A fabled BMW 507 once owned by Elvis Presley, has been found and restored to Concours condition by BMW Group Classic. Driven during his military service in Germany in the 1950s, the legend of Elvis and his cars had begun. The car was discovered after it was feared to have vanished forever for a period of over 50 years. The original white paint job was resprayed in lipstick red to solve the issue of female fans scribbling notes in lipstick on it.
Elvis replaced the car with a Chrysler in New York after his service in Germany, the car was sold for the ridiculous price of $4500 dollars to radio moderator Tommy Charles, who went on to race the 507 successfully in numerous races including Daytona, which by then had been swapped for a Chevrolet engine and gearbox.
Space engineer Jack Castor had taken ownership sometime later, using the car as a daily driver then into storage with the intent of restoring it. Castor had put together a thorough record of the car, it's history, repairs, and photos; a full dossier. It was only after a meeting and visit by a writer working with Bimmer magazine when the possibility of this being the fabled 'Elvis 507' was discussed. After some forensics and research, Chassis No.70079 was indeed found to be the genuine article. BMW Group Classic had heard of this unbelievable find and set to work.
The car was sent to Munich, carefully disassembled, stripped down to the bare metal; structural reinforcements were made to restore rigidity and overall integrity. The original 3.2 litre V8 was refurbished to new conditioned and reunited with the car after 50 years. It was reconditioned to exact manufacturer specifications right down to the original paint color of Feather White.
The BMW 'Elvis 507' will be on view at Pebble Beach Concours this month on August 21st.