Topic: Ubb174 BMW 328 Apfelbeck 1939

[mekubb]

A sporty roadster from the old days (or not...), please identify this car and the year it was introduced

[mekubb]

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[gilescooperuk]

Looks like a Kougar sports first introduced in 1976

[mekubb]

Not a Kougar

[gilescooperuk]

Hmm - is that a BMW badge sitting on the back of it.

[mekubb]

Well spotted Giles, it's indeed a BMW

[gilescooperuk]

I would guess based on a 3 series probably a 4cylinder engine, (4 bolt wheels and short bonnet scoop)

Probably not that old as well.

[mekubb]

Not a 4-cylinder and not based on a modern 3-series

[mekubb]

No more guesses ? Soon it will move up to the Pro's !

[mekubb]

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[nicanary]

Based on a 319?

[serra]

I have found a photo that makes me thought it could be the same car, is it a BMW 328 special from 1937 ?

[mekubb]

Based on a 319?

No
but...

I have found a photo that makes me thought it could be the same car, is it a BMW 328 special from 1937 ?

that's the car indeed. It's a 1937 BMW 328 Special but it has a name. Locked for you to find this name

[serra]

It has been very difficult to find a name for this wonder, but finaly I got one that could match. Im sure this car was raced by Gillie Tyrer in late forties and one of his BMW special cars was named supermoter or supermotor and my source says that its license plate was NKA 9. Is this what you are looking for?

[mekubb]

No that's not what I was looking for. I help you a bit, I'm looking for a German name that refers to the type of engine. So BMW 328 xxxxxxxx 

[serra]

I followed the track for this car. Gillie Tyrer modified it extensively and I have found all this names Supermoter, FIAT-BMW, FIAT-Supermotor, BMW Special but I could not find none in German and of course the name you are looking for. It is clear that at least at sometime it had a FIAT 1500 cc engine, although I think it was changed for a BMW engine later. I dont know if this engine is like its original engine or other, but I've seen this car has raced in several events to classic, GP Mutschellen 2012 and 2013 Classic Ransel among others, and in one of them was listed as driven by Stephan Kühnis from Oberhasli and its engine was a 1990 cmm and 150PS. Maybe the word you are looking for refers to its original engine or the other engines. 

Thanks for the hint mekubb but given my knowledge of German I think I am not going to be able to give the name you are looking, because every time I run a page in German all words with 8 letters are possible for me. These months I'm very busy with personal matters and I think I will not have time for many more searches in some time, so you can unlock it for giving the chance to others for solving easily, I had so much fun and I want to know his name. I will try to post other photos when possible but for the moment I leave a photo of this car with other nose.

[nicanary]

I've been doing a little research, but there's not much on the internet about this car. According to Brooks Auction House, who had the car for sale in 1994, it's a 1938 model. And the bodywork was made by, of all people, Rochdale Motor Panels.

How many BMW 328s did Gillie Tyrer own over the years? As well as this one, he had a red "standard" roadster, and one of the 1940 Mille Miglia cars. He must have REALLY liked 328s!

I was hoping to help serra with this one, but I'm sorry I can't.

[mekubb]

Hi serra, the pics I have from the car with referral to the name seem to be disappeared from the net, can't even find them back with Image Search. So I called it solved and award you a point after all your work. The name I was looking for is Apfelbeck, which refers to the type/name of engine installed in the late thirties. The owner participated in various rallies and the car was entered as a 1939 BMW 328 Apfelbeck. Here is another pic.

[nicanary]

Hi serra, the pics I have from the car with referral to the name seem to be disappeared from the net, can't even find them back with Image Search. So I called it solved and award you a point after all your work. The name I was looking for is Apfelbeck, which refers to the type/name of engine installed in the late thirties. The owner participated in various rallies and the car was entered as a 1939 BMW 328 Apfelbeck. Here is another pic.

Curious. Ludwig Apfelbeck developed a cylinder head for BMW for their Formula 2 racing engines of the mid-60s, but he didn't start work for them until 1939, and his contributions didn't really take effect until the 1960s. The engines for those F2 cars are commonly known as Apfelbeck motors, but I don't see how he could be connected to a 1930s model 328. Unless this restored car has been fitted with a later engine.

[serra]

Manny thanks mekubb I had seen a BMW engine described as Apfelbeck but I was looking for a name with 8 letters thinking each x in BMW 328 xxxxxxxx was a letter for the name you wanted and I rejected Apfelbeck. I also have read the same as nicanary about Ludwig Apfelbeck and his engines so whith this info it is probably that the engine used instead of  the Fiat 1500 was one of Apfelbeck´s F2 engines unfortunately I have not found photos for the engine instaled in the car. Now I am going to post more photos as I promised.

[Allan L]

The only photo that shows anything mechanical, the last, reveals little of the engine but what it does show is not a BMW328 motor in my view.
The BMW Apfelbeck F2 motor dates from 1967 or so, and was a four-cylinder with high camshafts like this:


That just could be what one can see the front corner of.

The registration number record calls it a Frazer Nash but then BMWs sold in the UK were badged Frazer Nash-BMW and Tyrer raced the Mille Miglia car as a Frazer Nash - but it was a BMW again when Michael Bowler raced it in the 1980s.

[mekubb]

Nice pics Esteban, thanks !