1938 BMW 327 with a ZZ4 V8
The story goes this 1938 BMW 327 Sport Cabriolet was acquired in WWII by a US Army Officer. It was shipped back to the US and after a long period had the 1.9 inline-six engine swapped for a 5.7 L ZZ4 crate engine and three-speed automatic transmission. The chassis had to be “slightly” modified to allow the V8 to fit. The seller doesn’t give an exact reason the original engine was replaced. Below is the seller’s account of how the car came to be.
…found by a U.S. Army officer in the barn of a German officer and shipped back to the United States in crates. It remained unrestored until the late 1970s, at which point it was put back together by a restorer outside of Cleveland, Ohio. It was subsequently acquired by an executive at one of the world’s largest corporations, and it would remain in his and his wife’s care for the ensuing 31 years, during which time he became that corporation’s CEO. In 1999, the car’s engine was replaced with the current 5.7L crate engine, installed by a retired NASCAR mechanic at his shop in Minneapolis. The car would eventually make its way out to California when the owners acquired a vacation home in Santa Barbara. The car was titled here and therefore assigned a California VIN, garaged and used sparingly over the last 17 years, driven a mere 395 miles during that period.
