January 2023 Featured Car

The BMW 507 is a roadster that was produced by BMW from 1956 until 1959.

Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars and heavy financial losses for BMW.

The story starts in December 1958 in Frankfurt, Germany, when Elvis bought a used BMW 507 after starting his military service. A 1957 model (chassis #70079 and colored feather white), which had been raced by Hans Stuck, and used as a press demonstrator by BMW.

The engine was BMW's aluminum/alloy OHV V8, of 3,168 cubic centimeters (193.3 cu in) displacement, with pushrod-operated overhead valves. It had two Zenith 32NDIX two-barrel carburetors, a chain-driven oil pump, high-lift cams, a different spark advance curve, polished combustion chamber surfaces, and a compression ratio of 7.8:1, yielding 150 metric horsepower (110 kW) DIN at 5,000 rpm. It was mated to a close ratio four-speed manual transmission. The standard rear-end ratio was 3.70:1, but ratios of 3.42:1 and 3.90:1 were optional. A contemporary road test of a 507 with the standard 3.70:1 final drive was reported in Motor Revue, stating a 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) acceleration time of 11.1 seconds and a top speed of 122 mph.

Because many of Presley's fans left lipstick marks on the car, mainly while parked outside his home at 14 Goethestrasse, Bad Nauheim, he had it painted red. It was imported into the United States in 1960 and was bought by Alabama disc jockey Tommy Charles, who had it extensively modified, including having the engine replaced with a Chevrolet V8.

In July 2014, BMW Group announced that Presley's car would be on display for a short period at the BMW Museum in Munich, before being entirely restored by its Classic department. 

When his military service came to an end in 1960, the King took his red sports car back home. Soon after, a Chrysler dealer in New York advertised the roadster as the “Elvis Car” and sold the BMW 507 for 3,500 USD to Tommy Charles, a Radio DJ and hot-rod hobbyist.

He had the car re-equipped with a Chevy V8 Borg-Warner engine and a Chevy rear axle. The car had two more owners before a Californian aeronautical engineer, Jack Castor, bought it in 1968. Castor, however, did not use the car very often and had it put in storage sometime around the year 1974.