Museo Stradale

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Dominic's Auto Museum
One man's passionate quest to survey finest motorcars in the world

#0013 - Veritas RS Sports-Racing Spyder, 1953/48

Photographed: Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance, 2007. Owner: John & Nana Greller

Context & Placement: Veritas can be looked upon in two general ways. In the first case, Veritas are the equivalent of BMW 328 Specials; compared to some of the late, streamlined competition cars produced before the War, the Veritas Rennsport picked up right where the factory left off. In the second case, Veritas are German counterpoint to OSCA in Italy; they are a firm producing small, made-to-order sports cars, and their venture is specific to the post-War climate in Europe where getting back to racing is a difficult task. OSCA was run by the surviving Maserati brothers, who of course looked back upon their namesake company, then run by the Orsi family, while Veritas was the property of three German airmen of whom one, Ernst Loof, was tied to BMW.

Perhaps like OSCA, the days of Veritas were numbered from the start, reason being the firm relied upon pre-War BMW 328 parts to create their machines. Once the supplies thinned, production slowed. Eventually a new motor would come on line, but late, and certainly without the mean velocity shown by Ferrari in Italy, Jaguar in England, or Mercedes-Benz at home. Moreover, the Veritas marque was not the only 328-dependent in the immediate post-War era. Bristol and AC commandeered the bulk of resources as far as the 328 motors were concerned, fitting them to the 401, Ace and Aceca, and more pleasantly, the Arnolt-Bristol Roadster. The prolific use of BMW's wonderful little motor meant prospective German clients often brought their own BMW 328 donor car to the Veritas works.

At this point I strongly recommend sourcing our information on the BMW 328 NSKK Roadster, as it includes a wealth of detailed historical analysis well beyond the typical gloss.

Rennsport: Updating your 328 for the new era of motorsport was well worth the effort. Beside the aerodynamic body, which was a straightened adaptation of pre-War efforts carried out by both the BMW factory and by Touring of Milan, the motors were often developed to upwards of 125 brake horsepower. This combination provided a top speed well beyond that of the old 328, easily exceeding 140 miles per hour. For the beginning of the 1950s, that was a solid figure, particularly from 1,971cc. In many ways, this was the development work BMW needed in the pre-War era, but never had a chance to achieve. Thusly, it can be told to those who wonder of the Bavarian marque what might have been, this is exactly what might have been.

Unfortunately, production was miniscule. Perhaps two-dozen of the RS were built, along with a coupe and various specials for, among other things, Formula 2 competition. Today there are very few remaining, most of which are in Europe.

Morphology: Crafted in aluminum, the sleek body contains simple folds, symmetric in lateral orientation, and nearly so in longitudinal orientation as well. The exception is the headrest fairing on the rear deck. This elegant piece folds into the tail quite deep below the belt line, which practially speaking does not exist, presenting a true wrap-around finish. Elegant rear wheel covers mimick the shape of those offered on pre-War 328 cars, and may very well have come from one. The same is true of the wheels. Of note, the drill pattern is a wholly post-War practice—that goes for the 328 as well, and distinguishes those 328s that were continuously tuned and raced in the post-War era from those kept in their original form. Suffice to say, the choice to drill ventilation holes in the BMW discs was up to the Veritas owner, and many RS cars did without.

Early Veritas cars went so far in their patronage to the 328 that they wore the BMW roundel. Eventually the larger auto-maker got on their feet and forbade the practice, whereupon Veritas altered the roundel to form a vague logo that still paid respectable hommage. At present, our car here has a clouded history, but by the badging we can at least tell it is a late RS. Truly, the encounter was terrific, and I've been happy to find more Veritas cars in our domestic travels, some of which will be included here in the future.

Sources:

Supercars.net: Offering a nice piece on the Veritas Rennsport with information gathered by MotorTrend magazine.

All F1: With cursory note of Vertas' foray into Grand Prix competition.

 

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