My moring with a 1937 328 under construction

[BillWilliams]

Maryland's own little German BMW workshop. Reminiscent of the 2002 being built in BMWs glass workshop a couple of years back, Lothar's 1937 328 is under construction visible through large pane glass windows at his shop.

The plague on the valve cover is unique too. Schleicher was a race tuner in the 30s like Alpina became in the 70s. This car produces 130 bhp instead of the 90 bhp stock bhp.

[kris]

Beautiful. Is it me, or is the 328 a very small car (never seen one in person).

[Paul7002]

(nt)

[DavidLMM]

Cool! Lothar's fun, we like him a lot. Met him on the '04 Marathon, and got to know him better at OFest. Tell him Lora and Dave from TN said Hi.

David

[BillWilliams]

Yes it is a small car. Did not set in it though.

Lothar hopes to have it at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in July if he finishes it.

His car will be and is the nicest 328 in existence. Better and more original than what BMW has in their clutches in Germany. He had three German BMW visitors already looking it over.

Most 328 have Volvo Transmissions and aftermarket carbs. This is the original four speed - no sychronization in first and second. Double clutching needed. Hey I can drive that, just like an eighteen wheeler.

His car is bone stock with the exception of the addition of an oil filter. The car originally had an oil cooler but no filter. You can see the oil filter hiding in here just in front of the oil cooler. Just behind that is the radiator. The car did not have a thermostat and even though you can not see them, there are louvers in front of the radiator that open and close from inside the cabin. The horn thing is the receptacle to accept the hand crank to start the car.

It is so cool all the stuff. The mechanical oiling system, the two lines going to the wheels that look like brake lines, one is a brake line, the other an oil line.

Each shackle on the spring leaves has an independent oil fitting with oil supplied by the mechanical oiler.

The brass/copper lines are all oil lines to oil components. Those are original polished and clear coated by Lothar.

[BillWilliams]

He fabricated the grills from Stucco lath

[eastsidebimmer]

I met Lothar a few years ago at the Hoosier BMW car corral for the F1 race in Indianapolis. He gave me some really nice glass beer mugs and a shot glass. A very fine Gentleman.

-=Ben

[HarryPR]

And we thought getting parts for our '02's was difficult!

Thanks for sharing, Bill.

[BillWilliams]

This is the "Dealer Tag" with air pressure and the dealer's name. How did we get to Dealer Plate frames and stickers?

Pretty cool retracting turn signals.

No other 328s that he knows of has the original gas filler cap.

[Harv]

Bill, That's amazing! I'd love to see that car in person someday.

John

[BillWilliams]

Harv, Get that baby raised, garage finished, the car done and get your butt to Pittsburgh to see the car!

You have until July.

[jmon0261]

Yes I got to meet him and his wife last summer here in California during the

vintage tour. He showed me an album of his amazing BMW collection.

His 501 Baur cabrio is amazing.

[Mike Self]

Ofest this year and back in 2000 at Spartanburg? It was also on the cover of the December Roundel.

mike

[BillWilliams]

His car was on the cover but I do not believe the Roundel mentioned the car being owned by Lothar.

He will display his "new" 1973 3.0 coupe and his 501 at our Concours d'Elegance this year.

His coupe is pretty amazing too. Done in Polaris with blue interior.

This bike is intriguing. The side car has a driven wheel with a locker! It can pull farm implements. Someone just returned the 1942 bike to him from a WWII display in San Diego.

[HarryPR]

Beautiful stuff. On a slightly related note, a customer I used to call on here when I was in sales used to have a Sbarro-built 328 kiddie car stored in his warehouse. It wound up there after his kids outgrew it.

It was, just as the full size Sbarro replicas, very true to the original 328 shape. I offered to buy it several times, but he was keeping it for his grandkids.