I hear ya, Bill! Let’s see, let me get out my best John Davis voice from Motorweek….
“Hellooow, and Welcome to Motorweek. Today we’ll be discussing the rarely featured and never heard of, BMW 507. A car renowned for it’s drop dead good looks, less than impressive performance given the day, and exorbitant price tag which let everyone know you definitely had more money than sense. Today’s example is a Feather White convertible that’s sure to put a smile on your face knowing you’ve spent more than what most people make in a year on a car that can be out paced by the finest autos 1956 Yugoslavia has to offer.”
{enter a driver haphazardly sitting in the seat rapidly and forcefully adjusting every knob, seat position, and convenience item the car may have} “We enter the interior to find an outdated dashboard reminiscent of the Tiger Tanks of forgotten lore. Unlabeled control knobs leave one wondering if they switched on the radio or operated the cigarette lighter, or perhaps actuated the ejection seat. Climate control is handled by a confusing arrangement of sliding knobs which creating a feeling of Christmas morning awe as you wonder where the conditioned air you selected will eventually come out of the dash from, if at all, and what temperature it may be. Once inside, the turn of a key and the hitting of an awkwardly placed starter button brings the BMW 3.2L OHV all aluminum V8 to life. Although not without its cold start idiosyncrasies which may remind some of a grumpy elder discussing times past with younger generations. We take to the road and are immediately impressed with the way BMW impeccably captured the handling characteristics of the Lusitania as it rounded Cape Horn in the choppiest of seas. Zero-to-Sixty time was a gasping 12 second excursion. Brakes are equally impressive with the stopping distance of a Freightliner resulting in our example coming to a halt in just 85 meters from a blistering sixty mile an hour speed. But all was forgotten when we pulled up to the first four-way stop on our Austrian back road drive as all stopped to stare at the gorgeous exterior and wave us on. Of course, not knowing the local traffic laws, one wonders why they were yelling whilst we pulled away smelling of gas from carburetors that leak worse than the Andrea Doria after the collision with the Stockholm that faithful day. BMW has a winner and it shows with an impressive sale of 252 units spanning four years.”
There. How’s that, Bill? Hmm..maybe I should make a narrative video of that!
Here’s some more assembly photos. I decided on getting a few parts chrome powder coated and am pretty impressed with the results. I do have some other parts I’ll be sending out to have traditional chrome done on them, but I’m very impressed with how these came out. While not as reflective as chrome, it’s more like polish aluminum. The wheels came out great and I’ll be painting the center portion body color next week and then the wheels go back on.
Suspension is all blacked out where as before on the prebuild it was chrome/shiny. This adds more of a stock appearance and doesn’t stand out as much. I blacked out the Mustang II crossmember and engine mounts as well so as not to detract from the rest of the car much like the original suspension appears.
Here’s a better closeup on the carburetor drip tray I hammered out. I’m mocking up the throttle linkage before I bolt the top end back on. This is the original 2x2 intake that I bought for the car and I formed the air cleaners to match the stock Knecht versions. These are slightly offset to allow proper spacing between the air cleaners. Overall, this is looking eerily close to the original engine. I had a remote oil filter mounted on the engine but I found a spin on filter that clears my suspension rack which eliminated the need for the remote filter. A good thing. And yes, the remote oil filter you see on the driver’s side engine bay is a dummy, like me! It’s for looks much like the fuse box, regulator, and relays all with fake wiring. I know, terrible….but convincing!
Wiring is routed yet not terminated and I’ll get the dash in later this month. I ordered another steering wheel which I will describe later. Overall, I’m happy with the improvements on my “Series II” which will allow for more correct looks and better driving. Here's a pic of the undercarriage with the exhaust heat shielding in place, just like original
No MCACN this year for me, Lynn. Work duties prevail and besides, the car won't be done by then but it should be done by early Spring barring upholstery. Perhaps next year? Doubtful. Bob took a lot of flak from this pile of scrap being front and center!!
More to come!!!
Cheers
Dave