The BMW 507 is one of the most utterly beautiful cars BMW has ever made and it’s one of the best looking grand touring cars of its era. In fact, it’s one of the best looking grand touring cars of all time. The only problem with the 507 is that it’s not exactly easy to find. BMW didn’t make many of them and most of the ones that still exist are imprisoned in collectors’ hermetically-sealed garages. Which is why when one comes up for auction, it usually fetches big, big bucks. Especially when it was previously owned by an interesting person, such as this 1957 example which was owned by Formula One racing legend John Surtees.
Surtees bought his BMW 507 brand-new in 1957, after seeing the BMW engineering director at the time driving one. He bought his in a stunning silverish-blue color and has owned it ever since. However, Surtees’ 507 is a bit different from others, as he has his slightly modified by BMW. After owning it for a little while, he felt that it wasn’t as fast, nor stopped as well, as the car he test-drove. So he asked BMW to remedy that and the fine Bavarians obliged him by giving it a bit more power and torque and four-wheel disk brakes. Although, no specific power output has been given.
Now, Surtees’ BMW 507 is going up for auction by Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. According to Bonhams, the 507 is likely to fetch over €2-million. Not only is this a very pretty example but it’s been especially tuned by BMW and was owned by a former F1 driver. So, yea, it’s going to be a very expensive car. Is it worth it? That’s hard to say but it sure is a tempting car. If I had a smooth 2-million euros to burn, this upcoming auction would be a dangerous one for me.
[Source: Road & Track]
