EMW 327 History

The BMW 327 was originally a pre-war design launched in 1937 — a two-door sports coupe and cabriolet that was considered one of the most beautiful BMWs of its era. After the war, the Eisenach plant resumed assembly using stockpiled parts and partially completed 1941 bodies, building roughly 150 cars under the Awtowelo name before transitioning to BMW badging and, by 1952, to EMW badging.

The EMW 327 was the prestige offering of the Eisenach range, bodied in both coupe and cabriolet form. Production in the EMW period (1952–1955) is most often cited as approximately 500 cabriolets and 152 coupes, a total of around 650 units, though sources vary (some references count only about 505 post-war 327s across both the BMW- and EMW-badged runs) — either way, surviving examples are among the rarest post-war German cars. Body production was handled in part by the Gläser works in Dresden.

Like the 340, the EMW 327 was distinguished from its BMW predecessor by the red-and-white Thuringian roundel rather than the blue-and-white Bavarian one. Production of both models ended in 1955 when the factory, by then nationalized as VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach, shifted its focus away from these pre-war designs.