113 - 3 BMW 328 Weinberger

BMW 328 „Weinberger“

Estimate: € 800,000 to € 1,100,000

Chassis number:                  85233 

• Matching Numbers verified by BMW Classic
• First delivery to Munich, Germany
• Well-documented history
• Delivered when new with a Roadster body built by renown German coachbuilder Ludwig Weinberger – tailor-made according to the needs of the first owner
• First owner Countess Pamela Moy de Sons
• Early racing history at Rallye Paris - St. Raphael

This BMW 328 is a special example with German delivery, an interesting and well-documented history and a sportive special body mady by Weinberger, Munic.

The BMW 328 undoubtedly is one of the most beautiful and successful sports cars of all times. Due to its many outstanding features, it soon turned into a legend. Its sporty six-cylinder-inline-engine with a capacity of two liters made for 59kW/80 PS. This combined with the vehicle’s low weight and the very good chassis and suspension resulted in great performance and many successes in motor sports. The modern concept of the 328 relevantly helped to establish the reputation of BMW as a manufacturer of sports cars. Until the late 1950, the model was successfully entered into competition by private persons, small-batch producers and others.

In total, BMW built a few more than 460 cars. Around 403 were delivered with the standard type body. Around 59 exemplars where delivered as “chassis only”, following the clients’ wish to have an exclusive body built by a well-known body technician.

The car on offer is one of the latter.

As confirmed by the BMW Archives, the chassis was delivered on 27^th  of April 1938 by the Automag company to the renowned coachbuilder Ludwig Weinberger. Automag was the first BMW franchise dealer at all and is in the business until today. Weinberger became internationally known for building the body of one of the six legendary Bugatti Royale. Since 1952, the Bugatti Royale bodied by Weinberger is one of the major attractions in the Henry-Ford-Museum in Detroit. 

And for the 328 too, Weinberger built some really beautiful bodies.

The car on offer here had been ordered by countess Pamela Moy de Sons. Most likely, the countess had the car built thinking of taking part in long-distance rallyes.

The body of the roadster is quite similar to the standard BMW one, and just as sportive. Differences are a larger rear end and slightly more space in the interior. For this reason, the body was perfect for rallyes, as it offered more space for luggage, equipment and the fuel tank. As the body does not start right behind the seats, even taller drivers can take place in the seats after slightly adjusting these. Also, entering the car is a little easier.

When accomplished, the car was delivered to Countess Pamely Moy de Sons. She was born in August 1903 in England as one of three daughters of a banker with German family background, living in New York City with his German-American wife, a musician. The family had homes in the USA as well as in Great Britain, which is why Pamela spent parts of her youth and school days in the USA. In 1926, she married Count Hugo Moy de Sons from an old French noble dynasty. The couple used to live at Anif Castle near Salzburg, Austria, but owned property in Munic and Baden-Baden, too.

Pamely Moy de Sons was a lover of sportive cars. Especially with her MG J3 she participated in several rallyes – in total, she made 50,000 miles with this car. Driving the newly licensed BMW 328, she took part in the 1939 Rallye Paris – St. Raphael and won the 2,200-ccm-class. Several photos from this participation are still existent. At this time, the car sported a dark painting, following the example of the Countess’ MG.

When her husband died in June 1938, Pamela Moy de Sons returned to England. She took the BMW with her and had it licensed in June 1939. This way, the car made it through the years of war without any damage – much different from most of the cars that remained in Germany. After WWII, Pamely Moy sold the car. 

A photo shows the car – painted white by then – in the post war years at an event at Chateau Impney.

In October 1961, the car was offered for sale at Chiltern Cars from Leighton Buzzard. Michael Warrior from Fleet in Hampshire bought it for 200 pounds. He was a big BMW enthusiast who used the car for many outings. As member of the Vintage Sports Car Club he took part in an event at the Silverstone racetrack. He even made the car available to the Lakeland Motor Museum for their exhibition. According to an old description of the car, Warrior was friends with the well-established motor journalist, race driver and friend of BMW, Denis “Jenks” Jenkinson from Motorsport Magazine. Jenkinson was based only a few minutes from Warrior’s place and he too owned a BMW 328.

Michael Warrior had the car restored comprehensively and freshly painted. In the course of these works, he also had a fully-synchronized Volvo gear box installed. This change is much sought-after and can be found with several BMW 328, as the original non-synchronized gear boxes are rather hard to operate.

Michael Warrior kept the car for more than 30 years and it wasn’t before 18^th of July 1994 he sold it via a Sotheby’s auction at Royal Airforce Museum Hendon. The German collector Hans Seibold bought the car. As Seibold is based in southern Bavaria, for the BMW 328, this meant a return to near its birthplace. In the middle of the 1990’s, Seibold had the car restored. He asked local garages to do the work and took care that they were supported by the well-known BMW 328-garages and part suppliers. All works are documented in the existing invoices and records.

In 2001, the 328 was sold to another German. As a part of his impressive collection the car was looked after by his own competent mechanics, who overhauled the engine in 2011.

In August 2012, the car was offered to the actual owner. Before the purchase, he had the car checked by the company Feierabend from Wurzburg. As their check was positive, he bought the car. In the first half of 2013, he had it technically restored by the 328-specialist Tom Fischer near Rosenheim (Bavaria). All works are documented in invoices, which sum up to a total of 52,000 Euros.

In March 2019, BMW Classic checked the car and confirmed that motor and chassis are original and “matching numbers”.

The car is available for an inspection by appointment only in 33415 Verl, Germany. We are happy to show you the car and the documents and have a lift available as well.

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.