BMW 502 from 1955 - comfortable - modern - well thought out
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Summary
The BMW 502 was an exceptional phenomenon in the 1950s, an eight-cylinder saloon in post-war Germany. Instead of a dry test, the magazine "hobby" decided to put on a veritable spectacle, amusing to read and yet informative. This report brings back the original wording, shows the pictures from the magazine and the original factory photos that were its basis.
This article contains the following chapters
- Technical profile
Estimated reading time: 7min
Preview (beginning of the article)
Allow a few director's notes at the beginning of the story! But let's not get ahead of ourselves ... It all began at a filling station in the middle of Frankfurt. While the petrol was running into the 70-litre tank, ER had time to quickly familiarize himself with the position of the gears on the steering wheel gearshift and the various control buttons on the fine wood-veneered dashboard. The clever clarity of these buttons for lights, windshield wipers, cigar lighter and heating was impressive at first glance. The electric fuel pump was still humming. "Don't forget to switch the fuel tap from reserve to normal right now!" said the man next to the fuel pump. But HE searched in vain for the fuel tap. He couldn't find it in any of the places he was used to. "Next to the left-hand door sill at the bottom!" shouted the fuel pump attendant. He pointed to a lever sticking up vertically next to the door sill. "You can bump into it when you get out!" HE said. "If you're unlucky, maybe. But you'll definitely notice that you're already driving with an 8-liter reserve of fuel in the tank." The gas station attendant moved the lever back to the normal position. HE made a note of this first, small but significant clou, for a car design that had been thought through down to the last detail.
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