A very rare 1928 Beamer old timer which was based on the British economy car Austin Seven and was among the first-ever models to be produced by BMW has been stolen in Germany.

Police reported that the extremely rare Dixi 3/15 DA 1 produced by one of the world’s greatest luxury vehicles and motorcycles manufacturer BMW was stolen from a repair store in the district of Ehrenfeld in the German city of Cologne on Monday, 16th August.

The vintage vehicle was one of the first-ever to be manufactured by the Munich-based company after they purchased car manufacturer Automobilwerk Eisenach from its parent company Gothaer Waggonfabrik in October 1928.

BMW then entered a contract with Austin Motor Company headquartered in the United Kingdom to manufacture the Dixi under Austin Seven license, which in turn was produced from 1923 until 1939 on the island.

The Austin Seven was also nicknamed the “Baby Austin” and was one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad at the time, after which it was licensed and copied by companies all over the world.

Before BMW took over, the first 50 Eisenach-built Sevens were right-hand-drive cars assembled from parts provided by Austin’s factory in Longbridge in September 1927.

Аccording to various online sources, the main differences between the BMW Dixi 3/15 DA-1 and the contemporary Austin Seven were the addition of Bosch shock absorbers, the placement of the driver’s controls on the left side of the vehicle, and the use of metric fasteners.

The company produced three subsequent versions of the old timer between July 1929 till March 1932, before giving up the licence under which the Austin designed cars were produced.

A total of 18,976 BMW 3/15 cars were manufactured between 1923 and 1967, whilst 9,307 Dixi 3/15s were manufactured between 1927 and 1929, which was almost as many cars as all the earlier Dixi models together.

Police officers have been searching for the missing vehicle which according to the owner was present at the workshop at around 8pm on Sunday (15th August).

No information was provided on how the offender entered the workshop and stole the Dixi 3/15 DA 1 which was not registered for decades.

Cologne Police and investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department 74 are looking for clues regarding the theft or the whereabouts of the vintage car.