In 1928, when BMW made the decision to enter the auto industry, it purchased the struggling Eisenach auto factory, where the British automobile Austin 7 was made under license. A year later, the BMW 3/15 sedan , the next model, was displayed. Clcompany is delighted to feature the facts about the Classic 1929’s BMW 3/15 sedan.
Flashback
The BMW 3/15 was the company’s first automobile, constructed in three rounds between July 1929 and March 1932 after BMW acquired the Dixi business in October 1928. At that point, BMW renounced the license under which the Austin-designed cars were manufactured.
The licenced Austin 7 was offered for sale by the Eisenach automobile firm under the brand name Dixi. It was more of a complete vehicle made from British-imported spare components. The car was given left-hand drive in 1927 to make it more suitable for the roads in Europe. When BMW acquired the factory, this is how the vehicle was discovered and given the name BMW Dixi.
Between 1927 and 1929, 9,307 Dixi 3/15s were produced, which is almost as many vehicles as were produced of all the preceding Dixi models put together. There were 18,976 BMW 3/15s produced between 1923 and 1967.
Years in production – 1927 to 1931
The Design
In 1929, BMW fitted Bosch dampers to the vehicle and gave it the designation 3/15, where 3 represented the tax category and the actual horsepower. The automobile came in coupe, roadster, and tourer variations. Additionally, several vehicles were sold to outside coachbuilders as chassis.
The fact that everything was measured in imperial units and that most workshops only had metric tools was one of the main issues with the car. BMW made the decision to alter that, and when it began producing the parts in 1929, it began to convert the fasteners to metric measurements. The initial 3/15 was often referred to as DA1, or German Version 1. The DA2, DA3, and DA4 models went through more developments.
Contrary to the Dixi, which had only the rear brake wheels, the car was given four-wheel brakes when under BMW administration. The engine was updated to produce a maximum of 18 horsepower. When the license with Austin expired in 1932, BMW stopped producing the 3/15.
Top Specifications of BMW 3/15 sedan
- Displacement – 750 cm3
- Power – 15 HP @ – rpm
- Torque – 30 Nm @ – rpm
- Transmission – 3-speed manual
- Top speed – 47 mph (76 km/h)
- Kerb weight– 400 kg
- Wheelbase– 75 inches
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