BMMA Narwhal
HISTORY
The Blue Marlin America provided a steady profit during the 60’s, but after most of the 70’s with the balance dangerously close to red, the profitability of the experiment ceased and after the merging with Žnoprešk, the BMA was definetively closed. The car lineup need to be resized and one of the fist car that was put on diet was the 4th generation of the BMMA Narwhal.
The project started in 1975 and had a severe redesign after the merging, (the oil crisis left its scar on the gas guzzling land yacht panorama of the U.S.A.) in order to increase the expected profitability and allowing a possible future E segment Žnoprešk to be based on Narwhal design. The design was freezed in 1979 and unveiled in 1981. The press welcomed the car warmly, but with some conern on the turn taken by BMMA. Some even argued if the BMMA freedom was in danger under the ŽM regime.
TEHNIKA
Even if the traditional FR layout, aluminium body and inline six engines were still part of the formula, Žnoprešk helped the engineering “under the hood” in order to rationalize part of the production processes and components, allowing a lower price thanks to a more efficient production system.
One of the biggest improvement on the car formula was on the engine. The small inline six of the “Jalla” family was the first in the BMMA production history to be updated with a DOHC 4v head, and since 1985 it was availabe also the bigger “Coslovich” inline 6 family.
