BMW roadster once owned by Elvis returns to Munich for restoration

From now until the 10^th of August, BMW Museum will run a 'Elvis' BMW 507: lost & found' exhibition, where visitors can experience the sports car of the King of Rock in its current state. The BMW sports car, a 1957 507 roadster, purchased by Elvis Presley when he served in the U.S. Army in Germany, will be fully restored following the exhibit. Wearing chassis number 70079, the car appears to be largely rust-free because it has been stored indoors for several decades.

Mere days after it rolled off the assembly line, the convertible was displayed at the 1957 Frankfurt Motor Show where BMW invited potential customers to test drive the car.

Due to slow sales, BMW commissioned former Auto Union driver Hans Stuck to enter chassis number 70079 in the ADAC-sponsored Schauinsland-Rennen race in order to demonstrate its potential.

Working in a position similar to a brand ambassador, Stuck was tasked to show the car to potential clients.

Apparently, Elvis first saw the 507 at the Montlhery track located south of Paris, France, in 1958 and leased the car in Frankfurt in December that year - fitted with a new four-speed manual transmission, a new windshield and a rebuilt 3.2-litre 150bhp V8 power unit. Interestingly, Elvis changed the exterior from white to Porsche Red because he was tired of women using lipstick to write their phone number and address on the side of it.

Elvis did not take the 507 with him when he returned home after his overseas stint in 1960, but the U.S. Army reportedly shipped the car to him. What happened immediately after it arrived in the States remains a mystery.

The car was later purchased by, Tommy Charles, from a Chrysler dealer in New York in 1962, who took the car to Alabama and fitted it with a V8 engine sourced from either Ford or Chevrolet, a Borg-Warner transmission and a General Motors rear axle.

Chassis number 70079 turned up for sale once again in Arizona in 1968, while a California based engineer, Jack Castor, purchased the 507 in order to restore it back to its former glory. In contrast, it wound up sitting in a warehouse next to other decrepit high dollar classics for decades on end.

Castor had the 507 shipped from California to Munich, Germany, earlier this month, where the car will be on display as part of a special exhibit until August 10^th, and it will subsequently be given a complete restoration by BMW's Classic department that is expected to take up to two years.