Veritas

In 1946, after a failed plan by a British BMW licensee to continue production by bringing the brains of BMW to England, several employees left BMW to form their own company named "Veritas" - Latin for "truth." Since Veritas was formed and headed by Ernst Loof, the chief of racing operations at BMW, it was a racing-oriented company. The first cars that were produced in 1947 were single-seat Formula 2 racers and competition sports cars. These cars were powered by modified 328 engines, scavenged from any place they could be found.

Several road-going sports car models were announced, but the extremely short supply of 328 engines made production very difficult. In 1950, Loof had Heinkel - another aircraft firm looking for work - produce the major castings and partially assemble each engine. From there, the Veritas team finished the engine assembly, assembled the cars and did all the testing. The Veritas team made engine changes that foretold the likely direction that BMW itself may have taken had it been allowed to build cars immediately after the war. In general, the BMW design was strengthened to withstand the vigors of racing.

Although it had several prosperous years of racing in the German Formula 2 races, the Veritas failed in international events when it could not catch newer Ferrari and Maserati racers with their 180-horsepower engines. Though very well tested and constructed, the Veritas cars were expensive and aging, and only a few were built. While the Veritas operations ceased in 1953, its reasonable success during its short existence makes one wish that BMW itself had been able to continue development of the 328 beyond the cessation of production in 1940.