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The TRUE story of BMW

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Mike Fishwick View Drop Down
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    Posted: 15 Oct 2013 at 11:28am


THE BMW STORY: A COMPANY IN ITS TIME

Book Review (and a little history) by Mike Fishwick

This large (588 pages) volume is a comprehensive history of the Company, in terms of the people who controlled it, the social, economic, and political conditions which shaped its growth, and the products which had a particular influence upon its future.

The author, Horst Mönnich, set out to provide a carefully-researched Company history, and certainly succeeded, after checking and corroborating every fact possible, and leaving no inglorious moment unexposed.  He was fortunate in being able to interview notables such as Alex von Falkenhausen, Rudolf Schliecher, Martin Stolle, Schorch (George) Mier, and many others.  Others, such as Franz von Popp and Max Friz, have posthumously contributed by their written word.  With its copyright vested in BMW, this book may be regarded as the Official Company History, not to mention an authentic record of German history from just after the turn of the century to 1973.

The early part is of particular interest, this being the only book I have seen which provides a clear lineage of the Company’s antecedents, most of the more lightweight ‘histories’ being somewhat contradictory.  Roy Bacon’s ‘BMW Twins & Singles’ for example, claims that BMW was an offshoot from an unspecified merger in 1917 involving the  Bayerische Flugzeuge Werke, which had supposedly been formed between the engine works of Karl Rapp and the aircraft works of Gustav Otto during 1913.  Mick Walker, on the other hand, in ‘BMW K-Series Motorcycles’ states that  Karl Rapp and Max Friz formed BFW in 1916, and were joined by the Gustav Otto concern during 1917, so forming BMW.  This tale tells us that BMW did not ‘go public’ until 1918, when it was joined by Franz von Popp.

‘The BMW Story,’ however, makes it quite clear that Karl Rapp was joined by Franz von Popp, acting as an overseer for a large Austrian Navy contract, during 1916, and that it has Popp who insisted on the employment of Max Friz.  After losing the confidence of the Bavarian War Ministry over a rather individualistic design, Rapp left the company, which was reformed as BMW in 1917, complete with the famous blue and white quartered badge. 

In 1916, with failing health, Gustav Otto left the aircraft works he had founded close to Rapp Motoren Werke.  Shortly afterwards, in collaboration with MAN, this concern became BFW, and had no commercial association with BMW.  BFW declined after the war, until it ceased trading in 1922. (Some assets, such as the Augsburg factory, were bought by a certain Willy Messerschmitt.)  Otto shot himself in 1926.

In the aftermath of  the war BMW made a little money from their first flat-twin engine, the M2B15, based upon the engine of Martin Stolle’s Douglas, which powered the Victoria, Helios, and others.  They remained desperate for work, until von Popp gained a large contract from the Knorr Bremse company to manufacture air brakes for the Prussian-Hessian railway.  This contract was so successful, indeed, that the Herr Knorr became chairman of the BMW board and the sole shareholder, having bought the BMW shares from Camillo Caglioni, a financier who had underwritten the original take-over of Rapp Motoren Werke.  BMW, as a manufacturer of engines, was finished.

In 1922 Popp persuaded Castiglioni to fund the purchase of the BMW name, patents, and some specialised plant, and took over the now-defunct BFW works nearby; the rest, as they say, is history.  BFW had dabbled in motorcycle production, the new owners having to sell the remaining ‘Flink’ two-strokes, and redesign the stock of BMW-powered ‘Helios’ machines before they could be sold with a clear conscience!

With Martin Stolle’s departure to Victoria, where he would develop an overhead-valve engine, a new and better motorcycle was necessary, the result being the R32 of 1923.  Various detractors claimed that Max Friz had copied the ABC, a chain-driven flat twin with protruding cylinders, designed by fellow aero engine man Granville Bradshaw, built in England and France by the Sopwith aircraft company.  Apart from the protruding cylinders, there was no similarity, the ABC being a mixture of the modern (rear suspension and overhead valves) the idiosyncratic (copper-plated cooling fins) and the barbaric (exposed valve gear and hand-controlled oil pump).

Friz states clearly that he had never even seen an ABC, which is certainly possible; a chilly person, he spent most of his time huddled over his drawing board and a coal-fired stove, worrying that designing a motorcycle would ruin his reputation as a ‘real’ engineer!

The other great moments in the BMW story are also covered in detail, from the take-over of BRAMO in Spandau (now the motorcycle factory!), the war years and the removal of von Popp, to the dismantling of 1945, the post-war struggle, the return of aero engines, the take-over of Glas in Dingolfing, the bankruptcy of 1959, and the resurrection of BMW to its current position as a small-volume producer of world-wide standing; it is all there.

Being translated from the original German, the general  style has been described as ‘turgid’ – a description which is sometimes not undeserved!  This book, however, will only be purchased by serious students of BMW history.  The first English edition of 1991 has not yet been reprinted, but copies are still available from some specialist suppliers.  If this appeals to you, it will be a good read over Christmas!

(The BMW Story – A Company in its Time, by Horst Mönnich.  Sidgwick & Jackson, £25.)  NB: Although not reprinted, copies may still be  available from Mill House Books at the bargain price of £5!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Motorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Oct 2013 at 11:46am
Good book review, you should send this into the Straight Six editor for inclusion in the magazine.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Oct 2013 at 2:11pm
It was published in the magazine a few years ago, just before Christmas I think.
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