1947 Veritas Rennsport Le Mans Berlinetta

1947 Veritas Rennsport Le Mans Berlinetta

How did the early postwar Veritas RS (Rennsport) series of automobiles come to be? Pre-WWII it started with BMW sending a 328 chassis to Touring of Milan who built an “ala spessa” (thick wing) aerodynamic coachwork for it and thus placing 3rd at Le Mans in 1939 and winning the Mille Miglia in 1940. (The styling was utilized for several Alfa Romeo for long distance racing in the same time period.) BMW at the start of the war commissioned Touring of Milan to build several Berlin-Rome aerodynamic roadsters based upon more of the “ala spessa” style coachwork (a nature derivative of the BMW 328 coupe) and which BMW itself windtunnel tested in scale model form in Munich. Postwar Ernst Loof (who ran the pre-war BMW racing department) came across one of the Berlin-Rome roadsters and quickly it evolved given modifications into the form recognizable as the aerodynamic Veritas RS racecar. Loof (and his business partners) initially called the company “BMW-Veritas” but BMW objected and thus it became standalone known as “Veritas”. Enough history lessons but I wanted to showcase the Touring of Milan influence and how it all ties together.

This concept: Veritas did build several coupes for racing and street use. But they never built a true aerodynamic racing berlinetta. What if Veritas was building a 1.5 or 2.0 liter engine racecar to compete with at Le Mans in the 1947 — would they have incorporated the proven aerodynamic roofline that was so successful only a few years before?