BMW 503

BMW
BMW 503 Cabriolet
503
Sales designation:	503
Production period:	1956-1960
Class :	Upper class
Body versions :	Coupé , convertible
Engines:	Otto engine : 3.2 liters (103 kW)
Length:	4750 mm
Width:	1710 mm
Height:	1440 mm
Wheelbase :	2835 mm
Empty weight :	1500 kg
successor	BMW 3200 CS

The BMW 503 is a two-door, two-plus-two-seater sports car made by Bayerische Motoren Werke .

The for BMW 502 - sedan developed eight-cylinder - V engine was and long remained the only German cast aluminum eighth. It served as the basis for an ambitious sports car project that the commercial director Hanns Grewenig implemented against the will of the then BMW chief engineer Kurt Donath.

A first body design by the Veritas initiator Ernst Loof was rejected by BMW management. Instead, Grewenig commissioned Albrecht Graf von Goertz , who had already designed the BMW 507 through the mediation of the US importer Max Hoffman , to design a luxury sports car in the shape of a pontoon with a classic BMW kidney grille. After 18 months of development, the BMW 503 and BMW 507 appeared at the International Motor Show in September 1955 . The trade press and the public were delighted.

Although the BMW 503 was awarded gold medals by the juries of the beauty competitions in Cannes , Rome , Lisbon , Vienna and Wiesbaden , the car was not a great sales success, which was mainly due to the high price: In May 1956 BMW asked 29,500 marks for the coupé and convertible , in December 1957 the car cost 31,500 marks and in July 1958 32,950 DM. Since a row house at that time cost barely twice as much, only well-heeled customers - such as Count Faber-Castell , Rudolf-August Oetker and film actress Sonja Ziemann - afford the car.

The aluminum body was manufactured by the body construction company Baur . The engine with 3,168 cc capacity made 140 hp (103 kW) at 4800 min ^-1 and arranged for an acceleration of 0 to 100 km / h in 13.3 seconds. The maximum speed specified was 190 km / h. As in the BMW 507, lateral "gills" should prevent heat from building up in the engine compartment. In view of the thermal problems, BMW manufactured some BMW 503s with air outlets on the sides of the front fenders at the customer's request. Count Goertz later blessed this modification as aesthetically valuable.

• BMW 503 Coupe
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Facelift

A total of only 412 copies were built between 1956 and 1960, including 139 convertibles and 273 coupés, the last BMW 503 (a coupé) being given chassis number 69412; the last convertible built was given chassis number 69408. Two series were created, the main differences being in the circuitry, the technology of the automatic window and roof mechanisms, the position of the ashtray and the decorative strips on the side.

The Series 1 cars have a steering wheel shift and gearbox under the front seat (with the exception of the 5 right-hand drive custom-made products for UK customers), hydraulic window lifters and a hydraulic roof, an ashtray under the dashboard and trim strips at the rear that curve upwards. The series 2 cars, on the other hand, have a stick shift with gearbox on the engine, electric windows, but still a hydraulic hood, the ashtray next to the radio speaker on the dashboard and straight trim strips throughout.

• BMW 503 Cabriolet
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  BMW 503 front view

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  Series 1 dashboard

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  Series 1 curved molding

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  Air outlet à la BMW 507

Execution:	Series 1	Series 2
Construction period:	May 1956 to December 1957	December 1957 to May 1960
Coupés :	136	134
Convertibles :	78	58
Coupés right-hand drive:	2	1
Right-hand drive convertibles:	3	-
Total:	219	193

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Lothar Brandt: The last of its kind. Presentation: BMW 503 Coupé from 1960 . In: Motor Klassik . No. 8 , August 1987, ISSN  0177-8862 , p. 42-47 .
2. ↑ Model overview BMW 503 507 3200 CS. (No longer available online.) BMW V8 Club, formerly the original ; Retrieved April 12, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ ^{a b} The two series in comparison. fb503.de, accessed on April 12, 2013 .  
4. ↑ ^{a b} Hanns-Peter Rosellen: "The white-blue wonder" in Seewald Verlag Stuttgart 1983, pages 387–388, ISBN 978-3-512-00650-0

Web links

Commons : BMW 503  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• The Freundeskreis BMW 503.fb503.de, accessed on April 12, 2013 . 
• BMW 507 prototype by Ernst Loof. traumautoarchiv.de, accessed on April 12, 2013 . 
• Image of the dashboard and circuit of series 2. auto-news.de, accessed on April 24, 2013 . 

literature

• Georg Seeliger: BMW 503/507 - the V8 sports models . 1st edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01563-3 .
• Karsten Rehmann: “Of blue blood” - dream car BMW 503 Cabriolet . In: Auto Zeitung Classic Cars . No. 6 , May 16, 2013, ISSN  0171-8452 , p. 76–81 (BMW 503 Series 1).