BMW’s factory at Eisenach ended up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain after WW2, but rather than strip it bare - their usual treatment of valuable German assets - the occupying Russians chose to restart production of pre-war designs. Both cars and motorcycles were made bearing BMW’s distinctive blue and white quartered emblem until a successful legal action in 1950 saw the Munich firm successfully reassert its rights to the trademark. As a result the Eastern-Bloc offshoot adopted the name ‘EMW’ (Eisenacher Motoren Werke) and changed the blue sections of its badge to red. EMW only built one type of motorcycle, the R35, which was based on the BMW of the same name produced between 1937 and 1940. Updated with plunger rear suspension, the EMW R35 remained in production into the early 1950s. This example was originally registered to the OROP trading corporation in Austria while that country was still under Soviet administration. The machine had already been restored when it was purchased for the Museum in 1999. Road tested at time of acquisition, it has remained on display ever since. Offered with original Austrian Typenschein.
BMW’s factory at Eisenach ended up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain after WW2, but rather than strip it bare - their usual treatment of valuable German assets - the occupying Russians chose to restart production of pre-war designs. Both cars and motorcycles were made bearing BMW’s distinctive blue and white quartered emblem until a successful legal action in 1950 saw the Munich firm successfully reassert its rights to the trademark. As a result the Eastern-Bloc offshoot adopted the name ‘EMW’ (Eisenacher Motoren Werke) and changed the blue sections of its badge to red. EMW only built one type of motorcycle, the R35, which was based on the BMW of the same name produced between 1937 and 1940. Updated with plunger rear suspension, the EMW R35 remained in production into the early 1950s. This example was originally registered to the OROP trading corporation in Austria while that country was still under Soviet administration. The machine had already been restored when it was purchased for the Museum in 1999. Road tested at time of acquisition, it has remained on display ever since. Offered with original Austrian Typenschein.
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
