The story goes this 1938 BMW 327 Sport Cabriolet was acquired in WWII by a US Army Officer. It was shipped back to the US and after a long period had the 1.9 inline-six engine swapped for a 5.7 L ZZ4 crate engine and three-speed automatic transmission. The chassis had to be “slightly” modified to allow the V8 to fit. The seller doesn’t give an exact reason the original engine was replaced. Below is the seller’s account of how the car came to be.
…found by a U.S. Army officer in the barn of a German officer and shipped back to the United States in crates. It remained unrestored until the late 1970s, at which point it was put back together by a restorer outside of Cleveland, Ohio. It was subsequently acquired by an executive at one of the world’s largest corporations, and it would remain in his and his wife’s care for the ensuing 31 years, during which time he became that corporation’s CEO. In 1999, the car’s engine was replaced with the current 5.7L crate engine, installed by a retired NASCAR mechanic at his shop in Minneapolis. The car would eventually make its way out to California when the owners acquired a vacation home in Santa Barbara. The car was titled here and therefore assigned a California VIN, garaged and used sparingly over the last 17 years, driven a mere 395 miles during that period.
WELLLLLL, I see why it didn’t sell. 115K. Pretty steep asking price, me thinks. Goodman Reed’s prices are always at the top of the market, while maybe the product isn’t always..
Anyway this is a cool car, and certainly there are not a lot of exceptionally put together examples as this one is. But a question to the unknown builder, If you are going to hack(subjective wording) a car like this anyway why not have a little more imagination? It is a BMW 327 and I would think it only befitting, if you heart was set on a GM power plant, to install a 327 cubic inch engine slightly modded to higher power. There are literally hundreds of power upgrades available to make what ever you thought you needed.
But of course a BMW fan would have ask about the V-12. Another more imaginable option in my opinion.
I did some searching around and apparently some of these BMW’s sell for 150k (1938 model year). Though those are original cars without any swaps or something.
Cars like this seem to be sold eventually to a restorer at a discount who returns the powertrain to period correct.
No doubt there are other options that would help the value and make BMW purists feel a little bit better. I would love to know the story behind the engine swap and choice.