BMW 503, the 507's forgotten sibling, could be yours for £140,000

The BMW 503 was a larger and more conservative looking car than the 507, a luxury grand tourer next to the two-seater sports car, but still with the V8 under its bonnet. In coupe form (it was also available as a convertible) the 503 shared the spotlight with the 507 at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show. 

Or at least it tried to: not much gets close to a 507 for looks now, and it didn’t then, which is why the 503 was destined to live in the sportscar’s shadow. The 503 had one great fan in 1955 however: it is said that Pinin Farina declared it to be the most beautiful car in the show.

Despite the wildly different styles of the twin BMWs, the cars were born of the same father – the designer Count Albrecht von Goertz – and were based on the 502 saloon with its all-alloy 140bhp 3.2-litre V8 engine. The 507 sports used a short wheelbase chassis, the 503 GT the standard length in order to provide 2+2 accommodation.

The count – an industrial designer who had worked with Raymond Loewy at Studebaker – was commissioned by BMW to design both prototypes. It was a leap of faith because he had never designed an entire car before. First time lucky or what? He did, of course, go on to design more great cars, including the forerunner of the Toyota 2000GT. 

After the ’55 show, both BMWs were put into production but with their alloy bodies and state-of-the-art engines they were expensive and neither sold as well as BMW had hoped. Two hundred and fifty-two 507s were made, 344 503s, comprising 206 coupes and 138 convertibles.

Only three 503 coupes were ever made in right-hand drive, two survive and the car for sale is one of them. It’s complete with floor-change (some have column change) and Dunlop disc brakes, and display what’s said to be fantastic patina and rude mechanical health. This car was in the same family ownership from 1961 to 2010. 

Price? Well, its better-known other half these days sells for seven-figure numbers, but not so the 503. Coys has a presale estimate of £120-140,000 on it (that cool number plate is extra by the way). It’s surely a small price to pay to hear so many people say: what on earth’s that?

The car is being auctioned by Coys at its sale during the Olympia Historic Automobile Fair at Olympia in London, on February 18^th. See the catalogue here: http://www.coys.co.uk/coys-olympia-2017