The BMW Century
eBook - PDF

The BMW Century

The Ultimate Performance Machines

  1. 240 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The BMW Century

The Ultimate Performance Machines

About this book

2017 Silver Medal Winner of the International Automotive Media Competition! 

Relive the first one hundred years of Germany's best two- and four-wheeled rides.

Established in 1916, BMW is one of the auto and motorcycle industry's oldest and most-respected car and motorcycle manufacturers. Over the past century, the company went through myriad developments. The BMW Century chronicles this remarkable transportation company through images of the cars and motorcycles it manufactured, from the 1923 R32 motorcycle to sleek electric cars of today. This handsome volume is filled with images, history, and in-depth looks at the incredible machines BMW created year after year.

The BMW Century showcases how the company's new visionary team systematically rebuilt BMW in the post-World War II years into the spectacular success we know today - that is, a company with sales projected to be upwards of two million cars annually by 2016, led by its 3-series, the best-selling luxury-performance car in the world.

BMW's motorcycle division is no less legendary. It began with the 1923 avant-garde R32, which featured a 180-degree, horizontally opposed twin, the engine configuration that would become BMW's hallmark. Along the way, BMW would use that configuration to power groundbreaking machines like the R90S, R100RS, and R80GS. Beginning in 1983, they would add three- and four-cylinder machines to their offerings, culminating in today's spectacular S1000RR sport bike.

From the pre-war motorcycles to the iconic R-series twins of the 1970s and 80s to the mighty M-series cars and superbikes of today, The BMW Century offers a full review of German engineering at its finest. The book is illustrated with hundreds of historic, contemporary, and racing photographs - many sourced from BMW's archives - and detailed text relating the BMW's full history. This is the one volume no BMW aficionado can be without.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The BMW Century by Tony Lewin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Technology & Engineering & Automotive Transportation & Engineering. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword
  7. 1 High Flier from the Start
  8. 2 The Power to Fly
  9. 3 The Power of Six
  10. 4 The Boxer Legend
  11. 5 War and Postwar
  12. 6 Thinking Small
  13. 7 The Quandt Years
  14. 8 Flights of Fancy: BMW’s Concept Cars
  15. 9 The von Kuenheim Years, Part I: Bound for Glory
  16. 10 Power, Performance, and Art
  17. 11 The von Kuenheim Years, Part II: A New Style Emerges
  18. 12 The Boxer and After
  19. 13 The M Cars
  20. 14 Adventure and Misadventure
  21. 15 From Disaster to Dominance
  22. 16 BMW Unlocks the Mini Phenomenon
  23. 17 The Finest Car in the World
  24. 18 Powering through the Downturn
  25. 19 In Shape for the Future
  26. 20 The Next One Hundred Years
  27. Index
  28. Bibliography and Further Reading
  29. Acknowledgments