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Profile BMW 507

BMW 507 Soviet control and as such irretrievably At the Frankfurt International Motor volume production engines. This 100

lost. There could be no thought of build-
Show in the autumn of 1951, BMW took
horsepower engine debuted in 1954
ing motorcycles, let alone aero-engines, the wraps off a large black saloon with a under the bonnet of the BMW 502, and
The design classic. in Munich for the foreseeable future. strikingly curvaceous body: it was the at the same time there was talk of creat-
The stopgap production of items such BMW 501, soon dubbed the “Baroque ing a large sports car. Under the man-
as cooking pots, hardware, agricultural Angel” for its sweeping curves. A mas- agement of racing designer Ernst Loof,
The BMW 507 Roadster ranks among the most significant and implements and a handful of bicycles sive box-type frame and a six-cylinder a first up-and-running prototype
valuable cars in design history. From its inception, it was regarded signalled a modest revival. But when the engine with detail improvements com- emerged. The bodywork lines were con-
as one ofthe mostbeautiful cars ofall time. With a production run of first motorcycle – based on a pre-war pared with the pre-war power unit of the sidered too conservative, however, and
just 251, it was a short route from rarity to coveted classic. model – was proudly unveiled at the end 326 made this an imposing car, but not a it was rejected. On the suggestion of
of 1948, thoughts began to turn to new modern or even typically dynamic BMW luxury car importer Max Hoffman in the
cars as well. Yet despite several model. At the same time, however, USA, BMW was persuaded to engage
attempts, it was not a timely small car attempts were made to design a V8 New York-based industrial designer and
The years following 1945 proved more dramatic for BMW in that would be the first post-war produc- engine which leaned heavily on contem- Raymond Loewy pupil Albrecht Graf
Munich than for any other of Germany’s major car manufactur- tion model to sport the blue and white porary American designs but was con- Goertz. He duly delivered sketches for a
ers. The entire car production plant in Eisenach was under company logo. structed of light alloy in a world first for ravishing roadster. The first bodies were