The Hofmeister kink (German: Hofmeister-Knick) is an

automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern m ...

feature consisting of a rearward/forward angle near the base of the rearmost pillar. It is named for

Wilhelm Hofmeister Wilhelm Friedrich Benedikt Hofmeister (18 May 1824 – 12 January 1877) was a German biologist and botanist. He "stands as one of the true giants in the history of biology and belongs in the same pantheon as Darwin and Mendel." He was lar ...

, who was BMW's design chief from 1955 to 1970, though it appeared on other-brand cars made before Hofmeister's tenure at BMW. Among the first cars to feature this design element were some 1949-

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

2-door cars made by General Motors, including the Cadillac Club Coupe, Buick Sedanette, and Chevrolet Fleetline (Buick and Oldsmobile had similar body styles), as well as the 1958

Lancia Flaminia The Lancia Flaminia (Tipo 813/823/824/826) is a luxury car produced by Italian automaker Lancia from 1957 until 1970. It was Lancia's flagship model at that time, replacing the Aurelia. It was available throughout its lifetime as saloon, coupé a ...

Sport Zagato and the 1961

Lancia Flavia The Lancia Flavia (Tipo 815/819/820) is an executive car produced by Lancia in Italy from 1961 to 1971. Production continued as the Lancia 2000 from 1971 to 1975. The Flavia was launched with a 1,500 cc engine at the 1960 Turin Motor Sho ...

Coupé. The first BMWs to feature it were the BMW 3200 CS and the

BMW 1500 Year 1500 ( MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, who thought it ...

shown at the

Frankfurt Motor Show The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the ''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'' (''IAA'' – International Automobile Exhibition), is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It cons ...

in September 1961 and was later named after then-BMW director of design,

. Although the Hofmeister kink is commonly associated with BMW vehicles, similar C-pillar kinks have appeared on cars of numerous brands for many years. The 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Golden Dragon shows a prominent Hofmeister kink.
A Hofmeister kink can be seen on the

Volkswagen Golf Mk1 The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is the first generation of a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen. It was noteworthy for signalling Volkswagen's shift of its major car lines from rear-wheel drive and rear-mounted air-cooled engines t ...

of 1974, the Series II

Fiat 127 The Fiat 127 is a supermini car produced by Italian car manufacturer FIAT from 1971 to 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction of its replacemen ...

of 1977, and the 1994

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...

SS.

Gallery

File:HofmeisterKinkE36.JPG, Hofmeister kink on an

E36 M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial mode ...

File:BMW 3200 CS.jpg, In some earlier models like this BMW 3200 CS, the widened base of the C-pillar was adorned with the BMW roundel. File:BMW E28 520i Wien 25 July 2020 JM (7).jpg,

BMW E28 The BMW E28 is the second generation of BMW 5 Series executive cars, which was produced from 1981 to 1988 and replaced the E12 5 Series. Pre-series production began in April 1981 and the car was introduced in the autumn that year. The E28 was i ...

File:BMW 2000 CS A pol.JPG, BMW 2000 CS File:97E38 HofmeisterKink.jpg, E38 740i File:2013-2018 BMW X5 (F15) sDrive25d wagon (2018-09-17) 02.jpg, F15 BMW X5. File:Flickr - DVS1mn - 51 Henry J (2).jpg, 1951 Henry J File:2003 Ford Falcon (BA) Futura sedan (2009-12-04) 03.jpg, Australian

Ford BA Falcon The Ford Falcon (BA) is a full-sized car produced by Ford Australia from 2002 to 2005. It was the second significantly re-engineered iteration of the sixth generation of the Falcon, and also included the Ford Fairmont (BA)—the luxury-oriented ...

File:Dodge Dart (11242212664).jpg, 1964 Dodge Dart File:Opel_Ascona_C_Roma.jpg,

Opel Ascona The Opel Ascona is a large family car (D-segment in Europe) that was produced by the German automaker Opel from 1970 to 1988. It was produced in three separate generations, beginning with rear-wheel-drive and ending up as a front-wheel drive J-ca ...

Vauxhall Cavalier The Vauxhall Cavalier was a large family car that was sold primarily in the UK by Vauxhall from 1975 to 1995. It was based on a succession of Opel designs throughout its production life, during which it was built in three incarnations. The fir ...

File:FlaviaCoupePinin1964WP.jpg,

coupè File:1949 Cadillac Series 61 Fastback - Flickr - exfordy (1).jpg, 1949

Cadillac Series 61 The Cadillac Series 61 was Cadillac's mainstream productOdin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 – The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG. model range. It was priced and equipped more modestly below ...

fastback coupé

References

External links

''BMW Designers''
An overview of automotive designers working for BMW. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmeister Kink Automotive styling features BMW

Gallery

See also

References

External links