rare 1931 BMW IHLE 600 Sports Roadster found

[MrBern]

http://www.madison.com/tct/entertainment/77staging/298673

American collector purchases rare `31 BMW roadster....Nobody was more upset than officials from BMW's World Headquarters in Munich.

 

[Sefton]

I had almost as much fun reading all of the comments (in the link) about the nationalistic bias of the article's author as I did looking at the picture of that remarkable automobile. I wish there were more photos of the car though. Thanks.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Very cool indeed!

 

[DavidVillaJr]

awfully small for that "743-liter" engine, dontcha' think?

dv

 

[BellyTank]

Austin Seven in Drag.

That guy has a very expensive Austin Seven.
I hope he knows that.

That's what it is- the Dixi, an Austin Seven built under license in Germany, by the aircraft engine maker, BMW- their venture into mass produced passenger cars.

It wasn't just BMW who's first car was actually an Austin Seven- Jaguar, Datsun, the Lola Sports car- all Austin Sevens.

Haha.

I know someone in New Zealand who makes a better Austin Seven than BMW ever did...

Here it is.

Hand formed aluminium, over wood.


B
T

 

[BellyTank]

I had almost as much fun reading all of the comments (in the link) about the nationalistic bias of the article's author as I did looking at the picture of that remarkable automobile. I wish there were more photos of the car though. Thanks.

Where do I find these comments..?


More pics of the car..? there are 26 there.



B
T

 

[MrBern]

Where do I find these comments..?


More pics of the car..? there are 26 there.



B
T

Reader's comments on the article are jsut below the article.

Yes, 26 pix in the gallery in the article.

 

[MrBern]

BTW, I like this description of the size:

The car, which measures a mere 10 feet long and looks like it could run in the Soapbox Derby, offers proof that bigger doesn't always mean better. "I'm almost too tall to drive it, and I'm 5-foot-8," said Griffith, who has been collecting cars for more than 20 years and has been an annual participant in the Vintage Celebration.

 

[dhermann1]

Video?

Wasn't there an absolutely amazing video of the little Austin posted here some time last year? You play the video with the image at full screen, and the speakers cranked up to the max, and you get as close to actually riding in that little car as possible using electronic media. Very nifty.

 

[BellyTank]

The one I mentioned above?

Here's the video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9CdVfqCFJk

...and the page about the car and owner:

http://www.motormarques.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=165&Itemid=58


Only 750cc but a lot of fun when you're close to the ground, in wood and aluminium, with 3" wide tyres.

B
T

 

[StraightEight]

Verrrry cool machine, but he won't get much love for it at the local car shows. In my experience, oddball cars (I've owned a few) aren't much appreciated by car show crowds, who'd rather spend the afternoon looking over very familiar 1-800-HOT-RODD catalog cars than learn about something foreign and unusual. As he doesn't appear to be a BMW nut, my guess is he'll eventually sell out to the factory after answering a few thousand "whatisits" and hearing for the umpteen-hundredth time a wisecrack about bringing it home in his carry-on suitcase.

 

[BellyTank]

Reader's comments on the article are jsut below the article.

Aha- I had to allow scripts from the page...

Some very mixed comments there.

Sure, the car is ONLY an Austin Seven, re-styled, re-badged but it is still an important part
of BMW's history- a strange example of the collectible car.

But the real anti-European tone is in those comments, rather than the article-
shocking that there are actually Americans that feel this way about Europeans.
Absolutely ridiculous- how did they get brainwashed..?


B
T

 

[Story]

But the real anti-European tone is in those comments, rather than the article-
shocking that there are actually Americans that feel this way about Europeans.
Absolutely ridiculous- how did they get brainwashed..?

No worse - and in many ways less obnoxious - than the anti-American drivel on English, Australian and European news sites. One could ask the same question, but we don't do politics on this site.