1937 BMW 327/328 Cabriolet

1937 BMW 327/328 Cabriolet

This 327/328 Cabriolet arrives on the market following the culmination of a restoration over the course of the last two decades, having been discovered on Long Island in the 1980s.

For many years Long Island, aside from Henry Austin Clark's pioneering automobile museum, was a well noted great feeding ground for such projects, numerous cars arriving in the famed scrapyards being towed in from north shore Mansions among other sources. With this it was a very different tale, the car being thought to have been one of a series of cars that migrated to the U.S. at the hands of a G.I. stationed in Germany at the end of the war.

There they were discovered with the G.I. in the 1980s by a local car enthusiast. At the time it was said that other interesting finds had included a Duesenberg and Mercedes-Benz 540K, but by the 1980s a trifecta of BMWs, two 327/328s and a 327 were all that remained, all being cabriolets. At the time of the find they were in a sorry state, having been left open to the elements for many years, albeit under tarpaulins. Fortunately however, their engines and radiators had been safely stored.

The current owner negotiated to acquire all of the BMWs, delicately removing them. He quickly realized that only the 327/328s were worth pursuing as projects, one migrated to Italy, while the other remained, with him and its restoration commenced. Inquiries made with Hagen Nyncke of the BMW Group Archive, enabled the owner to confirm that it was originally delivered to local German Agency "Michel" on May 4, 1939. As new it was sold in dark blue and black with a blue leather interior.

In the current custody the car has been totally rebuilt, in terms of its bodywork and structure and also its mechanical aspect. The 327 was ultimately sacrificed for necessary parts to assist this project. While, instead of its original scheme a lighter two tone blue was chosen which complements the lines of the car well.

Descriptions & pictures by bonhams