The BMW 3200 CS was a sports touring car manufactured by BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

 between January 1962 and September 1965. It was designed by Bertone and was introduced at the 1961 Frankfurt Motor Show. More than five hundred were built.

The 3200 CS was the final variation on BMW's early postwar luxury platform that began with the 501

BMW 501

The BMW 501 was a luxury saloon car manufactured by BMW from 1952 to 1958. Introduced at the first Frankfurt Motor Show in 1951, the 501 was the first motor car to be manufactured and sold by BMW after the Second World War. The 501 and its derivatives, including the V8 powered BMW 502, were...

 introduced in 1951. The styling of the 3200 CS influenced the 2000 CS coupe version of the New Class

BMW New Class

The BMW New Class was a line of compact sedans and coupes produced by German automaker BMW starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977....

 and the later New Six coupes

BMW E9

-BMW 2.5CS:The last version of the E9 to be introduced was the 2.5CS in 1974. This was a response to the 1973 oil crisis, such that the buyer could choose the smaller, more economical engine. The engine, from the 2500 sedan, displaced and produced at 6000 revolutions per minute...

.

Concept and design

In 1960, Helmut Werner Bonsch, BMW's marketing manager, discovered that the Pininfarina body for the Lancia Flaminia

Lancia Flaminia

The Lancia Flaminia is a luxury car from the Italian automaker, Lancia, built from 1957 to 1970. It was Lancia's flagship model at that time, replacing the Aurelia. It was available throughout its lifetime as saloon, coupé and cabriolet. The Flaminia coupé and cabriolet were coachbuilt cars with...

 coupe would fit on the chassis of the BMW 3200L sedan without major modification. He proposed to BMW's management to commission Pininfarina to build Flaminia coupe bodies with BMW grilles in order to create a successor to the 503

BMW 503

The BMW 503 is a two door 2+2 seater sports car unveiled by BMW at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show. Production got under way during the summer of the next year, and by 1959, when the 503 was withdrawn, 413 had been built, including 139 cabriolets;-Design:...

, which had been discontinued in 1959.

After deliberation, the management rejected Bonsch's proposal and instead ordered chief engineer Fritz Fiedler

Fritz Fiedler

Fritz Fiedler , a qualified engineer, joined the BMW firm in 1932 as chief designer at the age of 32 after working for Horch, designed 8 cylinder and 12 cylinder cars. Working with Fiedler was Rudolf Schleicher, who had joined Horch in 1927 after being at BMW on their motorcycle design team...

 to commission Bertone to design and manufacture a coupe body for the 3200S. This used a perimeter frame

Frame (vehicle)

A frame is the main structure of the chassis of a motor vehicle. All other components fasten to it; a term for this is design is body-on-frame construction.In 1920, every motor vehicle other than a few cars based on motorcycles had a frame...

, a 3168 cc, twin-carburetor version of the BMW OHV V8 engine

BMW OHV V8 engine

The BMW OHV V8 engine was the first V8 engine made by BMW, produced from 1954 to 1965. This engine is usually named by the fact that it was the only pushrod-driven overhead valve V8 ever produced by BMW...

, delivering 160 hp, a four speed manual gear box, a live rear axle, disc brakes on the front wheels, and torsion bar springs at all four wheels.

Reception

The 3200 CS was introduced at the 1961 Frankfurt Motor Show alongside the BMW 1500

BMW New Class

The BMW New Class was a line of compact sedans and coupes produced by German automaker BMW starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977....

. While the 1500 represented a completely new direction for BMW, the 3200 CS was based on the chassis of a car introduced at the Frankfurt show ten years earlier.

The 3200 CS was built from January 1962 to September 1965. Sources differ concerning numbers produced,

One 3200 CS convertible was built by BMW for their major shareholder, Herbert Quandt

Herbert Quandt

Herbert Werner Quandt , was a German industrialist who is regarded as having saved BMW when it was at the point of bankruptcy and made huge profit in doing so.- Early life :...

.

Legacy

Technically, the 3200 CS was the end of an era. It was the last of BMW's early postwar luxury cars. As such, it was the last BMW automobile to have pushrod-operated engine valves, a perimeter frame, or a solid rear axle.

Stylistically, however, the 3200 CS gave a view of what was to come. The low beltline, tall greenhouse and thin pillars of the 3200 CS became a template for BMW's later coupes, including the 2000 C and CS coupes based on the New Class

BMW New Class

The BMW New Class was a line of compact sedans and coupes produced by German automaker BMW starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977....

 sedans, and the E9

BMW E9

-BMW 2.5CS:The last version of the E9 to be introduced was the 2.5CS in 1974. This was a response to the 1973 oil crisis, such that the buyer could choose the smaller, more economical engine. The engine, from the 2500 sedan, displaced and produced at 6000 revolutions per minute...

 "New Six

BMW New Six

The BMW New Six is a line of six-cylinder luxury cars produced by the German automaker BMW from 1968 to 1977. The series was introduced as a response to the Mercedes-Benz-dominated large luxury car class and was very important in establishing BMW's reputation as a maker of sporting, luxury sedans....

" coupes. Both BMW cars introduced at the 1961 Frankfurt show, the 3200 CS and the 1500, featured what became known as the Hofmeister kink

Hofmeister kink

The Hofmeister kink is an automobile design feature seen on modern BMWs. It is a low forward bend in the C-pillar of the car, which is the piece of metal that separates the rear side windows from the rear glass...

, but sales started only in 1962 and it was the 3200 CS, sold from February 1962, which was the first BMW offered for sale incorporating this styling cue.