 and 335 allowed conclusions to be drawn about the displacement, as is usually the case today; For the models 303 , 321 , 325 , 326 , 327 , 328 , 329 and 332 , however, such a conclusion was not possible.

A Model 330 did not exist before the Second World War; the BMW 331 was a small car project similar to the Fiat 500 Topolino that began after the Second World War . The model designations 333 and 334 were again not officially assigned, but would have been available for variants of the 332 if required .

The model name BMW 332 reappeared later , albeit only unofficially, namely from 1995 to 1999 for a special export version of the BMW M3 (E36) for the North American continent with a 3.2-liter six-cylinder in-line engine and 243 hp / 179 kW Power, 320 Nm torque and five-speed manual gearbox (engine type S52USB32) instead of the regular M3 engine with 321 PS / 236 kW and 350 Nm.

Vehicle model details

The BMW 326 , the predecessor of the BMW 332 , for which he supplied the chassis and drive technology

The BMW 502 , together with the BMW 501 , the first BMW -Serienmodell after the Second World War, the individual design features of the 332 took up

Body and equipment

The 332 had a modern pontoon shape with smooth, elegant and simple lines with straight shoulder lines and a hatchback. Features were the large headlights that were fitted as flush into the front as possible and positioned relatively far inside , the BMW kidney grille , which was significantly lower than the 326 , but strongly curved, and large window areas with a split windshield . In the sideline, the large third side window, the fully covered rear wheels and a distinctive chrome trim strip on the lower edge of the body were noticeable (from the rear edge of the front wheel opening to the rear). At the rear there was a large split rear window and a large trunk lid with a distinctive recess for the spare wheel, which was mounted almost upright on the inside .

The three pre-production cars showed differences in terms of the doors. There was a version in which the front and rear doors were hinged at the back (so-called " suicide doors "); In this version, the door handles were located directly below the side windows above the shoulder line of the body. In another version, only the front doors were hinged at the rear, while the rear doors - as is common today - were hinged on the B-pillar (as on the 326 and 335 models ); In this version, the door handles sat much lower on the rounded outer door skin.

The front and side lines of the 332 were strongly reminiscent of the K1 and K4 test cars with their pontoon shape and covered rear wheels. Instead of the unusual rear crest with a spoiler lip, a more pleasing hatchback shape was chosen. From the rear, the 332 was reminiscent of the Opel Kapitän introduced in 1938 (hatchback, rear window shape, trunk lid with spare wheel recess). Immediately before the war, BMW had hired several engineers in Munich who had previously worked for Opel , which could explain the body similarities.

A very similar design was found later in the Borgward Hansa 2400 (in the version up to 1955) or the standard Vanguard (phase I).

Chassis and running gear

The 332 received the chassis and running gear of the 326 , i.e. a drop-center box frame with a front suspension consisting of upper wishbones and a transverse spring at the bottom and a track width of 1300 millimeters. At the rear, the 332 had a rigid axle with two longitudinal spring bars and a track width of 1400 millimeters. This was considered to be more comfortable, sporty but less than the rigid axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs of 327 and 328 and the models 320 / 321 , which the claim of 332 as a luxury car better corresponded. It had rack and pinion steering and hydraulically operated inner-shoe drum brakes on all four wheels with a cable-operated handbrake on the rear wheels.

engine and gears

The 332 should have a modified engine of the BMW 326 get so the established water-cooled six-cylinder four-stroke -Reihenmotor with 1971 cc capacity and very long excursion ( bore 66 mm, stroke 96 mm), internally as a motor-type because of the development 326/4 designated . It had a crankshaft with only four bearings and a side camshaft driven by a duplex chain with overhead valves ( OHV valve control ) that were operated via bumpers and rocker arms .

A special feature of the 332 model was the oil cooler to give the vehicle additional thermal reserves for consistently higher revs and speeds, such as those that arose during long motorway journeys.

The power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a single-disc dry clutch and a manual four-speed gearbox .

A special feature of the 332 was the first-time use of a steering wheel gearshift for a BMW vehicle instead of the usual middle gearshift . In doing so, he anticipated a detail that BMW used as standard in its post-war models 501 and 502 - and until 1957 also in the 503 .

Location of the vehicles

The trace of two of the test cars is lost in World War II or at the end of it; they are considered lost. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the third vehicle was recovered from the rubble of the BMW plant in Munich in the Milbertshofen district . It was rebuilt in the following years, but received a normal 2.0-liter six-cylinder engine with 37 kW / 50 hp from pre-war production, as had been used in the model 326 . This vehicle was used as a management car at BMW headquarters in Munich until 1949 . The next owner was the racing driver Georg "Schorsch" Meier . According to one source, Willi Huber (* 1910; † 2002), a former BMW racing technician, cannibalized the last BMW 332 in his workshop on the island of Frauenchiemsee to make one of his " HH racers " with its chassis parts as well as engine and drive components to build for Hermann Holbein.

As a result, there is not a single BMW 332 left today . To date (as of February 2010), no efforts by BMW have become known to have a replica made, as happened, for example, with individual prestigious 328 racing versions.

Significance for post-war production

BMW was hit particularly hard by the Second World War: the Eisenach plant, where pre-war automobile production was located, was in the Soviet zone of occupation . The two BMW plants in Munich, which were mainly responsible for motorcycle production before the war, were largely destroyed by bombs, after which they were temporarily confiscated and partially dismantled. In order to meet the needs of the general population, BMW initially began producing everyday items such as cooking pots, construction fittings and bakery machines.

There were also plans to build passenger cars, especially pre-war models similar to those used by Volkswagen , Opel, Ford and Mercedes-Benz . The modern BMW 332 would have been ideal for this purpose . In the first post-war years, however, BMW was unable to build the necessary production halls or procure the production machines.

Individual design features of the modern BMW 332, such as the striking front design in the area of ​​the front headlights, the BMW kidney grille and the transition to the bonnet, were found in the 501/502 in the 1950s , even if this car with its molded fenders in the style of the contemporary Austin looked more classic (nickname: "Baroque Angel").

In eastern Germany, the Soviet stock corporation Awtowelo took up the design of the BMW 332 again in 1951 when they presented their prototype 342 based on the pre-war BMW 326 and the BMW 340 . This largely took over the front of the BMW 332 , but was supplemented by an additional lower cooling air inlet and chrome-plated indicators on the front fenders .

literature

• Halwart Schrader : BMW automobiles . tape 1 : From the Wartburg and Dixi to the BMW 3200 CS Bertone 1898–1962 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02343-1 , p. 113/114 (with pictures).
• Werner Oswald , Eberhard Kittler: All BMW automobiles since 1928 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-02080-7 , p. 61 (text) and 84/85 (five images) .
• Ralf JF Kieselbach: BMW rarities. Cars that never went into production . GeraMond Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7654-7806-2 , p. 44 to 47, 49 and 124 .
• Graham Robson, Caroline Schulenberg: Inside the BMW Factories: Building the Ultimate Driving Machine . Motorbooks Verlag, Minneapolis 2008, ISBN 978-0-7603-3463-8 , pp. 40, 60/61 and 64 .
• Jürgen Seidl: Difficult new beginning: Reconstruction and expansion of BMW AG with special consideration of corporate relations with the state (1945 / 48–1969) / Die Bayerische Motorenwerke (BMW) 1945–1969. State framework and entrepreneurial action . Tectum Verlag / CH Beck Verlag, Marburg / Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-406-10711-5 , p. 70 .
• Ralf JF Kieselbach: Streamlined Cars in Germany: Aerodynamics in Car Construction 1900 to 1945 . Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-17-007626-4 , p. 72 and 84 .
• Horst Mönnich: BMW, a German story . Zsolnay-Verlag, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-552-04124-9 , p. 258 .
• Princeton Institute for Historic Research (Ed.), Automobile quarterly (magazine), Volume 36, Issue 4, 1997, p. 44 ff. (Esp. 46) (English)

Web links

• BMW R 332. In: BMW History. BMW AG, accessed on April 25, 2014 (search in the BMW Group archive). 
• Report on the BMW 332 and the test car from Kamm and Jaray on the website of the BMW Driver's Club of South Australia ( Memento from August 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 16, 2010 (English).
• The BMW 332 and other BMW rarities on the website BMWPower.lv (Latvian), accessed on March 16, 2010

References and comments

1. ^ Image of the BMW 332 , BMW chief designer Meyerhuber with a model of the BMW 332 , accessed on February 20, 2010
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Werner Oswald, Eberhard Kittler: All BMW automobiles since 1928 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, pp. 61 and 84/85
3. ^ Werner Oswald, Eberhard Kittler: All BMW automobiles since 1928 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, p. 292
4. ↑ Ralf JF Kieselbach: BMW rarities: cars that never went into series production . GeraMond Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 124
5. ^ Werner Oswald, Eberhard Kittler: All BMW automobiles since 1928 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, pp. 100-102
6. ^ Report on prototypes from Eisenach vehicle production after the Second World War, including the BMW 342 before and after the ban on the use of the BMW kidney and logo , accessed on February 20, 2010
7. ↑ BMW / EMW prototypes and special vehicles between 1949 and 1951 , accessed on February 20, 2010