BMW 700 - egg-laying blue and white wool-milk sow
Summary
Can a single car do so much? Series winner in motor racing, transportation for the whole family, fuel economy champion, savior of an entire automobile company from bankruptcy? The BMW 700, which was presented in 1959, made us forget its indirect predecessor, the BMW 600, and became a sales success with its Italian-inspired exterior, high utility value, low fuel and maintenance costs and sporty performance, saving BMW from imminent bankruptcy. This report describes the exact circumstances, describes the different vehicle variants and gives driving impressions of the past and present. This article is illustrated by a large number of current and historical photos, several original sales brochures, the owner's manual, press releases and price lists.
This article contains the following chapters
- An Austrian and an Italian help BMW
- Synthesis of motorcycle and automobile
- Compact dimensions and modern technology
- For the family
- For the sports driver
- For the sun worshipper
- White-blue barrel organ
- Also suitable for ladies
- Series race winner
- Evolution to the end, only a four-cylinder was not allowed
- Not for the faint-hearted
- Rare and rarer
- No longer quite so cheap and simple
- Further information
Estimated reading time: 11min
Preview (beginning of the article)
Can a single car do so much? Series winner in motor racing, transportation for the whole family, fuel economy champion, savior of an entire automobile company from bankruptcy? The BMW 700, which was presented in 1959, made us forget its indirectly unpopular predecessor, the BMW 600, and became a sales success with its Italian-inspired exterior, high utility value, low fuel and maintenance costs and sporty performance, saving BMW from imminent bankruptcy. At the end of the 1950s, the German car manufacturer BMW was suffering from the problem of having hard-to-sell luxury vehicles such as the 507 and 502 at one end of its product range, while building Isetta-type cabin scooters that were no longer attractive to the public at the other end. There was a need. The solution came from Austria, where the resourceful inventor and racing driver Wolfgang Denzel, BMW importer for the small Alpine country, together with Giovanni Michelotti, developed a more mature and at the same time much more contemporary coupé version of the 600 sedan. BMW liked the result so much that the new model was presented at the 1959 Frankfurt International Motor Show after a few technical and design modifications and the addition of a saloon version. The new small BMW immediately became a public favorite.
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