BMW 507 Roadster Series II 1957 - World Of Classic Cars -

BMW 507 Roadster Series II 1957

Great art is created from vision, not necessity. Never was this truer than with the legendary BMW 507 roadster.
The company in the early 1950s bore little resemblance to today’s manufacturer of the ‘ultimate driving machine’. It had been caught in the turmoil of Germany’s reconstruction, and as a result, its bread-and-butter sales came from the production of microcars. Plans were underway for a saloon car, and a V-8 engine had been designed for it, but the company needed a hit, a halo car that would restore the brand in public minds.

BMW 507 Roadster Series II 1957

Help was a hand in the form of legendary New York car dealer Max Hoffman, who also instigated the Porsche Speedster and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. The sole BMW importer for the United States wanted another European sports car to bridge the gap between his high-end machinery and more pragmatic MGs in his sales line-up. He had the Midas touch, so his request was swiftly granted, and development work got under way. The 507 would utilise components from the 502 and 503 series, particularly the 3.2-litre overhead-valve V-8 engine which featured an aluminium block and was uprated to feature twin carburettors to deliver a refined 148 brake horsepower (150 PS).

BMW 507 Roadster Series II 1957

Designed by Count Albrecht von Goertz, a protégé of designer Raymond Loewy, his creation did not disappoint. The result was a truly breath-taking form that combined elegance and power. The long, sweeping lines of the 507 began at the front with the low, sensuous nose featuring a stylish version of the now trademark BMW ‘twin kidney’ grill and a narrow chrome bumper. The theme of feline grace continued along the front of the car with sculpted wings featuring ‘shark gill’ vents complete with the BMW emblem. An elegant chrome rear bumper and twin exhausts finish the masterpiece. Yet it remained a trophy car for only a very select few, as the price was more than $11,000, an extraordinary sum for a car at that time—double its target price. As a result, a mere 252 cars were made before production ended in 1959.

BMW 507 Roadster Series II 1957

Presented here is a later Series II version that was built in 1957 in the Feder Weiss (feather white) colour scheme with Korallrot (coral red) interior with the correct and original Rudge wheels. It was delivered as new on 1 January 1958 to Mr Carlo Silvestrelli in Switzerland, a high-profile accountant who lived in Zurich. The car remained in his ownership for nearly a decade, though he only drove the car until 1964. He then sold it with 50,600 kilometres in 1967. The second owner was Mr Pierre Struys of Montreux, who added 8,200 kilometres before having the original engine replaced with a correct-type spare by BMW Munich and properly re-stamped. Mr Struys sold it displaying 77,000 kilometres to the next long-term owner in 1969, a Mr Oskar Bloch, who ran a BMW workshop in Basel and had maintained the car during Mr Silvestrelli’s tenure.