Post-War Bimmer Racer

The 1948 Veritas BMW Rennsport was one of the finest German-made open-wheel formula cars—and it can still race

by Thor Thorson

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1948 Veritas BMW Rennsport

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Veritas was formed in 1946 by BMW engineers Ernst Loof and Lorenz Dietrich to build BMW-engined sports cars. Because steel was virtually unavailable in post-war Germany, the bodies were all hand-finished in aluminum, with steel being confined to the main chassis members.

This, and a general shortage of all other components, explain why no two Veritas cars are really identical. Even so, as conditions allowed motor racing to return in one form or the other, the cars enjoyed a certain measure of success.

Their first was an outright win by Karl Kling at the 1948 Nurburgring sports car race at an average speed of 161 kph, almost 100 mph. The small company finally closed in 1953 when Loof returned to BMW. Estimates of the number of cars built, including renn-spyders, coupes, and single-seaters, vary, but the number is usually thought to be around 78.

The example on offer here has been restored to the original renn-spyder configuration. Although chassis 85123 took part in several races in Germany in 1948, its first recorded overseas race is with Dennis Poore in 1949 at Goodwood, where it placed 6th at the September sports car meeting.

In the early 1960s, it was given a more stylish body treatment before being sold to a Mr. Beemsterborer. He intended to restore it to original, but this did not happen until the 1980s when it was bought by a German owner. The car was shipped to England, and the work was carried out by the highly regarded TT Workshops Ltd. at a cost reputed to be over £100,000 (only about $110,000 in those strong-dollar days).

The car was then resident in the U.S. from 2001 until being re-imported to Europe by a major Swiss collector in 2003. It is in exceptional restored condition, possesses FIA papers, and is totally fit and ready for the next season.

The SCM Analysis

This car sold for $572,000 at the Sportscar Auction Company sale in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 12, 2007.

The real story of the Veritas marque begins in 1936, when BMW brought out the model 328. Designed by engineer Fritz Fiedler, the car was revolutionary for its time, utilizing a tubular space frame and a 2-liter 6-cylinder engine with a novel valve operating arrangement to achieve hemispherical combustion chambers with a single side-mounted camshaft.

Light, supple, and quick, it has been described as the only true sports car produced in Germany before the war. Throughout its brief manufacture, the 328 had been developed into a formidable production-based racing car with frequent class and occasional overall wins at races like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans. The onset of hostilities ended 328 production, though, and the conclusion of hostilities pretty much ended the German auto industry.

BMW engineers start own company

In 1946, with BMW effectively shut down, several of its racing engineers decided to try to start something on their own, so they formed the Veritas Company. With no real manufacturing or production facilities left, they started by finding old 328s, rebuilding them, and turning them into post-war racing cars. The first were open-wheel formula cars, but their real success came with the Rennsport two-seaters, effectively 328s updated to post-war aerodynamics.

At the same time and on a parallel path, the British were busy trying to appropriate the 328 for themselves. Arrangements were made to have the Bristol Aircraft Company acquire the technical drawings and available tooling from the bombed-out BMW factory. The chassis plans became the basis for the Bristol 401 automobile, while the engine became known as the Bristol 2-liter and found a home in Bristol, Frazer Nash, AC, and Arnolt cars, as well as innumerable racing cars. It became the "English" performance 2-liter engine of choice into the late 1950s before ceasing production in 1961.

Meanwhile, amid the post-war reconstruction of industrial Germany, Veritas was trying to keep its doors open and produce cars, a task made ever more difficult by the diminishing supply of old 328s from which to work. They went to Heinkel in an attempt to get fresh castings and partial assembly of engines, but it never really worked out.