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BMW 335

By the late 1930s, BMW had become one of Germany’s most
famous automobile manufacturers. Within just ten years they a car from scratch but to base the design closely on the four-
door 326 model. At the same time, the automotive design
Moving into the luxury class. had managed to evolve from the producers of a simple small department under the management of Fritz Fiedler was relo-
car under licence to an automotive manufacturer that offered cated from Eisenach to Munich. To draw a clear line between
discerning customers a wide range of sporty car models. After the new status car and the optically very similar BMW 326, the
The BMW 335, which had its premiere in London in 1938, was the most BMW had joined the ranks of luxury car makers with its 327 decision was made to build a new six-cylinder in-line engine
powerful BMW of the pre-war era, its 90 horsepower engine satisfying the hig- Sport Convertible, soon to be followed by an elegant coupé with a displacement capacity of 3.5 litres. When completed in
hest demands. version, all that was missing from the portfolio of BMW cars 1938, the unit showed few similarities with the previous
from Eisenach was a large, prestige saloon. engines in terms of its design. The spark plugs were differ-
At the turn of 1937/38, it was decided not to produce such ently positioned, the cooling system had been improved and

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