II: The V12 Engine Before BMW (1904–1986)
The V12’s journey to automotive prestige began not on roads, but on water, and then in the sky. In 1904, engineers at Putney Motor Works in London created the Craig-Dörwald, an 18.3-liter aluminum-block V12 for racing launches—demonstrating the configuration’s potential for smooth and powerful operation under competition conditions.
In 1913, the V12 engine made its automotive debut in Sunbeam’s “Toodles V,” a single-seat racer designed by Louis Coatalen. With a 9.0-liter displacement, 60° cylinder banks, L-head valves, dry-sump lubrication, and staggered side-by-side connecting rods, the Toodles V quickly demonstrated both speed and remarkable reliability in endurance races at Brooklands.
Rolls-Royce’s 1915 Eagle V12, followed by the Hawk and eventually the legendary Merlin, powered aircraft from bombers to the iconic Spitfire fighter of World War II—becoming synonymous with British resilience. Germany’s Maybach developed formidable twelve-cylinder powerplants, most notably the giant Zeppelin airship engines that roared overhead as both marvel and menace.
In Bavaria, the relatively small but ambitious firm Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works—BMW), established in 1916 as an aircraft engine manufacturer, built its earliest reputation on inline-six and eventually powerful V12 aviation engines.
It was Packard’s Twin Six in 1915 that truly secured the V12’s automotive destiny. Engineer Jesse Vincent designed this 7.0-liter, 60-degree V12, emphasizing smooth torque and quiet refinement—qualities that made it an immediate international benchmark. So admired was Packard’s Twin Six that Enzo Ferrari later explicitly credited it as the inspiration for his own legendary V12 engines.
The interwar period became the V12’s first automotive golden age. Europe’s luxury marques vied to craft ever more refined twelve-cylinder masterpieces. Daimler’s sleeve-valve Double-Six in Britain, Hispano-Suiza’s meticulously crafted 9.5-liter J12—designed by Swiss-born Marc Birkigt and produced primarily in France—as well as Lagonda’s technically sophisticated 4.5-liter V12 and Rolls-Royce’s opulent Phantom III all exemplified engineering elegance and refinement.
American marques responded in kind: Cadillac’s extravagant V12 and V16 models, Lincoln’s graceful Zephyr, and Packard’s continued refinement of its own twelve-cylinder designs solidified the configuration as a symbol of status.
Germany’s significant prewar entries were from Maybach and Horch. Introduced in 1930, Maybach’s DS8 Zeppelin was arguably Europe’s most imposing luxury automobile, powered by an 8.0-liter overhead-cam V12 generating 200 horsepower—a car for industrial magnates and, eventually, the Third Reich’s elite.
Its competitor, the Horch 670 (1931), brought technical sophistication with overhead valves and roller-rocker camshafts in its 6.0-liter V12, presaging the postwar German luxury approach.
These German luxury flagships coincided with the early Autobahn era—the world’s only highway system explicitly designed without speed limits. Inaugurated in 1932 between Köln and Bonn, the Autobahn created a proving ground for high-speed automotive refinement. Maybach boasted that, at Autobahn velocities, “a conversation can be held in normal tones,” underscoring the engineering prowess achieved with these twelve-cylinder powerplants.
The V12 and even V16 were not the only options for those seeking superlative luxury, however. Arguably the most luxurious and exclusive cars of all time, Bugatti’s Type 41 Royale (1927–1933, 6 built) and Duesenberg’s Models J, SJ, and SSJ (1928–1937, 483 built) featured not twelve but eight massive cylinders.
The Duesenberg Model J burst on the scene in 1928 as a dramatic exhibition of the best of American engineering, its 419.7‑ci (6.9‑L) dual-overhead‑cam straight‑8 rated at a staggering 265 hp—more than twice the output of any Packard or Cadillac of the day. Its giant forged crank (42 in long, 150 lb) carried “torsional vibration” dampers of mercury to keep the engine perfectly smooth.
The Royale was “the strongest, largest and most luxurious automobile in the world,” the European counterpart to Duesenberg’s American dream. Ettore Bugatti’s 1930 Type 41 Royale had a monstrous 12.8 liter straight eight—derived from a 14.7 liter military engine—that made 300 hp while spinning at a sedate 1,800 rpm. Every component was simply scaled up: the crankshaft rode on nine plain bearings, driving two huge camshafts by a vertical shaft. The lubrication system forced 23 liters of oil through the engine, and colossal brakes and doubled-leaf springs were needed to handle the 3.5‑ton mass. Even then, the Royale could sprint up to roughly 124 mph (200 km/h) thanks to that torque, making it—by piston displacement and footprint—the very largest automobile ever built. The 12.8 liter Bugatti engine notably went on to power trains.
Of course, World War II abruptly ended civilian V12 production in Germany, with Maybach’s DS8 Zeppelin having the title of the last prewar German twelve-cylinder car. During the war, V12 designs were repurposed or newly engineered for military vehicles—Maybach’s powerful HL210 and HL230 V12 engines propelled formidable tanks like the Panther and Tiger, while BMW’s VI series powered aircraft and armored vehicles, as well as the occasional interesting one-off like Brutus, above.
Postwar, the twelve-cylinder engine receded dramatically in the automotive world. Lincoln’s Zephyr V12 lingered only until 1949 in the United States, after which production largely shifted toward V8 configurations.
In Europe, the V12 found sanctuary only in exclusive marques, primarily Ferrari, whose first road-going car in 1947, the Ferrari 125 S, featured a jewel-like 1.5-liter V12—a direct tribute to Packard’s prewar Twin Six. Lamborghini, seeking competition with Ferrari, debuted its own twelve-cylinder masterpiece in 1964, and Jaguar introduced its mass-produced 5.3-liter V12 in 1971, the first large-scale twelve-cylinder sedan engine of the postwar era.
By 1986, the V12’s place in luxury automobiles had become precarious, upheld only by Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Jaguar. An odd cast of characters carried the V12 by this point: Ferrari’s ancient 412 (derived from the 1972 365 GTB 2+2), the new Ferrari Testarossa (with a 180º V12, not a “boxer”), Lamborghini’s frankly insane LM002 SUV and perhaps equally audacious Countach, and the Jaguar XJS and XJ12. Its appeal now rested more performance or prestige than anything. But if you wanted four seats and a V12, you could have one from that ragtag bunch from the Italians and Brits.
Into this context stepped BMW—born an aircraft engine manufacturer and determined to reclaim Germany’s lost prestige while showing it could not just build the best sport sedan in the world, but the best luxury sedan in the same car.