1939 BMW Typ 327/328

Until 1928 BMW’s main line of business was aero engines and it did not make cars until it bought the Dixi company which made Austin Sevens under license. Although BMW was late on the scene, it established a towering reputation in a very few years. A six cylinder engine was made in 1933 and from 1934 onwards its Typ 319 sports model began to appear in competition results, first as a 1 1/2-liter car, then as a two-liter, which led the company to look seriously at competition and to explore ways of increasing performance.

Rudolf Schleicher designed a new cylinder head, cast from aluminum, which gave most of the advantages of a DOHC head but without major retooling. It used the existing camshaft to activate six pushrods to short rockers which operated the inlet valves, while another six pushrods went to rockers which then operated short pushrods across the top of the head to another set of rockers which activated the exhaust valves. With triple Solex...