BMW 340
BMW / EMW 340 | ||
---|---|---|
Curb weight 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) | (Measurements approximate) | |
Chronology | ||
Predecessor | BMW 326 |
The BMW 340, subsequently rebadged as the EMW 340, was a large
A coupé version, originally launched in 1937 as the BMW 327, was also reintroduced after the war and produced in parallel with the 340 until approximately 1955, badged in its final years as the EMW 327.
The Eisenach Plant
BMW became a manufacturer of commercially viable automobiles when late in 1928 they acquired the business of Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach A.G. whose assets included a manufacturing facility at Eisenach then engaged in manufacturing under licence British-designed Austin 7s. During the 1930s BMW automobile production blossomed: the Eisenach plant was throughout this period BMW's volume automobile manufacturing facility.
In 1945 the town was occupied by American forces, but by then it had already been
The future of the Eisenach plant was a contentious issue in the uncertainty of late 1945. Munich based BMW’s attempts to recover their plant were not sympathetically received by the occupiers, who evidently were mindful of BMW’s wartime role as manufacturers of engines for war planes. Nevertheless, in November 1945 the plant received from the Russians an order for a further 3000 cars and motor bikes, and less than one year later, in September 1946, the plant was integrated into the Soviet AWO business entity: for Eisenach, membership of the command economy had begun.
The birth
By late 1948 the 340 had been developed to production readiness. It shared the 287 cm (113 in) wheelbase and central body section of the 326, but the bonnet / hood had been squared off, with the headlights more fully integrated into the front wings. A front grill comprising horizontal metal slats in the form of an approximate semi triangle followed the contemporary styling trend apparent in other designs including that of the Peugeot 203 launched around the same time as the BMW 340.
The rear quarters of the car were also reworked. Inspired by trends that had taken place in the
The interior configuration broadly followed that of the 326 initially. In later models the individual front seats were replaced by a single bench seat, and available seating space was further increased by the deletion of the central arm rest from the rear bench seat.
Technical
Power output from the 1971 cc
Mechanically the 340 carried forward some of its predecessor’s advanced features. The four-speed gear box of the 326 reappeared in the 340: however, the cable linkage, which in use had proven damage prone, was replaced with a more robust rod linkage system.
A particularly intriguing component in the engine bay was a mechanical self-cleaning oil filter. Sited above the clutch pedal, the device employed a scraper attached to a ratchet which moved progressively, driven a little further with each successive operation of the clutch pedal.
The engine block was water-cooled using a radiator that most 21st-century car owners minded to lift the hood / bonnet would instantly recognised as such. But here, too, the approach was not entirely conventional. Possibly reflecting the colder winter temperatures routinely experienced in central and eastern Europe, the radiator was protected on its outer face by a blind which could be raised or lowered from the driver's seat, a device also employed on certain Russian automobiles. In cold weather the driver was able to minimise the quantity of cold air passing through the radiator by completely lowering the radiator-blind. This minimised the period during which the engine operated below its efficient operating temperature. Informed by a facia-mounted engine temperature gauge, the driver was able to anticipate and avoid the risk of overheating by raising the radiator blind as the engine approached its efficient operating temperature of 80 °C (176 °F).
Cars sold from 1952 also featured a fuel-based passenger cabin heater. In order to ignite the heater it was necessary first to open a small tap in the engine bay, after which the flow of hot air could be regulated using a control in the footwell on the passenger's side.
In recognition that the 340 had been developed in haste, under sub-optimal conditions, several early ‘production prototype’ level cars were subjected to a 10,000-kilometer marathon test run. The successful conclusion of this testing constituted a public demonstration of the manufacturer's confidence that the car was ready for serial production, which commenced in 1949.
Production and commercialisation
In the 1930s the 326 had been seen as a compact executive model, but by 1948 steel was in short supply. European cars had shrunk along with the disposable incomes of consumers. At a time when Mercedes Benz automobile production was almost entirely restricted to four-cylinder Mercedes Benz 170 models, the larger six-cylinder BMW 340 found itself with a design and specifications that qualified it for a more elevated market place status.
Volume auto producers depended on a network of specialist suppliers for components and subassemblies: 340 production highlighted new challenges arising from the increasingly apparent political division of Germany. In June 1948 the
Despite these quality issues, 340s were sold in major central European export markets and west of the
The 340 continued to find itself at the centre of a complex interplay between political, legal and commercial disputes. In November 1950 a judgement of the state court at Düsseldorf threatened to imperil the Eisenach enterprise's access to much prized western convertible currency if the plant continued to sell the 340 as a BMW. It appears that after July 1952 no 340s were sold as BMWs, at least in western markets. The BMW 340 turned up badged as the EMW 340, the familiar blue-white roundel badge replaced with a similarly shaped red-white one. (The B in BMW stood for Bayerische/Bavarian: the E in EMW stood for Eisenacher.) In eastern Germany and Poland, and several of the smaller other Soviet controlled brother-states, the cars continued for some time to be sold as BMWs, possibly in order to use up existing stocks of BMW badges and wheel trims.
The plant which in 1945 had come under the control of the Russians, was given under the control of the new
References
- ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1.
- ^ "1951 BMW 340 - BMW - Get Car Specs - Car specifications with thousands of models from all car makers". Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
- ^ Shugurov, Lev. Avtomobili Rossii i SSSR. Pt.1, Moscow, 1993, (in Russian), p.191-192
- Eberhard Kittler: DDR Automobil - Klassiker, Band 1. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02256-7
- Horst Ihling: Autorennsport in der DDR. Wartburg, EMW & Co. Verlag Delius Klasing, 2006, ISBN 3-7688-5788-3