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Sunday, January 8, 2012
The History of BMW - by Traian Popescu
Traian Popescu was the owner of the World's Fastest Sedans website from 1999 to 2007. Within that site he wrote a series of articles titled Sedan Ramblings. One of these articles is called The History of BMW, which does not compare well with published histories of BMW, including the books BMW - Bavaria's Driving Machines by Jan P. Norbye and the editors of Consumer Reports and the Ultimate History of BMW by Andrew Noakes.
Popescu: "...by 1916 Rapp resigned from the company because of financial troubles. In his place Franz Josef Popp and Max Friz, two Austrians, took over the company."
The company was actually bought by Austrian financier Camillo Castiglioni, who installed the equally Austrian Franz Josef Popp as general manager. Popp had been at Rapp Motorenwerke previously to supervise the building of Austro-Daimler V-12 engines under licence. Max Friz, on the other hand, played no part in taking over the company. He was installed as chief engineer after Rapp's departure, mainly because his engine design was rather better than Rapp's. Furthermore, Norbye took great pains to point out that Friz was neither Austrian nor Bavarian, but Swabian.
Popescu: "In March that same year [1916], Rapp Motoren Werke merged with Gustav Flugmaschinefabrik to form Bayersiche Flugzeungwerke. It was shortly afterwards renamed Bayersiche Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), or BMW, forming the company we know today."
Norbye contends that Rapp Motorenwerke and Otto Werke (formerly Gustav Otto Flugmaschinefabrik) changed their names to Bayerische Motoren Werke and Bayerische Flugzeugwerke on the same day in March 1916, but that they remained separate entities at the time. Norbye then states that Castiglioni sold BMW to air brake manufacturer Knorr-Bremse and then, in 1921, bought back the BMW name and engine-making equipment, merged BMW with Bayerisch Flugzeugwerke, and installed BMW's equipment on Bayerisch Flugzeugwerke premises. Noakes claims that Rapp Motorenwerke changed its name to Bayerische Motoren Werke in June 1917 (around the time Norbye claims Rapp left BMW). Noakes mentions Castiglioni's sale of BMW to Knorr-Bremse and his buyback of the BMW name, claiming that Castiglioni "set up shop at the now-disused site which had been the home to the Bayerische Flugzeug Werke."
Popescu: "The first BMW motorcycle, the R 32, went into production in 1923 at the newly constructed Eisenach factory next to the Munich airport of the day."
Forget Norbye and Noakes for a while, get an atlas, and find Eisenach. Here's a hint: Eisenach is not in Bavaria, much less close to anywhere that could be a Munich airport of that time or any other. BMW would eventually have a factory at Eisenach in Thuringia, for reasons that will be stated later, but they did not have one in 1923. The factory that was next to the Munich airport was on the same premises that had been used by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, in the Munich suberb of Milbertshofen.
Popescu: "It was 1928 that made history in terms of the BMW car. Produced at the Eisenbach [sic] factory, the Dixi 3/15 PS marked the beginning of BMW automobile production."
In isolation, apart from the misspelling of Eisenach, there is nothing factually incorrect about that statement. However, it gives one the impression that BMW simply began production of the Dixi 3/15 PS in 1928 in their Eisenach factory, which was earlier confused with their Milbertshofen factory. The untold story is that BMW bought Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach, makers of Dixi cars, in October 1928, and that the Dixi 3/15 PS had begun production in December of the previous year.
One effect of Popescu not mentioning that BMW's pre-war car factory was in the state of Thuringia is that he also does not mention the post-war headache of Thuringia, including Eisenach and BMW's factory there, falling into the Soviet Occupation Zone, and of pre-war BMW cars and motorcycles being built there under Soviet control after the war.
Popescu: "1932 was the year the BMW AM 4 (Ausfuhrung Munchen 4 Gange - Munich Version 4 Speeds) - a.k.a. BMW's first "real" car - went into production. The AM 4, also called the 3/20 PS, was the successor to the Dixi and the first production car to be built entirely in-house by BMW."
Not quite. Norbye and Noakes agree that the new, all-BMW car (the 3/15 being a quite "real" car) that was introduced in 1932 was the 3/20 AM-1. Noakes does not mention further development, but Norbye states that the series had reached AM-4 by 1934
Popescu: "The next year mark ed [sic] the introduction of the 303 saloon and the first BMW inline-six cylinder power unit..."
Before going to Norbye and Noakes, I will go to a quotation earlier in the same article: "In 1917, BMW's first aircraft engine went into production, the 6 cylinder Type IIIa." Norbye and Noakes affirm that the Type IIIa, the first product ever designed and built by BMW, was an inline-six cylinder power unit.
Popescu: "The first post war model, the V8 equipped 501 luxury sedan produced in 1951 was a poor production choice for a country that was also devastated by the war."
The 501 of 1951 used a slightly enlarged version of the two-litre six-cylinder engine used by BMW just before the war. The V-8 engine was introduced in the BMW 502 of 1954.
Popescu goes on to mention the Isetta 250 (but not the Isetta 300) and the BMW 507 roadster (but not the 503 coupe), and then goes straight to the 1500, which he calls "the predecessor to the cars we know today", which is correct if, by "cars", he means BMW cars. He does not, however, mention two cars that BMW had built earlier that paved the way for the 1500: the odd and unsuccessful Isetta-based 600, which was the first BMW to use the semi-trailing arm rear suspension that BMW would use for the next forty years, and the successful 700, the first BMW to have unit body construction.
He then mentions briefly the 5-series that replaced the Neue Klasse (1500, 1600, 1800, 2000), and that it were followed by the 3-series and the 7 series. He does not mention the Karmann coupes (2000C, 2000CS, 2800CS, 3.0CS, 3.0CSL, or 2.5CS), the New Six sedans (2500, 2800, 3.0, 3.0L, 3.3Li, or Bavaria), or the 6-series.
He jumps from the new 7-series of 1977 to BMW's 1990 joint venture with Rolls-Royce plc to build aircraft engines in Germany. He goes on to give one more howler:
"In 1998, after extended talks concerning the sale of Rolls Royce, BMW officially bought the rights to the Rolls Royce name and logo from Volkswagen, with the transition expected to take place in 2003."
The "extended talks" concerning the sale of Rolls-Royce Motors were so extended because Volskwagen did *not* have the rights to the Rolls-Royce name and logo. Although Volkswagen had outbid BMW to buy the assets of Rolls-Royce Motors, including the rights to the grille and the mascot, Rolls-Royce plc, owner of the Rolls-Royce name and logo, had sold the licence to use the name and logo to BMW, their partner in the joint venture mentioned earlier. Eventually, an agreement was reached wherein Volkswagen continued to build both marques until 2003 (Popescu's article was written in 2000) and then gave BMW the rights to the grille and the mascot, renaming its subsidiary Bentley Motors.
Current mood:  irritated
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The second automobile I saw within my immediate family was a Holden Brougham. My father had bought it for the use of his three eldest children (I am the last of his seven children), and they named it "Chug-A-Boom". It lived an interesting life until shortly after my father's death, when a police car without siren or flashing lights hit it at about a hundred miles per hour while my brother was driving out of a T-junction. Thankfully my brother survived the crash without serious injury.
After having been used as a model name by Holden, Cadillac, and Daewoo, and as a deluxe trim level on various models of Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Chevrolets, Fords, Mercurys, Lincolns, Chryslers, Dodges, Plymouths, and American Motors, the Brougham name now slumbers in the annals of automotive history.
How did it get there in the first place, though? What is a Brougham, anyway?
Appartently, the first wheeled vehicle to which the term "Brougham" was applied was a carriage built to the specifications of Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux. Brougham, a writer, critic, lawyer, and politician, specified a carriage with an enclosure for two seats and a bench for the coachman in front of the enclosure. Unlike a coach, the enclosure of Brougham's carriage had a glass window at the front so the occupants could see where they were going if they wanted, or draw a curtain if they didn't.
Brougham's carriage had the letter "B" prominently painted on either side of it. This, and Lord Brougham's irritable nature, caused the Reverend Sydney Smith, a former colleague, to remark: "There goes a carriage with a 'B' outside and a wasp within!"
Lord Brougham might not have been popular among his colleagues and acquaintances, but his carriage started a style that was continued until the horse carriage was superseded by the motor carriage. The term's transition from horse carriage to motor carriage had some problems. While Britain may have been disposed to refer to a motor car with a passenger enclosure and an open area for the driver at front as a Brougham, that kind of vehicle was referred to as a Sedanca de Ville on the Continent and as a Town Car in North America. Another trend leading to confusion of the term was the rise of the electric Brougham in the United States. These electric Broughams were completely enclosed 2-seat electric cars, often with two rear-facing folding seats at the front so that they could seat four "vis-a-vis". These vehicles were driven by one of the occupants of the enclosure, so the "Brougham" name was probably justified by the makers getting rid of the coachman and his bench along with the horse.
By 1916, Cadillac had fully deprecated the meaning of the term by calling its five seat and seven seat fully enclosed cars "Broughams". The term "Brougham" lost its specific meaning and became a vague term signifying a large closed car with upscale, deluxe trim. Or as a model name, as Holden used with old Chuggs.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
We know about tuner divisions, like BMW's M division or Mercedes-Benz's AMG division or Fiat's Abarth division. But where did they first start?
I haven't the faintest idea.
I do know, however, that AMG and Abarth started out as independent tuning companies and were eventually bought out by the companies they specialized in. Not so the M-Division, which began as the Motorsport Division, making racing parts for BMWs. The first car made by the Motorsport Division was the 3.0CSL of the early 1970s.
Some may point to Scuderia Ferrari as a tuner division of Alfa Romeo, but they point in vain. Alfa Romeo made the cars, Scuderia Ferrari only raced them. They were basically Alfa Romeo's unofficial racing team.
The earliest in-house tuner division I know of, though, is within a rather surprising company: Morris, in England. Morris is known for making low-end cars like the Minor or the Eight.or the Oxford. Morris general mangager Cecil Kimber came across the idea of making sporting and/or race-ready Morrises. Their first car was a sporting version of the Morris Oxford called the 14/28. The enterprise was called "Morris Garages", eventually MG for short.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Just something to keep the account active. I need to keep my options open.
Not that I'm going to leave dA, in fact I think I'm going to give in and renew my premium membership there.
I have a journal idea, though, and I think I might post it later today, but now I have to go to the shop.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tomorrow morning will be exactly ten years since I woke up and said: "O.K., I'm thirty. What do I do now?" I am just as amazed now as I was then that I have not yet been shot or otherwise murdered by my fellow Jamaicans.
Where did my thirties go? What happened? I shall take a look back.
When I turned thirty, I had owned and operated my first motorcycle for about a year, but I had yet to buy my first car. Oddly enough, I had a licence to operate commercial vehicles up to eight thousand pounds gross weight (this has since been changed to vehicles of up to four thousand kilograms gross weight), but I operated my motorcycle on a provisional (learner's) licence because I did not yet have a full motorcycle licence. Since then, I have ridden around Jamaica, I have sold my motorcycle, I have bought a car, I have driven around Jamaica in twenty hours, including three hours of work on a customer's site, I have watched, horrified, as an idiot backed into my car at speed, I have bought a scooter, I have bought a van, and I have felt my scooter collapse under me after hitting a pothole.
When I turned thirty, I had been to five countries in my life, having been born into Jamaica, going to Trinidad to study, visiting friends in Barbados, and passing through the United States to get to a work experience programme in Mexico. During my thirties, I racked up passport stamps for Peru and Colombia as well. International travel since I turned thirty has been forked up complicated somewhat by the 9/11 attacks. Despite my longing to see Goodwood, Brooklands, Beaulieu, and Le Mans, I have no wish to board an international flight ever again.
In my thirties, I went from being the young kid on a motorcycle forum and a guitar forum to being the old man on a "Code Lyoko" fan forum. I am not on any fora now. I have lost contact with everyone from the motorcycle forum and the guitar forum and almost everyone from the "Code Lyoko" fan forum. So it goes.
One of the people at the Code Lyoko fan forum was an inspiration to me. She is a great writer and a very good artist. I followed her to FanFiction.net, where neither of us contributes any more, and to deviantART, where we are both still members. We don't speak to, or otherwise associate with, each other any more. So it goes.
In local news, if this old man's memory serves him well, somewhere between forty-five and sixty-five Jamaican dollars would buy a U.S. dollar when I turned thirty. The Jamaican dollar eventually reached a low of about ninety-five to one US before regaining ground to about eighty-five to one US. Murders per annum in Jamaica rose during my thirties to the point where the grisly record year of 1980 became commonplace. There are now about 1200 murders every year in this land of about three million people, as opposed to about 400 annual traffic deaths.
The People's National Party, being the arrogant bunch of idiots and crooks who ruined Jamaica throughout all of my twenties and most of my thirties, were finally turned out of power during my thirties. They were replaced by the Jamaica Labour Party, which, unfortunately, turned out to be another arrogant bunch of idiots and crooks with no ideas as to how to halt our slide. They are certainly not what they were under Seaga in the '80s.
Internationally... there was 9/11. Then there was the aftermath of 9/11; the heightened security, the heightened paranoia, the Afghanistan war, which was legitimate, the Iraq war, which was not... I am a lower-middle level public-sector employee in Jamaica, with access only to the same news the American public gets. Why is it that I was able to see that all that talk about Saddam's Al Qaeda connections and weapons of mass destruction was a Big Lie and the American public wasn't? Maybe because I consider it important to know who my enemies are and the American public doesn't. For the record: The Ba'ath Party is a secular, Socialist movement and is incompatible with the fanatical Islamic fundamentalism as represented by Al Qaeda and the Taliban. (Hmm... Al Qaeda and the Taliban sounds like a good name for a doo-wop group...)
In automotive news: When I was thirty, Plymouth had already been wrapped up and Oldsmobile was being phased out, but the Pontiac Trans Am was still in production, in its fourth (and final) generation. Camaros and Firebirds of the day looked better and went faster than contemporary Mustangs, yet the Mustang survived and the F-car didn't. I don't get that. The Bentley division of Volkswagen was making the last real Rolls-Royces before packing up the grille, the flying lady, the badge, and the name, and shipping them to BMW's factory at Goodwood while keeping the original Rolls-Royce heritage going under the Bentley name and badge. During my thirties, the Ford Thunderbird came back in its original two-seat personal luxury convertible version, and sank without a trace within two years. Mercury actually did with the Cougar what Ford had threatened to do with the Mustang back in the Eighties: they put the name on a front-drive sports coupe. That didn't go well either. The Cadillac XLR came and went, just like the Allante did in the Eighties.
There's more to say, but I'm tired. Tomorrow I will be an old man of forty.
So here's to the end of my thirties. Ten years have got behind me again.
Current mood:  blank
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
9:48PM
Today I received this form with my newspaper:
I wrote the following on the back of the form (along with my address and my signature) and shall send it back to them as such:
2L with the Gleaner!
Current mood: Wot, no "defiant"?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
http://comments.deviantart.com/5/27120093/1196677802
"What really bothers me about the media is that they still talk about Michael Jackson, but they've forgotten about Billy Mays. I think Billy Mays contributed a lot more to the world. His infomercials influenced me to write."
I am too tired to comment on this right now, but I want to remember to comment on it when I am not tired, so this is just a reminder.
I am reminded of a statement, reportedly made by a British policeman, that Princess Diana was so much greater than Winston Churchill...
Current mood:  shocked
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
This afternoon, as I was trying to clear my room a little more, I came across some correspondence from early 2003 that I really want to keep. It is a reminder as to part of the reason why Jamaica will not prosper, and it is a reminder as to why I have written off the existence of a particular individual.
The acting department head at the time, whom I shall call Mr. R. had circulated a copy of the minutes of the latest department meeting, which had been taken by another member of staff, whom I shall call Ms. W. Upon reading through the minutes, I replied to Mr. R. and Ms. W. with ten queries.Three or four of these queries were related to grammar, three were related to the contents of the minutes being at odds with my recollection, two or three were related to general paragraph structure and formatting, and one was related to the specific format of the minutes.
The reply from Ms. W. was as follows, verbatim but for the deletion of my name:
Mr. (my name):
I am not a professional Secretary, but rather an aspiring Engineer therefore it is no coincidence that my secretarial skills are not well developed. You on the other hand seem quite knowledgeable about this area so it might be a good idea for you to assume the duties of the Recording Secretary at subsequent meetings especially since your work load is not sufficient to keep you busy.
So here is this "aspiring Engineer" who has no interest in keeping the record straight, has no interest in proper presentation, and responds to valid, objective correction with insultive insinuations. The ethic of "anything worth doing is worth doing well" is lost on most of Jamaica, and very specifically so on Miss W.
For the record, I "seem quite knowledgeable about this area" because I had been the technical secretary on a committee whose minutes were part of a record reviewed by a government ministry, that had to give precise records, and that, quite often, did not have a recording secretary on hand. It was therefore often put unto me to write the minutes for those meetings in order to keep the record straight. and, as such, I gave it my all. I wonder what Miss W., the "aspiring Engineer" would have done in those circumstances?
With all respect I had for that individual completely evaporated, I replied as follows:
Ms. W:
I take it, therefore, that you do not aspire to know English, as most of the suggestions have to do with the proper use of our official language. Good luck with your continued ignorance.
Ms. W. left the organization within a year, if I remember correctly. Good riddance. I hope she eventually finds herself unemployable and starves to death.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
I woke up early this morning, ate breakfast, watched Hot Rod TV and Gearz on SPEED Channel, and then went back to bed.
I woke up again at about 8:50 am to find my radio's clock flashing at 08:22 am, indicating that power had gone. While I was setting the clock, the power went again. I called the power company and heard that there was scheduled maintenance going on and that power would be back at 5 pm. Oh, joy.
I did some shopping, ate some food, went for a drive to the airport, and had a nap. I woke up at about half past four and stayed in bed waiting for the power until about 5:45 pm when I called the power company again. I then heard that there were delays and the power would come back at 7 pm.
I called them again at 7:30 pm to hear that they were wrapping up and power would come back at 7:45 pm.
I called them again at 8:15 pm to hear that it would come back at 8:30 pm.
Amazingly enough, power came back at 8:30 pm... and went again at 9:00 pm.
Power came back again at about 9:45 pm, hopefully for good, although I cannot be certain.
Postscript: Power went again at about 10:10 pm, came back at about 10:20 pm
Jamaica Public Disservice Company Limited is a gigantic rass.
Current mood: aggravated
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Back in the 70s when I was a child, JBC Television, at the time the only television station in Jamaica, used to put on programmes by a West German television production company called TransTel. I used to watch about all of them. Probably the most heavily watched of them was the football (i.e. soccer) programme Telematch, but the others included the science programme 01, the fashion programme Eva 2000, and... I don't remember the others... ^^;
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Thursday: I paid for the van and got a cover note for it. I was told it needed ball joints.
Friday: I had the van's registration transferred to me and handed in the old title for transfer into my name.
Saturday: I took my mother up to visit her brother. The visit was appreciated by all. So was the van.
Sunday: Did nothing that involved the van.
Monday: I drove the van to work and took it to a valuator at lunch time to get a more formal assessment than the one I got on Thursday. After lunch, I called the Suzuki dealer and was told that he ball joints were part of the control arms. I drove to the dealer after work to buy the control arms. I came home in horrible traffic, stopping along the way to fill the tank, as I did not think I had enough petrol to get me home in that traffic. Less than a mile away from home, the car began behaving very strangely. First gear, which had been quite all right up until then, was suddenly very tall, and I could not move away from a standstill smoothly without a lot of clutch. By the time I got home, there was the strong smell of burning rubber.
Tuesday (today):
I left home very early to get to the mechanic without much traffic, to avoid the trouble I had yesterday. First and second still felt suspiciously like third and fourth. the garage wasn't open yet, so I parked outside, locked the van up, and walked to work, slightly less than a mile away. I informed my colleagues that I might be late, did some work, and then walked back to the van, drove it into the garage, and left the instructions, including to check the transmission for problems.
Shortly after I got back to work (early) and was settling in, I got a call from the garage to say that I needed more parts. I walked back to the garage, took the van, drove to an ATM to pay on the credit card for the parts I bought yesterday, drove to the dealer to buy the other parts they needed, and drove back to the garage with the parts. During this drive, the transmission problem was still evident, and the burning rubber smell was evident when I got back to the garage. I walked back to work.
At 4:30 pm, when my work day ends, I called the garage and was told that the car would be ready in a half-hour. I called home to tell them I was going for the car and I walked to the garage, taking a detour to an ATM to pay off the parts I bought today in case the garage bill would have been close to my limit.
The bill from the garage was huge, but not as much as the combined cost of the parts I had bought at the dealer. However, when I left the garage, the transmission, which had been serviced but not repaired, was just as bad as before. By the time I got home, it took me an eternity to go up the short incline from the road to my gate. My sister came in behind me and saw the ordeal. I must have got the real first eventually, but it took a long, long time.
I am going to take the van to the dealer to have the gearbox fixed... at the end of the month. I have gone as far as my budget will allow. I will get the documents and the validation to the insurance broker and have them set up the policy, and then I will have the van parked for a month.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The browsers on my desktop stopped working last Friday, so I switched over to the laptop and gave out the desktop the next day.
The techs finished repairing the desktop yesterday.
When I set it up and started it... the browsers didn't work.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090113/od_afp/lifestyleaustraliatourismoffbeat_20090113032028
According to this article, the selected person can earn Aus$150,000 (US$105,000) in six months by:
* Being flown to Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
* Strolling the white sands
* snorkelling the reef
* taking care of "a few minor tasks", and
* reporting to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
Qualifications - Applicant must be:
* a good swimmer,
* an excellent communicator
* able to speak and write English
* willing to talk to the media about what they're doing
* someone who loves sea, the sun, and the outdoors
Apart from the salary, the successful applicant gets:
* Free return flight from their home to Hamilton Island
* Free lodging in a three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy
Unfortunately, while I am a fairly good communicator and I speak and write English well (if I do say so myself... ^^; ), I can't swim, I don't like media exposure, I burn fairly easily, and, for someone who is going to be a spokesperson for Australian tourism, I'm not good-looking. A pity, because six months alone on an island sounds liks something I would try...
Interested? Apply at http://www.islandreefjob.com/en/ before 22 February. (The URL doesn't work right now... a portent of things to come? ^^; )
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