BMW
After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. To remain in business, BMW produced farm equipment, household items and railway brakes. In 1922, former major shareholder Camillo Castiglioni purchased the rights to the name BMW, which led to the company descended from Rapp Motorenwerke being renamed Süddeutsche Bremse AG (known today as Knorr-Bremse). Castiglioni was also an investor in another aircraft company, called "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke", which he renamed BMW.The disused factory of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was re-opened to produce engines for buses, trucks, farm equipment and pumps, under the brand name BMW. BMW's corporate history considers the founding date of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (7 March 1916) to be the birth of the company.
BMW in Formula One
The early years of the post-war World Drivers' Championship saw private BMW racing cars, based on the pre-war BMW 328 chassis, entered in the 1952 and 1953 German Grands Prix. BMW-derived cars were also entered by the Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau (AFM) and Veritas companies in occasional races from to . The entries occurred during this period because the championship was effectively run to Formula Two regulations, allowing the BMW cars to take part. Amongst the modified 328s was one driven by an engine in the rear of the car (known as the "Heck", the German automotive term for "back" or "rear"), a design feature which became standard in Formula One in the early 1960s after later success by the Cooper team.