Right after Elvis Presley ...
10/01/2014
... comes John Surtees. Not so long ago, the ex-Elvis BMW 507 was written about everywhere. The car is a veritable barn find and unfortunately in very sad condition. Actually, this vehicle should have found a long-term home in the BMW Museum, unrestored and as it was found. It is a pity to restore this unique sculpture to top condition and thus basically destroy the complete and visible history of the car. But BMW Group Classic takes a different view. After all, the patinated 507 was shown for a few weeks this summer in the special exhibition "lost & found " .
John Surtees, the only world champion on two and four wheels, still owns his 507, which he bought new in 1957. The car is in excellent original condition. John, still totally enthusiastic about the 507, looks after it in his small museum, where he displays three of his own racing cars as well as his motorcycles. Even at the age of 80, he still enjoys driving it around from time to time, of course with his wife in the passenger seat.
Personally, I wouldn't pay a huge amount more for a car just because some "celebrity" once drove it. Elvis only owned the 507 for a few years. Even Steve McQueen's Porsche 911 was not one of his racing cars with respectable successes and big palmares. From the outside, you can't immediately tell who has been behind the wheel. Otherwise, a Smart rental car from Hertz would immediately be worth a million just because Leonardo di Caprio, Mick Jagger or Michael Schumacher had rented it to drive from the airport to the hotel.
However, my sympathy for John Surtees puts all this in a completely different light and to call "his" car my own as a second owner would fill me personally with immense pride.
