1954 BMW R 51/3

While manufacturing planes during World War I as BFW, BMW and its partners started manufacturing motorcycle engines and then motorcycles in 1923, due to the Allied ban on the production of planes in Germany. BMW is the oldest German motorcycle brand, in existence since 1920s.

Known for its shaft-drive system instead of chain drive, the brand continued to produce the pre-war models with slight modifications after World War II. Of the models in our Museum, the R 24 was followed by the second, 30.5 cu.in. engine

post-war model, the R 51/2. Introduced in 1938, the R 51 was produced as the R 51/2 with rear suspensioned first post-war model with no new plans or drawings in 1950, after the Allies took control of West Germany and allowed the manufacture of large engines. Marketed only for a year and in very small numbers, the R 51/2 was updated to the R 51/3 and introduced in February 1951 at the Amsterdam Show alongside its 36.6 cu.in. sister R 67.

The most significant modification for the R 51/3 was the use of light alloy rims instead of steel in 1954. When the fishtail mufflers were replaced by cigar-shaped mufflers, the engine acquired a very different look to the R 51. It was manufactured from 1951 to 1954 and sales reached 18,420 numbers.