The BMW 507 Ultimate Build Thread!!!

[A12pilot]

Massive V8 power! Well... not really

Cheers
Dave

[PxTx]

Looks close enough to an LS valve cover to me.

[A12pilot]

I've come up with a chassis design based on watching the videos and still photos of Elvis' 507 restoration. The 507 has a 4 wheel torsion bar suspension with a solid axle rear. I have the front worked out by using my beloved Mopar setup, and for the rear, I'm contemplating just using a 4-Link coil over setup. The whole platform would be based 64 Valiant convertible. Dimension wise, it's almost spot on with the wheelbase being the biggest discrepancy. That can be remedied by moving the rear frame rails forward. The entire unibody would look very similar once I add front steel wheel wells, trunk and hood gutter frames, and modified firewall. I'll post up once I finish the drawing/ plans.

In other news, bought the first part for it! Gently used 1957 caps!

Cheers
Dave

[A12pilot]

Chassis design is complete. It's a homologous concoction of no less than four cars that will bring the unibody construction striking similar to the factory 507's structure. Best part? It should satisfy everyone on the board since it'll encompass parts from all of the Big 3!

The front chassis, rear frame rails will be 67-70 Mopar A-Body for the torsion bar suspension, then transitioning to a late 70s Mercedes SL convertible rear tub section, with GM AD series truck front door jambs (almost identical to the 507s) and GM A-Body wheel wells. Firewall will be custom, A-Pillar will be custom made surrounding the correct 507 windshield so dimensions stay true to the original design. That's three makes, but what about a Ford part to complete the big three American car companies?? Glad you asked! Modified Mustang seat pan risers on the floor! See?? Everyone is offended equally!

Already figured out powerplant, transmission, and rear axle selections too. Biggest challenge on this project is mainly finding 507 specific parts but I'm planning on fabricating most myself and using eerily similar readily available donor parts from other makes and models for others. Door handles, mirrors, tail lights, wheels, seats, and several other parts are already on the list and bought. Assembled in it's entirety..... unless placed next to a factory 507... the plan is to not know that this is Chassis #DM507001 and not a factory original!

Is this a daunting project? Sure! Will it be a colossal failure? Probably! But will it be fun to watch this Andrea Doria sink to the bottom as that Stockholm slowly approaches?? Of course it will!!

More to come.....
Cheers
Dave

[markinnaples]

Wow Dave, your ambition is wild and with the skills to follow up with it, pretty amazing stuff.

[A12pilot]

Thanks, Mark! It'll be a fun one to build. I met a 507 owner who's willing to let me crawl all over his car for photos and such when needed. He's really intrigued by the project since he says he'd love to own one he can actually drive without fear of something happening to his on the road. Come on, stupid house and shop!!!! Holding everything up!!!!!

Cheers

Dave

[markinnaples]

This should be really interesting to watch. You need to figure out how to bottle your energy and enthusiasm and sell it, then you could buy any car you want!

[firstgenaddict]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Hey Dave:

Between my brother and I we have owned over 60 bimmers over the years, but not one V8. 4, 6 & 12. So, I am far from a BMW V8 expert, but can help a little. BTW, not that many on this site would care, but a BMW car is a "bimmer" and a BMW bike is a "beemer".

Have always loved the 507. It was more expensive new than the Mercedes Gullwing cars (but has not kept up since then price wise). Did not sell that well, and almost bankrupted BMW.

Yes, the 4.0 liters had issues, but it was related to the high sulpher content of US market gasoline in the early 90's. It would eat away at the hard coating applied directly to the cylinder walls. BMW repaired a lot of those engines, even ones that were well past the warranty period. They also changed the composition of the coating either mid 95 or mid 96, and all the later engines are free from that malady.

If you source a decent engine, I would try to get the wiring harness and ecm with it. Nothing to program, and parts are easy to get. Even a very well kept 740i is ridiculously cheap when it is 15 to 20 years old. Even better if you can find one that has been recently hit. Just buy the whole car and you will have everything you need.

I would look for something like 98 to 2004 range.

With that little car, you won't need outrageous power to have fun.
Maybe we can start a new forum for totally non muscle car build threads. You can do this one, Eddie already started on the Ferrari, and I have a tube frame chassis, aluminum body replica of a Ferrari 250 GTO (body is about 80% done) that wil be gettin a Ferrari V12 and 5 speed.

oh Boy... where is the GTO thread Lynn?
I love Aluminum bodied sports cars... even more so when they are under the Prancing Horse... What Livery?

However I am looking forward to this...
I thought about doing a 850 with a newer M5 power plant... the 850 weighed entirely too much though, it would need a MAJOR diet.
Then I saw a gray market C55 AMG... Yes... they made them for Europe, the car was under 5k and was running driving and titled registered in South Carolina. 400HP in the C class... I missed the car and then didn't reconsider the BMW project.

[PxTx]

I'm really looking forward to following along. Previous threads have been fun, but this is exciting and a bit over the edge. Thanks for sharing and good luck!

[Lynn]

Originally Posted by firstgenaddict

oh Boy... where is the GTO thread Lynn?
I love Aluminum bodied sports cars... even more so when they are under the Prancing Horse... What Livery?

However I am looking forward to this...
I thought about doing a 850 with a newer M5 power plant... the 850 weighed entirely too much though, it would need a MAJOR diet.
Then I saw a gray market C55 AMG... Yes... they made them for Europe, the car was under 5k and was running driving and titled registered in South Carolina. 400HP in the C class... I missed the car and then didn't reconsider the BMW project.

I will start a thread when the time comes. I believe by 2020 I will be starting in earnest. That project is one of the reasons I am rehabbing that old warehouse into a shop. Possibly sooner, but keep finding things to occupy my time. Sorry for the hijack Dave.

I will be following this thread for sure. Had a guy approach me back in the 80s. He wanted to build replica 507s but wanted to use the big six running gear. At the time, BMW was not even producing V8 engines. I passed as I figured it would be hugely expensive, and a very limited market. On the other hand, I think Dave is spot on with this approach.