The BMW 327 is a medium-sized touring coupé produced by the Bavarian firm between 1937 and 1941, and again produced after 1945. It sat on a shortened version of the

BMW 326 The BMW 326 is a medium-sized sedan produced by BMW between 1936 and 1941, and again briefly, under Soviet control, after 1945. The 326 was BMW's first four-door sedan.Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile produc ...

chassis.

Launch

BMW 327 fixed head coupe 1939 rear three quarters view

The first 327, launched in 1937, was a

cabriolet A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

. In 1938, this was joined by a fixed head coupé version.Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG. The car was shorter and lower than its sedan counterpart, but shared the famous BMW grill and a streamlined form representative of the more progressive designs of the 1930s.

Technical

Mechanically, the car utilised the hydraulic brake control, gear box, clutch and front suspension system first seen on the

, along with the

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

used on the

BMW 320 The BMW 320 was a car manufactured by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG also known as BMW in Germany from 1937 to 1938, the successor to the 319-based BMW 329. It was offered in 2 door saloon and convertible versions. Approximately 4,200 cars were mad ...

and BMW 328. The

BMW M78 The BMW M78 is an overhead valve straight-six petrol engine which was produced from 1933 to 1950. It is the first straight-6 automobile engine produced by BMW, an engine layout which has been a key feature of the brand for many years since. The M ...

straight-6 The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...

engine was used. The advertised top speed was . A higher-powered model, the 327/28, was offered with the

M328 M3, M-3 or M03 may refer to: Computing and electronics * Intel m3, a brand of microprocessors * M.3 (aka NF1/NGSFF), a specification for internally mounted expansion cards * Leica M3, a landmark 35mm rangefinder camera * Modula-3 (M3), a prog ...

engine. 569 of these high-powered 327/28 cars were built up to 1940.

Commercial

Among some enthusiasts, the 327 has subsequently been overshadowed by its more uncompromising sibling, the BMW 328 which appeared in April 1936. In its day, however, the 327 was the bigger seller, with 1,396 base engined versions built between 1937 and 1941, and significant further production after 1945.

Afterlife

During the 1930s,

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

was the centre of BMW’s automobile manufacturing. In 1945, Eisenach was occupied by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

forces. However, the wartime allies had already agreed that

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

would fall within the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

. BMW's automobile factory in Eisenach was not fully destroyed, and assembly of the 327 resumed. Clear production figures are hard to obtain, but many of the 327s surviving with collectors into the twenty-first century were post-war products. After the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, it became clear that the Soviets would not return the Eisenach factory to BMW. BMW-branded automobiles produced between 1945 and 1952 were therefore being produced outside the control of BMW headquarters in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. This caused a protracted dispute concerning title to the BMW brand and other assets, but in 1952 it was determined that

-produced models such as the 327s should be badged as EMW (Eisenacher Motorenwerk, Eisenach Motors' Works) rather than as BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke, Bavarian Motors' Works). The BMW's blue and white badge from the Bavarian coat of arms changed to the EMW's red and white badge from the Thuringian coat of arms. It is not clear how many of the post war 327s were branded as BMWs and how many as EMWs, but 505 were produced with one or other of the badges.

References

{{BMW cars: 1920s to 1940s 327 Coupés Convertibles Rear-wheel-drive vehicles 1930s cars 1940s cars 1950s cars Cars introduced in 1937