The Legendary BMW Logo
The BMW logo. Arguably, one of the most recognizable logos in the world. Although there have been subtle changes in the logo since it first appeared in the early 1920’s, the blue and white round checker remains virtually untouched.
Along with the logo, the inline 6 cylinder engine was, and is still, core to what makes a BMW a BMW. In the mid 1910’s, Rapp Motorenwerke, that later became BMW, starting manufacturing inline 6 aircraft engines prior to WWI. Firmly attached to most aircraft engines of that time period was a two bladed propeller. This is the start of the legend of the BMW logo design.
When a two bladed propeller is photographed at the right speed, the round checker pattern can be clearly seen. In the late 1920’s, BMW even used the propeller blur in some advertising, depicting the BMW logo on the front of a biplane with its engine running. This advertisement created a long running myth that the BMW logo represented a propeller against blue sky.
Unfortunately, for a person like myself, who is both an aviation and BMW enthusiast it seems that the myth is not true. BMW had designed the logo after the round Rapp Motorenwerke logo and used the national colors of Bavaria, blue and white, to create the famous checker center.
West Coast Auto Enthusiasts has many fine examples of cars that proudly wear the blue and white checker logo. Feel free to check our website at http://www.WestCoastAutoEnthusiasts.com for the latest BMW inventory. Thanks for taking the time to read about a little BMW history.
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