1940 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster

The original plans envisaged three 2 Series BMW 328 Roasters being built with streamlined bodies specifically to compete in the Mille Miglia 1940. However, by the start of the Mille Miglia, only two cars were ready. Capacity constraints meant that all the assembly work could not be carried out at the Munich factory. The fact is that the plant only had limited capacity available in the Development Department for building custom vehicles, because only motorcycles and aero-engines were produced in Munich at this time. All BMW series automobiles manufactured before 1945 came from the Eisenach plant. Due to this lack of capacity and the urgent schedule, the completed chassis and space frames were loaded onto a truck and shipped to Milan so that the bodies could be fitted there on the basis of the BMW designs.

Coachbuilder Touring based there had already agreed to produce the aluminium outer skin of these vehicles in an expedited procedure. The roadsters fitted with the outer skin produced there lacked the characteristic “trouser creases” on the wings typical of the 1 Series BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster, which had been assembled entirely at the Munich plan.

Like all other BMW racing cars that lined up at the start of the Mille Miglia 1940, these two roadsters were powered by a BMW 328 engine that generated around 135 hp instead of the standard 80 hp. The two identical Series 2 BMW Mille Miglia Roadsters led the field in the Mille Miglia 1940 with starting numbers 72 and 74 and took third and fifth place after 1,000 miles. They therefore made an important contribution to the team victory obtained by the BMW automobiles in addition to the overall victory.