BMW 503 - Styled by von Goertz

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We make no understatement when we rank BMW’s 507 among the best-looking sports cars of the 1950s. It was designed by Count Albrecht von Goertz, who was an independent industrial designer who had worked for the legendary Raymond Loewy on the latter's trend-setting Studebakers. Designer of everything from fountain pens to furniture, Goertz had never before styled an entire car. Yet he was commissioned by BMW to produce two different designs, the 507 and the 503. Both debuted in prototype form at the Frankfurt Auto Show towards the end of 1955. The 507 stole everybody’s heart, but the 503 which had a more conservative styling, wasn’t bad looking either. Expensive and exclusive, the 503 was built both as a closed coupé and a convertible, only 206 of the former and 138 of the latter being delivered between 1956 and 1960. We saw this 1956/57 example at Bonhams, who will offer it during their “Power by BMW” auction in Münich on October 1st. The front of this 503 coupé looks different from the original ones, because after some frontal damage in 1965, the then owner decided to make it resemble his Maserati 3500 GT Vignale. Like it or not, in our opinion it’s a very attractive BMW!

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