Yahoo Finance Elvis Presley's Old BMW 507 Has Been Restored to Perfection
Remember when BMW purchased a haggard old 507 that once belonged to Elvis Presley? After two years of work, the car is now fully restored and headed to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance later this month. As with any good celebrity owned classic car, Elvis's old BMW has an interesting story to tell.
This 507, chassis #70079, was actually raced by famed driver Hans Stuck for a few months before it ended up at a BMW dealership in Frankfurt. Elvis was stationed as a soldier in Germany at the time, saw the 507 at the dealer and bought it immediately. The car was originally painted white, but Elvis had it painted red-after discovering that young ladies would write their phone numbers on the car in lipstick wherever he went.
Elvis sold the 507 when he returned to the U.S. in 1960, and it ended up with a racer who installed a small-block Chevy V8 in place of the BMW's 3.2-liter V8. From there, it ended up with California collector Jack Castor, who kept the BMW in storage from the late-1960s to 2014, when he sold it to BMW.
Over two years, BMW put the car through an extensive restoration back to its original factory specification. Apparently, BMW Group Classic had to fabricate many parts from scratch, since there are virtually no spares for the limited-production 507. BMW even 3D-printed the window cranks and door handles.
Castor passed away a few months after he sold his 507 to BMW, but as part of the sale he requested that the company restore it to its original condition. That's why the car wears its original shade of Feather White, and not Elvis's red.
If you want to see the King's old roadster, head to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Sunday August 21st.
