When asked to name the most beautiful car in the world, the answer always revolves around the same contenders. Some prefer the Jaguar E-Type, while others consider the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. Other cars that vie for the beauty crown include the Aston Martin DB5, Ferrari 250 GTO, and the Lamborghini Miura. BMW is represented by this one, the 507. While I prefer the roadster with the hardtop, the open-air version is nearly as stunning.
The 507 roadster is exceptionally rare, as BMW made only 251 units. This wasn’t because the company intended to limit production. Instead of the initially projected $5,000 sticker price, the car cost around $9,000, making it obscenely expensive. Later in its short life cycle, the price rose to $10,500. BMW had planned to sell about 5,000 units a year, but pulled the plug after only 251 were built.
Even though celebrities like Elvis Presley, Hans Stuck, and John Derek owned one, that wasn’t enough to persuade wealthy customers to spend so much on a luxury grand tourer. The one we photographed this weekend at the 2025 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is on another level of exclusivity. It’s the only car painted yellow from the factory.
Initial reports stated that BMW delivered the car in gray and that it was later resprayed yellow at the request of the owner’s wife. However, the German luxury brand is confident that the vibrant color was how the car was originally ordered. A short-lived product, the 507 was manufactured between 1956 and 1959 in Bavaria. During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, rival Mercedes was producing the gorgeous 300 SL Roadster as a follow-up to the Gullwing coupe. You can imagine the 507 had a tough time competing.
It’s believed that BMW lost money on every 507 it sold. Things were so dire that the two-seater convertible nearly bankrupted the company due to its high production costs. Although a commercial failure at the time, these cars are worth millions today. BMW estimates that roughly 100 examples have survived.
Here’s what BMW says about why the 507 was a beautiful failure:
“The problem was that the people who had the money to buy one were still far too few in number, and customers in the key export market of the USA were already spoiled for choice when it came to power and displacement; even sober old family cars had an eight-cylinder engine under the hood stateside.”
