bmw 3/15 da1

BMW Dixi DA 1

The very first BMW car was the BMW 3/15 PS, also known as Dixi DA 1. At first, the Dixi DA 1 was no more than an Austin Seven, produced under license by Eisenach Fahrzeugfabrik in Germany. BMW bought this company in November 1928 as they wanted to start producing cars. The Dixi DA 1 was produced from 1927 until 1929.

The first genuine BMW Dixi was the Dixi Da 2, introduced at the end of 1929. This was the first car that had the now famous blue / white BMW emblem. The Da 2 was basicly the same as the DA 1, but now with some important improvements, like adjustable seats and better breaks. In 1930 the DA 3 came available. This car was a two seater Roadster, with a 18 HP 4 cylinder engine, reaching 100 km/h. No more than 150 DA 3 cars were made ... The Dixi Da 2 remained available until 1932, when the license with Austin ended.

The Dixi was the first car made by BMW.

Dixi was car brand of Eisenach car factory made from 1904; however, in the difficult climate of the 1920s the company found it hard to sell its 6/24 and 9/40 models. The manufacturer looked to enter the small car market, and in 1927 agreed to a licensing agreement with the Austin Motor Company to build a variant of the Austin 7. A production level of 2000 cars a year was agreed upon, and Dixi paid Austin a royalty on each vehicle produced.

The first 100 cars were supplied as kits, but by December 1927 the first of the official Dixi-manufactured vehicles, the DA-1 3/25PS were coming off the production line. The DA designation stood for Deutsche Ausführung, meaning German Version; 3/15 indicated the taxation and actual horsepower ratings. Apart from being left-hand drive and using metric fasteners, the car was nearly identical to the Austin. Body styles available were coupé, roadster, tourer, and sedan with a few chassis going to external coachbuilders. Most cars left the factory as tourers.

Looking to move into automobile manufacturing, BMW bought the Automobilwerk Eisenach in 1928 and, with it, the rights to build the Dixi car. At first the cars were badged as BMW Dixi but the Dixi name was dropped in 1929 when the DA-1 was replaced by a slightly updated version, the BMW 3/15 DA-2.

The kit represents a BMW DIXI 3/15 PS DA1 model in two-seat convertible configuration as it was built from 1928 to April 1929. The small side opening box contains five sprues - three in white, one transparent and one chrome plated sprue, five vinyl tires, a small decal sheet and a typical Revell instruction sheet. All parts are packaged in one plastic bag with the exception of the chrome parts which are bagged separately. The almost eighty parts are crisply detailed but the molding quality is not as good as with other modern Revell kits. There is only a small amount of flash but a plethora of ejector pin marks - some in quite visibly spots like the door insides. Also sink marks are abundant - most noticeably on the driver’s cabin floor and some transmission parts.

The layout of the kit could be described as semi-curbside - frame and base plate are molded as one part but engine, transmission and suspension come as separate and nicely detailed parts. As often with car kits the use of chrome plating is somewhat overdone. Chrome plated parts include: spoked wheels, radiator housing, wind shield frame and headlights. Most picture of DIXIs I have seen show only the headlight rings in chrome (or more likely nickel) plating, sometimes the windshield frame. But I still have to come across a picture of a DA1 model with chrome plated radiator housing. With the later DA2 to DA4 models this was not so unusual. But since these cars were ‘economy’ cars and extensive chrome plating was considered to be luxury at the time, glossy black is much more likely than shiny chrome for these parts (as also the box art suggests).

The engine compartment is nicely detailed with only some additional wiring required to make it stand out. To show the engine, the hood can be displayed open although the parts are somewhat thick and should be replaced by scratch built parts in this case. Other options include open or closed doors and open or closed convertible top. The clear sprue contains headlight and taillight lenses and windows. The windows are somewhat thick but since these are totally plane it should be no problem to replace them with clear styrene sheet. Construction sequence is broken down into 24 steps with color information given for Revell paints. The decal sheet contains three different front license plates, dashboard instruments and DIXI and BMW company signs for the radiator. Only one paint scheme is given by Revell - emerald green, but other color combinations are possible - although I didn’t find any information on factory colors. Two details are strangely missing in the kit one is the radiator cap decorations - which should be a centaur figurine for a DIXI and a small circular BMW sign for the BMW and - more important - an exhaust system...

CONCLUSIONS

 This is a nice little model of a historically significant car. It will probably be an easy and pleasant build resulting in an attractive little model. Some filling and sanding will be required for the sink and ejector pin marks. And with the detailed engine compartment and suspension parts the kit will form a good base for diorama and conversion projects.

Highly recommended. 

REFERENCES

A nice web site about the car (German language): http://www.dixi-automobile.de