BMW 507

BMW
BMW 507 at the IAA 2009
507
Sales designation:	507
Production period:	1956-1959
Class :	Sports car
Body versions :	Roadster
Engines:	Otto engine : 3.2 liters (110 kW)
Length:	4380 mm
Width:	1650 mm
Height:	1300 mm
Wheelbase :	2840 mm
Empty weight :	1330 kg
successor	BMW Z8

The BMW 507 is a two-seater roadster from BMW . Like the BMW 503 , the model designed by Albrecht Graf von Goertz is an icon of automotive design.

The vehicle was priced in the range of its competitor Mercedes-Benz 300 SL , which from spring 1957 was no longer offered as a coupé with gullwing doors , but exclusively as a roadster . Only 254 examples of the BMW 507 were made, which is why it is much rarer than the 300 SL from Mercedes-Benz, of which a total of 3,258 coupés and roadsters were made.

history

BMW 507 at Technoclassica 2016

The BMW 507 was presented at the IAA in Frankfurt in late summer 1955 . The US importer of BMW, Max Hoffman , played a key role in the decision to develop the vehicle . He saw significant sales opportunities in the USA. Production ran from autumn 1956 to summer 1959. Prominent buyers of the car include a. Alain Delon , John Surtees , Ursula Andress , Toni Sailer and Elvis Presley . The BMW 507 was also featured in numerous movies, such as B. the German comedy " Hula-Hopp, Conny " with Cornelia Froboess and Rex Gildo from 1959 or in " Fantomas " from 1964 with Louis de Funès .

The car is powered by a 110 kW (150 PS) eight-cylinder V-engine with a displacement of 3,168 cm³. Both the engine housing and the body are made of aluminum . The curb weight of the vehicle is 1,330 kg (including 110 liters of petrol). Technically, the BMW 507 is based on the BMW 501/502 sedan : box frame, front independent wheel suspension and rear rigid axle with all-round torsion bar suspension . A special feature of the BMW 507 - as with the models 501/502, 503 and BMW 3200 CS - was the installation position of the gearbox : It was not flanged directly to the clutch bell, as in other automobiles, but was elastically attached to the frame at the level of the front seats and through a short cardan shaft connected to the clutch . The advantages of this arrangement were a more rearward center of gravity and the possibility to mount the engine more softly. The clutch could be exchanged without dismantling the gearbox. In addition, the front footwell was not restricted by the long clutch / transmission unit.

The first 43 vehicles (built before March 1957) are referred to as Series I, all the following as Series II. The most important distinguishing features are the fuel filler neck, which was no longer on the vehicle behind the convertible top, but in the rear right fender , as well as the new dashboard with integrated loudspeaker and enlarged glove box .

The vehicle cost around DM 26,500 in 1957 , which, after taking into account inflation , corresponds to around 65,000 euros in today's currency . However, the comparison with the gross annual income of an average employee, which in 1957 was only DM 5,043, is more illuminating. The purchase price of the car thus corresponded to approx. 5.5 times the gross annual salary of an employee at the time. For 2016, the same statistical series of numbers shows a value of 36,267 euros, from which a current fictitious purchase price of just under 200,000 euros could be derived (36,267 euros times 5.5).

Of the 254 vehicles built, around 220 have survived; five of them are owned by BMW. The BMW 507 is a popular collector's item . In the summer of 2018 the specimen with the chassis no. 70067 (built in 1957) from the estate of British racing driver John Surtees , auctioned by Bonhams auction house for £ 3,809,500 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale (lot 330).

Elvis Presley bought a white BMW 507 as GI in 1958 during his service in Bad Nauheim , which he had painted red in August 1959. In 1962 the car appeared in Alabama, received a Ford V8 and other US technology. In 1968, the Californian aeronautical engineer Jack Castor († November 4, 2014) bought it, but he only drove it sporadically before he parked it in a warehouse around 1974. The BMW Museum in Munich showed the vehicle in its unrestored condition in August 2014 - the car was missing many components, including the engine itself. In the meantime, it has been restored by BMW Classic . The BMW Group Classic had set a duration of two years for the work. The restored car was presented by BMW at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2016 .

• 

  Engine compartment

• 

  Rear view closed

• 

  inner space

• 

  A BMW 507 in the BMW Museum

At the end of the 1990s, the designers of the BMW Z8 roadster took the shape of the BMW 507 as a model, which u. a. can be clearly seen on the front headlights, the elongated BMW kidney grille and the side gills.

The BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale design study from 1959 was based on the BMW 507 with chassis number 70184 .

In 1969, Marcello Gandini designed the Spicup concept car for Bertone on a BMW E3 basis , which was intended as a proposal for a successor to the 507. However, BMW did not take up Bertone's concept.

April 2, 2015, gave the Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany, a special issue of the stamp series ' classic German cars " from a nominal value of 1.45 euros on which the BMW is shown 507th

literature

• Karlheinz Lange: BMW Profile: The legendary BMW 507. Publisher: BMW Mobile Tradition, 2005, ISBN 3-932169-50-6 .

Web links

Commons : BMW 507  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Model overview BMW 503 507 3200 CS. BMW V8 Club, accessed January 12, 2013 . 
2. ↑ BMW V8 Club / BMW 507 Touring Sport ( German ) BMW V8 Club. July 13, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
3. ↑ This amount was determined with the inflation template , rounded to 1000 euros and relates to last January.
4. ↑ Historical average wages
5. ↑ BMW V8 Club / BMW 507 Touring Sport ( German ) BMW V8 Club. July 13, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
6. ↑ Lot 330: 1957 BMW 507 Roadster with Hardtop ( English ) Bonhams. July 13, 2018. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
7. ^ Report - previous owner: Elvis Presley - tracked down: the BMW 507, which the King bought in Frankfurt in 1958 . In: Auto Bild Klassik . No. 1 , January 22, 2010, ISSN  2190-0744 , p. 82-87 .
8. ↑ ^{a b} Sebastian Renz: The King's car is alive. BMW 507 from Elvis Presley. auto-motor-und-sport.de, July 23, 2014, accessed on October 27, 2014 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} BMW restores Elvis Presley's BMW 507. Elvis' BMW 507 is restored: salvation or loss? autobild.de, October 8, 2014, accessed October 27, 2014 . 
10. ↑ Love me tender. BMW 507 from Elvis Presley. stern.de, July 24, 2014, accessed October 27, 2014 . 
11. ↑ Tom Grünweg: Elvis' restored BMW 507: Return to Sender. spiegel.de, August 24, 2016, accessed on August 24, 2016 . 

	This article is available as an audio file:
	BMW 507 Save | Information  | 04:01 min (1.41 MB) Text of the spoken version
	More information on spoken Wikipedia