One of the most spectacular classic car discoveries of recent times is now making a brilliant comeback. The BMW 507, which the US musician Elvis Presley, already known as the "King of Rock'n'Roll", drove during his military service in Germany and which was subsequently considered lost for almost 50 years, is returning to the limelight.
BMW Group Classic will present the roadster, which has been restored to its original condition after almost two years of intensive work, to the public for the first time on August 21, 2016 at the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach, California. Visitors to the popular classic car show will be presented with the BMW 507 with chassis number 70079 exactly as it was when Elvis Presley took delivery of it on December 20, 1958: with a paint finish in feather white, the 150 hp V8 aluminum engine under the hood, central locking rims, black and white interior and a Becker Mexico radio.
A dream project
"The opportunity to bring the BMW 507 of the King of Rock'n'Roll back to us in Munich and restore it here according to the wishes of the previous owner Jack Castor was a dream come true for everyone involved," says Ulrich Knieps, Head of BMW Group Classic. "This was an exceptionally fascinating project, the result of which not only fills us with great pride but would certainly also delight Jack."
The exhibition of the unrestored find at the BMW Museum in summer 2014 had already caused a stir among classic car enthusiasts, but also raised questions: Was this really once Elvis' BMW 507? And will it even be possible to actually turn the roadster back into a 1950s gem?
From "Return to Sender" to "It's Now or Never"
In fact, the condition of the two-seater gave cause for concern. Although the original body and add-on parts were almost completely intact, the roadster had lost its engine and gearbox. The rear axle was a "spare part" of unknown origin, rust was gnawing at the floor assembly, the seats were worn and the dashboard was missing. But above all the shortcomings stood the fascination of a rare and beguilingly beautiful automobile and the memory of Elvis Presley and his greatest hits. While the roadster's return to Munich had been under the motto "Return to Sender", the motto now was "It's Now or Never". Under the auspices of BMW Group Classic, a reconstruction was carried out for which not only in-house experts but also external specialists were consulted and the result sets new standards for the restoration of a BMW 507.
Looking back, both the story of Elvis' BMW 507 and the story of its restoration are pure rock'n'roll: as thrilling as the "King's" hip swing, energy-sapping, emotionally stirring and full of surprising twists and turns. It not only tells the story of the young GI Elvis Presley, but also of the experienced "mountain master" Hans Stuck, of kissing mouths on white paint, of a retired aerospace engineer and arbis warehouse, a Chevy engine that is far too big, rubber coconut mats and 3D-printed door openers and window cranks. And it begins three years before the "King" entered service with the US Army in Hesse.
A myth among rarities: The BMW 507 of the "King"
With only 254 vehicles built between 1955 and 1959, the BMW 507 has always been one of the most exclusive and sought-after rarities in the brand's model history. Immediately after its world premiere at the 1955 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, the two-seater designed by Albrecht Graf Goertz was celebrated in the press as a "dream from the Isar". Celebrity owners such as Alain Delon, Ursula Andress and John Surtees contributed to the roadster's image as a status symbol, but no other example of this model is surrounded by as many myths as Elvis Presley's BMW 507. It was considered lost for almost five decades, and at one point it was not even clear what chassis number the car driven by the "King" had, whether Elvis Presley had it transferred to the USA at all after completing his stationing in Germany and into whose possession it later changed hands.
All these mysteries have now been solved, thanks to the experts at the BMW Group Classic Archive and the US journalist Jackie Jouret, who works for the magazine "Bimmer" in California. Back in 2006, she combed through contemporary reports on Elvis' BMW 507 as well as relevant literature on the history of this model and came across an important detail. Various sources indicated that the BMW 507 delivered to Elvis Presley in Germany was not a new car, but had previously been used by racing driver Hans Stuck. The motor sportsman known as the "Bergmeister" won several hill climb races in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between May and August 1958 - in a white BMW 507 with chassis number 70079 and registration number M-JX 800.
It is also known and documented by photographs that this roadster, which rolled off the production line on September 13, 1957 and was exhibited a few days later at the Frankfurt Motor Show, was used several times for press test drives. Hans Stuck presented the car at the London Motor Show in October 1957 and then traveled to the motor show in Turin via Belgium, where he presented the Roadster to King Baudouin. And that was not all: in the summer of 1958, Stuck's BMW 507 won the automobile beauty contest in Wiesbaden and appeared in front of the camera at the Bavaria Film Studios for the movie "Hula-Hopp Conny" with Cornelia Froboess and Rudolf Vogel.
"Used car" for Elvis
This very vehicle - carefully serviced at BMW after every use and having undergone an engine overhaul and gearbox replacement in the meantime - was delivered to a dealer in Frankfurt in the fall of 1958, who gave it to the then 23-year-old US soldier Presley for a test drive. The "King" was immediately impressed and decided to buy the car.
Photos taken during the vehicle handover show that the BMW 507 already had a transfer license plate at that time. It was later given an annually changing US military registration. Not least for this reason, identifying the vehicle decades later proved to be complicated. The experts at the BMW Group Classic Archive only achieved absolute certainty when they came across the insurance application from December 1958, in which the chassis number 70079 was listed alongside the owner Elvis Aaron Presley.
Loved in Germany, radically modified in the USA
Elvis Presley used the BMW 507 to drive between his home in Bad Nauheim and the US Army Base in Friedberg, always observed and often almost besieged by female fans who left their lipstick-covered love messages on the white paintwork of the roadster. These signs of affection were not unusual for a rock star, but they were unpleasant for US soldier Presley. The problem was solved by repainting the vehicle in red.
Elvis Presley finished his military service in Germany in March 1960. He must have lost the joy of driving an open-top BMW on the highways back home. Because just a few months later, the now red roadster with chassis number 70079 turned up at a Chrysler dealer in New York, who sold it to radio presenter Tommy Charles for what today would be a ridiculously low price of 4500 dollars.
Charles transferred the car to his home town of Birmingham in the state of Alabama, where it began a career that was successful in sporting terms but rather questionable in terms of authenticity. In preparation for racing, the BMW 507 was fitted with a Chevrolet engine, which took up so much space that parts of the front frame had to be cut out. The gearbox and rear axle as well as the instruments in the cockpit were also replaced. Charles won a race in Daytona Beach/Florida with the radically modified roadster, and then competed in several more races before selling the vehicle in the course of 1963.
Two more changes of ownership followed and finally brought the BMW 507 to California. The aerospace engineer Jack Castor acquired the car in 1968, initially drove it sporadically in everyday traffic and then decided to store it for later restoration. In Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, Castor, a passionate collector of historic bicycles, also amassed a considerable collection of classic cars over the years. He was involved in several classic car associations and was intensively involved in the history of the vehicles he acquired.
The "Holy Grail" in the pumpkin warehouse
Castor also compiled an extensive dossier on his BMW 507. One day, the now retired engineer came across the article in "Bimmer" magazine. Castor wrote to the author, told her about the BMW 507 he owned with chassis number 70079 and invited her to view the vehicle. He was aware that he owned the former racing car of "Bergmeister" Hans Stuck, but until then he could only speculate about a connection to Elvis.
For Jackie Jouret, on the other hand, the matter was clear. She accompanied Jack Castor to a warehouse for pumpkins, where the red BMW 507 was stored alongside other old vehicles. "Jack had tied his hood down with ropes," the journalist recalls the moment of discovery. "It was a while before we got to the engine compartment and discovered the stamped frame number: 70079, the Holy Grail of BMW serial numbers."
For the planned restoration of the roadster to its original condition, Jack Castor had already collected a large number of parts carefully stowed away in boxes. What was missing was a suitable engine and the time to tackle the project consistently. But now things were starting to move. Jackie Jouret made contact with BMW Group Classic, where new information was gathered about the identity of the BMW 507 used by Elvis Presley in Germany, which could be used to confirm the evidence researched in the USA.
Jack Castor was not interested in turning the unexpected additional fame of his BMW 507 into quick cash. However, contact with BMW Group Classic was intensified. After several years and many discussions with the experts for classic car restorations at BMW Group Classic, Klaus Kutscher and Axel Klinger-Köhnlein, an agreement was reached. In addition to the acquisition of the vehicle by BMW Group Classic, it also included the authentic reconstruction of the vehicle according to Castor's ideas.
From the container to the museum - and from there to the workshop
The time had come in spring 2014. The BMW 507 was transported to Germany in a container together with the spare parts collected by Castor. The first stop in Munich was the BMW Museum, where the roadster was presented to an amazed public as part of the special exhibition "Elvis' BMW 507 - lost and found". Restoration work then began in the BMW Group Classic workshop.
Phase one was - as is usual with such projects - primarily of a destructive nature. The vehicle was completely dismantled, which in this particular case took a whole week instead of the two days originally planned. The first step was to separate the aluminum body from the sheet steel floor assembly. This was the only way to preserve as much of the original substance as possible.
The floor assembly was then stripped in an acid bath and the body in a lye bath. Prior to this, the chassis and the entire, fragmentary interior had already been dismantled.
Because even the BMW Group Classic has limited stocks of original parts for the BMW 507, many components had to be manufactured from scratch. Traditional 1950s-style craftsmanship was combined with today's high-tech production processes.
The dashboard was recast according to the original pattern. The leather upholstery was created exactly according to old photos and catalogs. When rebuilding the seats, the original steel underframe could be reused after careful rust removal. A rubber coconut mat was then pulled over the steel springs. This natural material was also used as standard in the BMW 507 in the 1950s, as were the layers of felt and linen laid over it to optimize seat comfort.
Window cranks and door openers were reproduced using a state-of-the-art 3D printing process based on the original dimensions. An existing original component was first scanned in three dimensions and 3D printable data was generated from the scan. The faithful replicas were then additively manufactured and polished to a high gloss.
The sealing rubber of the tank deck, on the other hand, was produced using conventional manufacturing methods. As this component has also fallen victim to the ravages of time on many other BMW 507s, a small series was immediately produced. Roadster owners can now find a replacement in the BMW Group Classic parts store.
The BMW 507 returns
The engine for Elvis' BMW 507 was completely rebuilt from individual parts. The 3.2-liter V8 engine was created exactly according to the original specifications of the BMW 507, but was not given an engine number due to the unavoidable but otherwise unusual mixture of old and new parts.
The front frame member, which was once cut out, also had to be reproduced in its original geometry and integrated into the floor assembly. The material and workmanship of the wooden nail strip for attaching the soft top is also entirely in keeping with the style of the 1950s.
Maximum authenticity was also the focus of the vehicle's paintwork. The BMW 507 now shines again in spring white. The primer, filler and top coat were not applied using today's standard methods, but in a process that corresponds to the technology used around 60 years ago. This avoided the excessive color brilliance that is desirable today but inappropriate for classic cars.
Just like the rebuilding of the V8 engine and the use of original parts and manufacturing processes, the choice of paintwork also corresponds exactly to Jack Castor's specifications. From the very beginning, he had the reconstruction of the roadster in its original delivery condition of 1958 in mind.
However, his wish to see the BMW 507 through the eyes of the "King" remained unfulfilled.
Jack Castor died in November 2014 at the age of 77. He is therefore also being commemorated in Pebble Beach. The BMW 507 on display there for the first time is not only the car of the "King", but also Jack Castor's legacy and a masterpiece of BMW Group Classic.
