Roundel; bet you didn't know either

[rkasal]

Most of us probably think the blue and white sections of the roundel designates the spinning props of an airplane. Company history says when the Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH became Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH in about 1917, the Rapp logo's center black chessboard knight was replaced with alternating pie-shaped sections in blue and white referencing the Bavarian flag.

The shape of the Roundel was borrowed from the Rapp logo as was the arrangement of the BMW letters on the circle's perimeter.

BMW's advertising department in 1929 created an ad showing two airplanes with rotating propellers in shadowy blue and white with BMW outlined above in faint letters. That apparently became the first reference associating the logo with a rotating propeller.

On a related note, one of the classic motorcycle mags on the newstand now has a British guy who takes old boxer engines and converts them to ultralight engines. What a great business or hobby!

Regards,


Randy Kasal

 

[darrylri]

Yep. Fred Jakobs of Mobile Tradition debunked the spinning propellor story in an article he wrote for their magazine, Mobile Tradition Live.

One other bit of trivia -- it was illegal to use the Bavarian Wappen (white and blue diamond pattern) for a commercial purpose, so BMW reversed the quadrants' colors to get around the law.

BTW, that wappen is supposed to indicate the white-blue sky of Bavaria.

 

[Rapid_Roy]

That information make me a well roundeled individual.

 

[rkasal]

Yep. Fred Jakobs of Mobile Tradition debunked the spinning propellor story in an article he wrote for their magazine, Mobile Tradition Live.

One other bit of trivia -- it was illegal to use the Bavarian Wappen (white and blue diamond pattern) for a commercial purpose, so BMW reversed the quadrants' colors to get around the law.

BTW, that wappen is supposed to indicate the white-blue sky of Bavaria.

Thought I was up on BMW's older stuff but I haven't heard Mobile Tradition had a magazine. Can you please tell me how to subscribe to their magazine? Is it offered through MT directly or a dealer order?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,


Randy Kasal

 

[darrylri]

Go here: http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/history/mobiletradition/popup_index.html

Then, select Heritage Today and News-Archive. (BMW doesn't make it easy to find this!) You can download all of the MT Live issues in PDF format.

You'll want the 2005/issue 1 copy, and the article is titled "Fact and Fiction".

Or, you can get the issue from this link...

 

[BUBBAZANETTI]

On a related note, one of the classic motorcycle mags on the newstand now has a British guy who takes old boxer engines and converts them to ultralight engines. What a great business or hobby!

an interesting link i posted a few years back:

http://www.spang-air.de/willkommen/BMW_Engine/bmw_engine.html