1959 BMW 507 Series II

It would indeed have been a shame if BMW had confined the use of its first V8 engine range merely to its saloon cars of the 1950s. Had that been the case, the world would have been denied what is arguably the Bavarian marque’s finest post-war sports car—the glamorous, high-performance 507.

The V8, the work of BMW chief designer Dr. Fritz Fielder, had first appeared in 2.6-liter form in the 502 saloon of 1954, offering impressive performance and fine roadholding courtesy of all-independent torsion-bar suspension. The first BMW convertible to use the V8, however, was the large and rather conservatively styled 503, using the same chassis and running gear as the 502 saloon, and for which the V8’s capacity was increased to 3.2 liters with a power output of 140 bhp.

It was at the 1955 Frankfurt Show that BMW introduced the 507, a svelte and beautiful two-seater roadster styled by Count Albrecht Goertz. Again based on the 502 but employing a...