BMW 3/15.

In the summer of 1929, the BMW 3/15 PS DA 2 is the first automobile built in the former Dixi factories, located in Eisenach, to bear the BMW logo. Like its predecessor, the Dixi PS DA 1, it’s based on the English compact car, the Austin Seven. However, under BMW’s supervision, the car has been equipped with numerous improvements such as the four-wheel brake, a more spacious body and improved interior equipment. Furthermore, it successfully represents BMW in motor racing events: in the 1929 International Alps Race, for example, Max Buchner, Albert Kandt and Wilhelm Wagner is the only team to completing the event without receiving any penalty points.

From 1930, BMW has a true tit-bit for passionate sports drivers available: the Type 3/15 PS DA 3 Wartburg. The horsepower output of the 750cc four-cylinder engine which powers the small roadster, with its stylish boat-shaped rear, has been increased from 15 to 18 bhp by an increased compression, a copper inlet manifold and a double-pipe exhaust system. Thanks to these measures, the sports car, which weighs just slightly more than 400kg, is 90 km/h faster and soon becomes a popular and successful competition car. Until 1931, just 150 units of this roadster – a desirable car in all aspects and the founder of BMW’s motor racing history – are sold. Among others, Eisenach’s racing driver Robert ‘Bobby’ Kohlrausch celebrates many successes with the BMW 3/15 PS Wartburg, from 1930 to 1933.