Several men were present at the birth of the BMW brand. The first of them were:

1. Gustav Otto, a son of the inventor of the gasoline engine (Otto’s motor), who set up Otto’s aviation plant in 1911.
2. Karl Rapp, owner of a plant which produced aviation engines for the Austro-Hungarian army.
3. Franz Josef Popp, an engine procurement officer for the army and later partner of Karl Rapp. He was born in Vienna and from his fifteenth year lived in Brno, where he studied and graduated university as a technical engineer.

In 1916, these three gentlemen merged Rapp’s and Otto’s plants to form the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, changing the name in 1917 to the Bayerische Motorwerke – BMW. BMW engines represented cutting edge aviation technology for their time. The BMW III engine was flown by the aviation legend of the time, the “Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen, who had one in his fabled red triplane with black symbols. Planes using BMW engines broke many world records.

The factory produced stable motors to drive machines and subsequently these were used for the company’s first motorcycle, whose trade name was “Helios”.

The first serially produced motorcycle was the BMW R 32 in 1923. It featured a revolutionary construction using a flat two-cylinder engine with the clutch and gearbox in one unit and the driveshaft going to the rear wheel. This “Bavarian conception” is still used in BMW motorcycles today. BMW motorcycles won the six-day race in 1926 and the Tourist Trophy of the Isle of Mann in 1939. Before the war, BMW motorcycles held 206 speed and world records. Popp was an important economist who purchased the DIXI car factory in Eisenach for BMW in 1926 and later the Brandenburg engine factory in Berlin, where the first aviation jet engine in the world was produced in 1939. The DIXI car factory was owned by Jakob Shapiro, a Russian Jewish exile and a stockbroker, who, at the peak of his prosperity, owned most of the automobile industry stock in Germany. Nonetheless, after a series of bankruptcies, he emigrated from Germany to France. The very beginnings of the automobile factory’s existence were marked by the global crisis. Popp offered to let Henry Ford purchase the car factory from him, but Ford refused and bought space in Cologne. If it wasn’t for Ford’s refusal, the world would not have come to know BMW cars.

The simple cars of the DIXI Mark, after the DIXI company was bought, were sold under the name BMW DIXI. These were the first and smallest BMW cars ever made. They were based on a licence purchased from the small popular car producer Austin, the Model Seven. This variety had been produced and sold in England since 1923. Later, licences were sold to Germany (DIXI – BMW) and France (Rosengart). The car was also produced in Japan by Datsun but it was produced there without the licence.

Some years later, the company made use of its own tube chassis construction, mostly two-litre, six-cylinder engine, with a separate front axle with flat transverse spring, two hydraulic shock absorbers and a rack-and-pinion steering system. Besides well designed cars with an enclosed cabin and convertibles, the brand was renowned for its 315/1, 319/1, 327, 327/8 and 328 sports cars. The 327 model is one of the most elegant post-war car bodies. The 328 model was a popular sports car for many years and could be seen also in this country in the 50s at the Ecce Homo Race in Šternberk (the racer Sojka). The company still prospers and has a production programme which turns out automobiles and motorcycles of an exceptionally individual character.

Some successors of the BMW brand:

The BMW R2 Motorcycle, produced between 1931 and 1936. This is a motorbike with a single-cylinder four-cycle engine of 200 cubic cm capacity and a three-speed gear box. It weighs 110 kg and can achieve a speed of 95 km/h. It is the smallest BMW motorcycle. Although it only has 8 HP, in 1936 it held a world speed record with an attained speed of 246 km/h.

The BMW R 12 Motorcycle was produced between 1935 and 1942 and only 25,000 motorbikes were produced. In 1935, it cost 1,650 Reichsmarks. It has a two-cylinder flat engine with 750 cubic cm capacity 18 horsepower and a four-speed gear box. The rear wheel drive is secured by a shaft. The front wheel is spring-loaded, while the rear is not. The frame is made of moulded profiles. The speed indicator is indirectly lit by the headlight. It weighs 185 kg and can attain a speed of 110 km/h. It was produced in a military version with a sidecar.

The BMW R 66 Motorcycle. A two-cylinder four-cycle flat engine of 600 cubic cm capacity. Horsepower of 30, total weight 187 kg. The motorcycle could achieve a speed of 145 km/h. Due to its output, the bike was often sold with a sidecar. The frame is made of tubes with telescopic spring-loaded front and rear wheels. The motorcycle was produced between 1938 and 1941 and cost 1,695 Reichsmarks without the sidecar (a kilo of butter cost 3.20 Reich mark and 1 kg of this motorcycle cost 9 Reich mark).

BMW 3/15 PS (DIXI ) DA4 Automobile. This is a four-cylinder car manufactured from 1931 to 1932. Most often it was sold as a four-seat closed car body and four-seat open car body; rarely as a two-seat coupe. This model was called “a business coupe”. It was meant for the travelling salesman and his customer. Small space made it impossible for the business car to be misused for family purposes. The engine volume is 750 cubic cm, brakes are mechanical on all four wheels. The front and rear axles are flat spring-loaded. The car weighs 480 kg and its top speed is 75 km/h. It is a so-called people’s car with very simple construction. The commercial slogan of the time had it that “the car’s exterior is smaller than the car’s interior”. The selling price of the car was 2,500 Reichsmarks, which is just slightly more than for a two-cylinder motorcycle and three times less than the price of a six-cylinder Mercedes Stuttgart. These cars were known to have side leakage during rain, since the doors are not caulked against the car body. The sports version of this car was sold under the name BMW 3/15 PS Wartburg and won the race in its class at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1930.

BMW 335 Automobile is the biggest, most powerful and final BMW model of before the war. These cars were manufactured from 1939. Only the first units off the line before May 39 were meant for sale; from May 1939, all cars were taken by the state and used in diplomatic services and for superior dignitaries at ministries. This car was very popular with Goebels, who much enjoyed driving it on his own. The cars were equipped with an in-line six-cylinder engine with 3,500 cubic cm capacity, output of 90 HP and a maximum speed of 150 km/h. The frame is longer by 114mm than the two-litre chassis, which enabled sufficient extension of the engine space. The rear axle is rigid, spring-loaded by two sway bars running along the car’s longitudinal axis; the front axle was designed characteristically with one flat spring, swinging arms and hydraulic shocks. The car has a rack-and-pinion steering system and weighs 1,300 kg. Typical features of 335 cars are rear hitches for an ancillary boot, cross-sectionally ribbing of the car body with ornamental slats and big, fully sunken headlights. The acquisition price was 9,000 Reichsmarks (tyres were not included in the price of the car, the buyer had to get hold of them on their own because of insufficient supplies during the war). These cars were m