1956 BMW 507: From Failure to Fame

William Jason
SubmitYOURArticle.com
March 6, 2011

William Jason
http://musclecarmonster.com

The BMW 507 is produced by famous car maker BMW from 1956 to 1959. This roadster is already considered a classic car, and continues to be an icon of its era. It is initially intended to be exported to the United States, but because of its steep price tag, people became hesitant in buying one, so the resulting production figure is around 252 cars made. Even though it is considered as a classic car at present, it still has caused significant losses for BMW, that's why it was ultimately discontinued. But with just hundreds of BMW 507s available in the market, this classic car is indeed a collector's dream, and you can't easily own one at present.

The development of the BMW 507 was started by Max Hoffman, a well-known American car importer. He persuaded the management of BMW to produce a roadster version of the BMW 501 and 502 saloons. This is a great way to capture the market located in between the high end Mercedes Benz 300 SL and the cheap and inadequate Triumph and MG sports cars. The planned price of the BMW 507 was around $5000, and was projected to produce at least 5000 cars per year. But because of the outrageous production costs, the initial price of $5000 ultimately became $10,500 and is already unaffordable or impractical even for the most affluent car goers.

But classic cars aren't really known for their initial impact. There's always a reason why cars like the BMW 507 have limited numbers at present, and one of these is failure to attract buyers. For classic cars, what matters is the legacy that they leave, or the impact that they make on the society. BMW 507 is know of its attractive styling, and can be considered a milestone model because of its stylish look that is well ahead of its time.

This BMW classic also attracted the attention of well-known personalities. Celebrity buyers include German racing drivers Hans Stuck and Georg Meier, as well as American singer and actor, Elvis Presley. There are around 202 BMW 507s which are still running today, and that's a lot considering that there were only 252 507s made. The best thing about these BMW 507 cars is that their price increases as they age. If you bought it for $10,000 dollars when it was first released, it could fetch around $900,000 to a million today. That is enough proof that the BMW 507 is indeed a great classic car.

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William Jason has admired classic cars ever since he was a young child and you can read his blog at: http://musclecarmonster.com/