Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) was founded in 1916 and is now well known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It owns and produces the Mini brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

BMW originally built aircraft motors but after World War I, was forced to cease aircraft (engine) production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. The company consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923 once the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted, followed by automobiles in 1928-29.

The circular blue and white BMW logo is portrayed by BMW as the movement of an aircraft propeller, to signify the white blades cutting through the blue sky — an interpretation that BMW adopted for convenience in 1929, twelve years after the logo was first created.

The BMW OHV V8 engine was the first V8 engine made by BMW, produced from 1954 to 1965. This engine is usually named by the fact that it was the only overhead valve V8 ever produced by BMW. All subsequent BMW V8 engines would use double overhead camshafts as well as fuel injection, but the development of the next V8 engine by BMW would not take place for more than three and a half decades.

The M60 is the internal code for the V8 engine manufactured by BMW from April 1992 to 1995. Development of the V8 engine began in 1984, and the engine was committed to production in 1986. Some 560 test engines were built throughout the development program. The M60′s design made extensive use of CAD to minimize size and weight. It had a closed-deck cylinder block for maximum rigidity, and used aluminum alloy for both block and cylinder head.

BMW’s current hero V8 engine is the S65, a naturally-aspirated DOHC 32-valve V8 engine. Derived from the BMW S85 V10 engine used in the M5/M6, it shares the same basic architecture and aluminium construction. It was introduced in the E92 M3 as a replacement for the S54 straight-6. The engine was chosen as International Engine of the Year for the 3.0 to 4.0 L category in 2008 and 2009.

-Some content sourced from Wikipedia