javier romagosa
As Delco wrote en Motorpassion A few months ago, back in the fifties, things weren't going very well at BMW. Originally a manufacturer of airplane engines, magnificent motorcycles and small utility vehicles with an English license, in 1939 it had just begun to give birth to its incredible sporty offspring.
Then came hell in the form of a world war, with all its facilities confiscated and destroyed at the end of it. Unlike Mercedes, the Allies did not allow BMW to get close to an engine again until 1948, at which point it resumed manufacturing motorcycles. For its part, cars were banned until 1952.
Then he returned to the charge, but making a mistake: he began to manufacture, in the Europe of misery and with little tradition in that segment, luxury vehicles. Garrafal, because at the height of 1959 bankruptcy was on the brink. The 507 model is one of the most beautiful convertibles in the world and the swan song of that turbulent era.
The frustrated pursuit of success
Indeed, the first great successes of the Bavarian brand came in 1938, with the victory in its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans of the legendary 328; and in 1940, by winning a Berlineta of the same model the Thousand Miles. But from there began, as we have said, the darkness.
And when the lights came on again, BMW forgot who it was. He started playing at being Mercedes and brought out the 501 and 502 models, the latter with a 8-liter (!) V2.6 engine. They were great cars, yes, but they were unsaleable due to the lack of prestige of the brand at those levels and the tremendous prevailing poverty.
The cake was taken by the Stuttgart brand, which had known how to throw the ribbon and make, in addition to supercars, others for the middle class. Its 220 and 300 models were offset by the 170, 180 and 190, which even offered profitable diesel mechanics.
In Munich, on the contrary, they lurched until 1957, the year in which they radically changed their strategy. Seeing that trying to sell limousines was a ruin, they bought the license to produce the popular ones from the Italian brand ISO Isetta. And it is that microcars had their peak in the fifties, when considering the need for the motorization of the Old Continent.
Remember, for example, the Biscuter. However, personally I believe that these were a flower of a day, since the utilitarians soon arrived that a significant part of the population was already able to acquire.
Still, BMW got a good slice of the funny pellet, selling no more and no less than 70.000 units. Fantastic figure, although insufficient to end his financial problems. I would only get out of the quagmire thanks to the humble and finally successful model 700.
Now, after this brief introduction, let's go into it. BMW did two memorable things while skidding in the mud during the 503s: the 507 coupe and the statuesque roadster that concerns us today, the XNUMX.
Dangerous curves
Starting in 1945, the big European brands realized that, if they wanted to survive the post-war period, they would have to sell mainly outside their market. I am referring to the manufacturers of luxury cars and sports cars, who no longer had any possibility of continuing to trade as before in their land. Bleeding continents don't buy cars, least of all those guys.
Therefore, they looked towards the United States, towards the great winner, and began to place their production there. Triumph, MG, Austin-Healey, Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW, Ferrari sold their production through very few private importers. The latter were true gurus, with the ability even to suggest the construction of new models to brands.
One of them was Max Hoffman, who had the idea that the gap between the unattainable Mercedes 300 SL and the rest of imported European convertibles had to be covered. Seeing the work that BMW had done with the 503, he believed that it could still be improved into roadster form. And that, knowing as he knew the North American market to the millimeter, he would sell it to the baskets.
And BMW, even in its agony, was looking for a new sports car. So he accepted the advice and the chief engineer and his team got down to business. This was none other than Fritz Fiedler, creator of the previously mentioned and mythical 328. He was the one who decided to commission the design to Albrecht von Goertz, “the Count”, dressmaker from 503 and a German emigrant who had fought in the Allied ranks against his compatriots for years. before.
From his pencil came the jewel that you see in the photos, to dress the powerful V8 of the Munich house, which sat on a hodgepodge of pieces taken from the other models but very well put together. 3.2 liter V8 at 90º, with aluminum block, central camshaft and double carburetion; to scratch the 150 hp, 236 Nm, 220 km / h and a zero to a hundred in 8,8 seconds.
The chassis was and is made of steel, not carried by the aluminum body. The traction is rear (thank goodness) and the four-speed transmission, while the front suspension is independent and the rear rigid, following the sporty technique of the time. Four-drum brakes, because the discs had only just been released by Jaguar in competition: only the last 507 were equipped with them.
Full-size images (1.280 px. Approx.)
But let's go back to Hoffman, the American importer. What he wanted was a $ 5.000 convertible. However, as he had asked very detailed people who also made it by hand, he could not constrain the price to less than 11.000. In fact, in Munich they were unable to reach the production levels necessary to amortize the car.
Faced with this new panorama, sales expectations, which were initially in the thousands of units, plummeted. These materialized in 1956, ending three years later with a poor figure of 251 copies. BMW lost money on each of them, and the 507 was nowhere near the success of its inconvenient rival, the Mercedes 300 SL Roadster.
In short, a full-blown commercial failure. But with tremendously sensual curves. In 1957 they even improved, with a second series with a little more power and more space for "XXL" drivers. Precisely the convertible in the photos, which was auctioned by RM Auctions now a year ago, it belongs to this second print run.
