BMW328

BMW 328 Images

The BMW 328 in pictures, most of them taken in museums and at shows and historic races: production roadsters, the interior and the engine, two coachbuilt bodies, BMW's own racing cars, the Touring coupé and the heritage cars BMW has built since 2006.

A black BMW 328 roadster photographed from a low angle at the front in a white museum hall: tall twin chrome grilles, round headlamps in the curve of the wings, two worn leather straps, green leather seats and a folding windscreen.
A black 328 roadster seen low from the front, its green leather seats and the bright stone guards ahead of its rear wheels in view, at the Louwman Museum, The Hague, 4 January 2017.Alf van Beem, Public domain (PD-self)

Most of these cars were photographed in museums or at shows and historic races, in seven European countries and the United States, from 2007 to 2025. They are grouped by car, from the standard roadster to the Touring coupé and BMW's own tributes. Each caption gives the place and, wherever the photograph's record has one, the date of the photograph; a road car's own year is given only as its museum gives it.⁠1

The roadster

Most 328s left Eisenach with BMW's standard roadster body, and all six cars here wear it: twin narrow kidney grilles, headlamps faired into the wings, two leather straps over the bonnet (hood) and a spare wheel recessed in the tail.⁠2​3

The roadster 6

  • A green BMW 328 roadster on grass by a river, showing its tall twin-kidney grille, headlamps faired into the wings, two leather bonnet straps and a vee windscreen. Opens a larger view

    1 Green paint and cream disc wheels on a 328 with the standard roadster body, parked beside the river at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Connecticut, 1 June 2025.

  • A black BMW 328 roadster seen head-on in a museum, with its narrow twin kidney grilles, headlamps set into the wings and a folding windscreen. Opens a larger view

    2 Face to face with a black production roadster, its steering wheel on the left behind the vee windscreen (windshield) and two narrow chrome kidneys below the BMW badge: Louwman Museum, The Hague, 4 January 2017.

  • An ivory BMW 328 roadster with worn, crazed paint and red seats in a museum diorama, a mural of a 1930s race grid behind it. Opens a larger view

    3 Ivory paint from new and no restoration since, by the Simeone Foundation's account: the museum's 328 roadster in Philadelphia, 23 July 2020, below an enlarged photograph of cars on a pre-war starting grid.

  • A blue BMW 328 roadster with black wings in a museum, beside an information stand and a period oil cabinet. Opens a larger view

    4 A roadster in blue with black wings, 22 January 2017, at the museum automobile welt eisenach, which dates the car 1938; Eisenach is where the 328 was built.

  • A grey BMW 328 roadster in profile in a museum gallery, enlarged period race photographs on the wall above it. Opens a larger view

    5 The full length of a grey roadster in profile, red straps across its bonnet and the spare wheel at its tail, in the galleries of the Revs Institute, Naples, Florida, 20 March 2025.

  • A white BMW 328 roadster with race number 54 from the left rear in an old racing paddock, beside a silver 328 and other pre-war cars. Opens a larger view

    6 Race number 54 on a white 328 roadster in the old Nürburgring paddock at the Oldtimer Festival of 16 June 2007, seen from the left rear with its spare wheel in the tail and a silver 328, No. 94, alongside.

Picture credits (6)
  1. 1 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 2 Alf van Beem, Public domain (PD-self)
  3. 3 Al R, CC BY-SA 2.0
  4. 4 Stefan Oemisch, CC BY-SA 4.0
  5. 5 Tomás Del Coro, CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. 6 Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 de

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Interior and engine

The three cockpits are left-hand drive, with two large dials before the driver and a lidded glove box, and their steering wheels and trim differ. The six-cylinder engine, told on BMW 328 Engine, carries three downdraught carburettors on Rudolf Schleicher's aluminium head.⁠3​4​5

Interior and engine 5

  • The cockpit of a BMW 328 from above: a black three-spoke steering wheel on the left, two large dials, three small gauges and a lidded glove box. Opens a larger view

    7 Two black seats and a black dashboard in a pale-blue 328 at automobile welt eisenach, Eisenach, 22 January 2017; on this car the speedometer is the left of the two big dials, with the rev counter to its right.

  • A white BMW 328 roadster seen from behind and above, its spare wheel in the tail, the cockpit and the vee windscreen beyond. Opens a larger view

    8 Over the spare wheel into the cockpit of a white 328 roadster at Techno-Classica, Essen, 13 April 2023: a cream steering wheel with spokes of fine wires on the left, cream dials and dark red trim.

  • A green BMW 328 roadster seen from above at the left rear, with the spare wheel in its tail, the cockpit and the dials. Opens a larger view

    9 Looking down from the left rear into BMW's own green 328 roadster, BMW Museum, Munich, 13 November 2014: tan leather seats, the steering wheel on the left and a green spare wheel in the tail.

  • A green BMW 328 roadster with the side of its bonnet raised, showing the six-cylinder engine, its carburettors and the exhaust manifold. Opens a larger view

    10 The bonnet side raised on BMW's green roadster to show its six-cylinder engine, three downdraught carburettors standing along the alloy head and the exhaust manifold below, BMW Museum, Munich, 13 November 2014.

  • The engine bay of a white BMW 328: a six-cylinder engine with three downdraught carburettors under mesh filters. Opens a larger view

    11 The six of a white 328 road car at Tjolöholm Classic Motor, Sweden, 19 May 2019, a plate on the head cover giving the firing order and its three carburettors under mesh filters that were fitted later.

Picture credits (5)
  1. 7 Stefan Oemisch, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 8 Thomas Vogt, CC BY 2.0
  3. 9 Nathanael Burton, CC BY-SA 2.0
  4. 10 Nathanael Burton, CC BY-SA 2.0
  5. 11 Herranderssvensson, CC BY-SA 3.0

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Coachbuilt bodies

Among the coachbuilders who bodied 328 chassis for customers, BMW's archive record names Drauz, Gläser, Weinberger and Wendler. Each caption here gives its museum's own account of the body.⁠6​7

Coachbuilt bodies 2

  • An ivory open streamlined sports car on a museum plinth, a yellow Shell petrol pump behind it. Opens a larger view

    12 Faired-in headlamps, slatted side vents and wheels with oval holes on the ivory open car that the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, labels a 1938 BMW 328 streamliner prototype, photographed there on 17 July 2022.

  • A bare-aluminium closed coupé body on a BMW 328 base in a museum, with BMW kidney grilles and leather bonnet straps. Opens a larger view

    13 Bare aluminium panels, two leather straps and slatted vents behind the front wheel on the closed coupé body that the Hellenic Motor Museum in Athens shows on a 328 chassis and credits to Carrozzeria Motto of Turin.

Picture credits (2)
  1. 12 Breckenedge, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 13 Joyofmuseums, CC BY-SA 4.0

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The works cars

Both cars here belonged to BMW when photographed: one of its roadsters for the 1940 Mille Miglia, and the Berlin–Rome Touring roadster, which BMW Classic's data sheet gives as a 1941 body on a 1937 chassis, built for a race from Berlin to Rome that the war stopped.⁠8​9

The works cars 2

  • A silver streamlined BMW 328 roadster under spotlights in a dark museum hall. Opens a larger view

    14 Spotlit in the darkened BMW Museum in Munich, 16 August 2014: the silver roadster with louvred bonnet and faired-in wings that BMW shows as its 1940 Mille Miglia roadster.

  • A silver streamlined BMW roadster with an event plate on its bonnet in a pit lane, other classic cars behind. Opens a larger view

    15 Rally plates and the number 39 on BMW Classic's Berlin–Rome Touring roadster in a pit lane at the Ennstal-Classic, Austria, 25 July 2008.

Picture credits (2)
  1. 14 Jiří Sedláček, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 15 Erika39, CC BY 3.0

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The Touring coupé

Carrozzeria Touring made the body in Milan in 1939 for the coupé's first race, Le Mans, where it won the two-litre class; a year later it won the Mille Miglia outright. It came back to BMW in 2002.⁠10​11​12

The Touring coupé 3

  • A silver BMW 328 fastback racing coupé driving uphill past straw bales and a hedge. Opens a larger view

    16 Past the straw bales of the Goodwood hill, race disc 179 on its rear side window: BMW's Touring coupé, the car that won the Mille Miglia in 1940, at the Festival of Speed, 24 June 2016.

  • A silver BMW 328 racing coupé with a fastback roof seen nearly head-on in a museum, leather straps across its bonnet. Opens a larger view

    17 The Touring coupé from straight ahead in the BMW Museum, Munich, 28 June 2015, its narrow kidneys between headlamps faired into a full-width silver nose.

  • Close view of a silver bonnet with a chrome 'Superleggera' script and Touring badge, a leather strap and louvres. Opens a larger view

    18 Leather straps, louvres and Touring's chrome Superleggera script with the firm's crest on a silver bonnet that the photographer titles as the Touring coupé's, BMW Museum, Munich, 28 June 2015.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 16 Matthew Lamb, CC BY-SA 2.0
  2. 17 Anirban Das, CC BY-SA 4.0
  3. 18 Anirban Das, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Heritage cars

Three of BMW's own cars look back to the 328: the Concept Coupé Mille Miglia, shown in 2006 and shaped after the Touring coupé; BMW Classic's reconstruction of the Kamm coupé, made in 2010, long after the 1940 car was scrapped; and the BMW 328 Hommage, BMW's anniversary concept car of 2011, when the 328 turned 75.⁠1​13​14

Heritage cars 3

  • The BMW 328 Hommage concept car from the right front in an exhibition tent, its X-lit headlamp and tan bonnet straps glowing. Opens a larger view

    19 Carbon-fibre bodywork, tan leather straps over the side vents and an X inside each lit headlamp ring: the 328 Hommage, which BMW showed as a concept car in 2011, in a festival tent in Paris, 26 January 2012.

  • BMW's silver 2006 Concept Coupé Mille Miglia, a concept car, spot-lit in a dark museum space. Opens a larger view

    20 Silver, with round mesh panels in its nose and a teardrop cabin: the Concept Coupé Mille Miglia, which BMW built in 2006 after the shape of the Touring coupé, BMW Museum, Munich, 24 January 2009.

  • A silver streamlined BMW coupé on a museum plinth behind a steel rail, seen from the front left, with full-width front wings, twin kidney grilles and a long fastback roof. Opens a larger view

    21 Full-width front wings and a long, low roof behind the museum rail: BMW Classic's 2010 reconstruction of the 1940 Kamm coupé, BMW Museum, Munich, 16 August 2014.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 19 Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0
  2. 20 Biser Todorov, CC BY 3.0
  3. 21 Jiří Sedláček, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Sources

Every source the site cites is on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  • Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
  1. BMW Group (BMW Group PressClub Belgium–Luxembourg), "The BMW Concept Coupé Mille Miglia 2006" (press kit), 11 May 2006, the 2006 concept car; the concept car and the Touring coupé. press.bmwgroup.com/belux/article/detail/T0027420FR Primary
  2. BMW Classic (BMW Group PressClub Global), "BMW 328" (data sheet), 11 May 2011, the number built and the standard roadster bodies. press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0107839EN Primary
  3. BMW AG (BMW Group PressClub Global), "The BMW 328 turns 75" (press kit), 11 May 2011, the production body; the cowhide belts; the cockpit: the dials, the small instruments and the glove box. press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0107839EN Primary
  4. Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß, "Schleicher, Rolf (eigentlich Rudolf)", Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 23 (2007), p. 52, the six-cylinder engines from 1932. deutsche-biographie.de/sfz112749.html Reference
  5. Denis Jenkinson ("D.S.J."), "BMW type 328: fifty years ago", Motor Sport, Jun 1986, p. 40, p. 40, the new head on the 326 block. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1986/40/bmw-type-328-fifty-years-ago Reference
  6. BMW Group Archive (BMW Group Classic), Type record "Baumuster BMW 328" (AD-122-1), the body variants and coachbuilders. bmw-grouparchiv.de/research/detail/index.xhtml?id=3837210 Primary
  7. Historic Automotive Promotion, "1939 BMW 328 Coupe by CA.MO.", the Hellenic Motor Museum's account of its coupé. historicautopro.com/1939-bmw-328-coupe-by-camo Unchecked
  8. BMW Classic (BMW Group PressClub Global), "BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster" (data sheet), 11 May 2011, the 1940 roadsters. press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0107839EN Primary
  9. BMW Classic (BMW Group PressClub Global), "BMW 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster" (data sheet), 11 May 2011, chassis 1937, body 1941; the planned Berlin–Rome race. press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0107839EN Primary
  10. racingsportscars.com, Le Mans 24 Hours 1939, results, No. 26, 5th overall and first in its class. racingsportscars.com/results/Le_Mans-1939-06-18.html Database
  11. racingsportscars.com, Mille Miglia 1940, results, No. 70, 1st. racingsportscars.com/results/Mille_Miglia-1940-04-28.html Database
  12. BMW Group (BMW Group PressClub USA), "Return of a Legend: BMW Group Mobile Tradition acquires the BMW 328 Coupé Touring – Winner of the 1940 Mille Miglia" (media information), 22 Oct 2002, the Touring body; BMW's acquisition in 2002. press.bmwgroup.com/usa/article/detail/T0022145EN_US Primary
  13. BMW Group (BMW Group PressClub Global), "Back to the future: the BMW 328 Kamm Coupé" (press release), 23 Apr 2010, the 1940 car's loss and the 2010 reconstruction. press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0079675EN Primary
  14. BMW Group (BMW Corporate Communications, PressClub USA), "BMW 328 Hommage" (press release), 20 May 2011, the 75th anniversary concept car. press.bmwgroup.com/usa/article/detail/T0110136EN_US/bmw-328-hommage Primary

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