Desirable Cars
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Desirable BMWs

BMW lost money on every single 507 it built. It planned to sell 5,000 a year at $5,000 each — but production costs nearly doubled the price, and the company sold barely 250 in total.

Beauty That Outlasted the Balance Sheet

Few cars have such a stark gap between their commercial story and their lasting reputation. American importer Max Hoffman convinced BMW to build an affordable rival to the Mercedes 300SL, but the hand-formed aluminium bodywork and genuine engineering behind the 507 pushed its real-world price close to double the original target, and American buyers spoiled for choice on cheap V8 power simply didn't bite. BMW lost money on every one of the roughly 250 examples eventually built, contributing to losses severe enough that the company was only saved from bankruptcy by a capital injection from industrialist Herbert Quandt.

Elvis Presley bought two of them while stationed in Germany with the US Army, later giving one to his Fun in Acapulco co-star Ursula Andress — the kind of glamorous ownership that's helped turn a genuine commercial failure into one of BMW's most valuable classics, with an example once owned by F1 champion John Surtees selling for just over $5 million in 2018. Below is the model we've covered so far.