The car featured in the latest Petrolicious film is without a doubt, one of the biggest stories of the year in the classic car world, not only because of its incredible rarity but also because it was owned by Elvis Presley himself.
In fact, this particular BMW 507 was considered long lost for decades before it was finally traced, stored without a powertrain in the hands of car collector Jack Castor. BMW Group Classic then took the car back to Germany to perform one of the most difficult and interesting restorations from the ground up.
“The car was normally white, and all his fans made kisses with lipsticks on the car, so he was mad and he painted the car red after that,” said Klaus Kutscher, Restoration Expert at BMW Classic.
The King had also swapped the original 3.2-litre engine for a Chevrolet V8, which required cutting the frame and installing new driving gauges on the dashboard. “The dashboard was cut and they had other instruments also in the car. They cut the frame. The car was painted twice, then black, and then after that again in red.”
You can read the whole fascinating restoration story of this historic and beautiful BMW 507 Roadster over at BMW Group Classic’s dedicated website here, after watching the video linked below.