BMW 507s are very rare and, as such, coveted collectibles whenever one of them happens to emerge on the market. This seemed like almost the perfect recipe to find this 1957 unit a new home.
At the end of last month, a rare 1957 BMW 507 Series II in black, one of 15 ever made in this color, was listed with Bring a Trailer. At the time we covered the listing, bidding was already at $525,000 with 11 more days to go into the auction.
On the final day, after 36 bids, the last offer was of $1,957,507, which effectively makes this BMW the most expensive listing ever on the platform. Perhaps strangest of it all is that, despite this kind of impressive interest, the car still failed to sell because the reserve was not met. As of the time of writing, there’s a heated debate on whether BaT should implement a new policy in the case of RNM auctions, which would allow the seller to still sell the car.
Then again, as the saying goes, there’s always the next time. BMW 507s are not just famously rare, but also incredibly expensive, though it’s clear that, in this particular case, no one imagined it would fetch close to $2 million in offers. The fact that it no longer had the factory engine probably contributed to the initial low estimates.
Introduced in 1956, the 507 was supposed to take over the U.S. market by storm or, at the very least, that’s what importer Max Hoffman imagined would happen. Van Goertz designed the car after Hoffman’s specifications. Dreams of getting production up to 5,000 units a year were shattered by the high price of each unit, which understandably drove down demand.
In the end, a little over 250 units of the 507 were ever made.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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