Description
1938 BMW 328/ 28 Ex Anthony Day Chassis No: 74212
It really doesn't need saying the BMW 328 Roadster was one of the most successful sports cars ever to emerge from the Bayerische Motoren Weerke in Germany. The heart of the car, the 2 Litre 80 HP engine, was a masterpiece and later used in many successful competition cars including the Fraser Nash, the AC ACE and Bristol designs. Anybody who has been lucky enough to drive a car powered by one of these engines cannot fail to be impressed by the smooth delivery of power throughout the torque range. The 328 was immensely successful in competition all over the world with wins at Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, and many other events.
At the time BMW also offered the 55hp 327, available as a 4 seater cabriolet or coupe design for the driver who wanted a 2+2 with more weather protection. More a Grand Tourer than an out and out sports car. They were all a highly successful designs, with a much more modern feel on the road than most manufacturers offerings at the time.
A special version of the 327 was also offered. It was called the 327/ 28. In other words a 327 fitted with the 80 Hp 328 engine. (Just to avoid any confusion the British manufacturer Fraser Nash, who marketed the RHD cars sold in the UK, called the model a 327/ 80). So essentially you could buy your comfortable GT car with the pretty 2+2 configuration and have the sports car 80hp engine.
Chassis No: 74212 was one of these rare and highly desirable cars. It was manufactured in Germany and delivered on 28th July to Halle, Germany. It is not actually recorded as to whether it was RHD or LHD. Several European countries still drove on the left at the time and some "German" cars were produced in RHD form. The early history is not known but the car surfaced in the USA in the 1970's. Dan Margulies the prominent London collector car dealer and successful international race and rally driver imported the car to the U. K. and sold it to Anthony Day. It had by then lost its original engine head but Anthony was keen to compete in the car and sourced the high power 80 HP unit to bring the car back to its original specification. He kept the car for many years and became a regular and successful competitor at many club racing events such as Prescot, Shelsley Walsh, Brooklands, Goodwood, Silverstone.
With such a long racing career the cosmetic condition is quite battered although the re-trimmed interior and hood are still good. Mechanically the car is in excellent order and set up as a race car, fettled for many years by various historic racing specialists with boxes of records and invoices recording the work. The transmission has Bristol internals to provide synchromesh, and it has an electronic rev counter an electric cooling fan and a battery cut out switch.
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