BMW World Singapore

While the 328 paved the way for BMW's sporting activities, the Company's next two-seater sports car set new standards in design and elegance as of the mid-50s: the BMW 507.

When making its debut in New York in 1955 the 507 left both journalists and the public absolutely spellbound. The long and sleek engine compartment, the cockpit perfectly tailored to the driver and passenger, the short and muscular rear end, stretched side lines and gently sweeping curves gave the car absolutely beautiful, timeless design.

At the same time the 507 came with a brand-new, but nevertheless clear and impressive BMW face: The double kidney grille was now vertical instead of horizontal, sweeping elegantly between the headlights across the entire front end of the car. And the 507 also had a lot to offer within the engine compartment, boasting an aluminium V8 acknowledged to this day as the first light-alloy V8 in the world built in series production.

Finished in brilliant red, the sales brochure proudly presenting BMW's new eight-cylinder sports car promised truly outstanding performance: 150 hp from 3.2 litres and top speed of 220 km/h or 136 mph. And as an option BMW somewhat later also offered an upgraded version, delivering approximately 165 hp maximum output.

This truly exclusive car went to exactly 251 proud owners between 1956 and 1959. And not all of them wanted to enjoy this beauty merely as a café cruiser, racing driver and the "King of Hill-Climbing" Hans Stuck using a modified 507 in mountain races in Europe and winning a number of events in his eight-cylinder roadster.

With the roadster coming under increasing criticism in the '60s and '70s in terms of both safety and comfort, it took 29 years before the next roadster bearing the white-and-blue logo entered the market. This was the BMW Z1 launched - ahead of its time in technical terms - in 1988.

The body of the Z1 was a steel monocoque made of pressed and welded metal panels and with its plastic floor bonded into place. The entire outer skin was made up of plastic elements and panels likewise bolted on to the car, with the doors retracting on request into the high side-sills even while driving.
The 170-horsepower 2.5-litre straight-six power unit and most of the car's axle components came from the 3 Series. With the engine being fi tted behind the front axle, the BMW Z1 was a front mid-engined car, to use the technical term. Acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h came in less than eight seconds and the car's top speed was 225 km/h or 140 mph.

Through its extremely harmonious combination of materials and technologies, the BMW Z1, weighing just 1,250 kg or 2,756 lb, was a truly dynamic roadster still thrilling today in terms of stiffness, its low centre of gravity, and stability in bends. The first units of the car built largely by hand were delivered to customers as of January 1989, the base price of DM 80,000 - ensuring lasting exclusivity. Production of the BMW Z1 finally ended in June 1991, after a production run of exactly 8,000 units.

Entering the new millennium, BMW proudly presented a very special new model: the BMW Z8. With its sleek proportions, classic lines and soft folding roof, the Z8 was truly one of the most outstanding cars of its time through its looks alone. Measuring 4.40 metres or 173.2" in length, 1.83 metres or 72.0" in width, and 1.31 metres or 51.6" in height, this was indeed a modern interpretation of the former BMW 507.

Like its classic role model, BMW's new roadster offered the very best technology available at the time in automobile production. Within the outer skin bolted on to the car, a monocoque aluminium frame, that is spaceframe technology, provided the load-bearing structure and gave the driver and passenger an extremely direct feeling of the road and the driving experience.
Within its engine compartment the BMW Z8 featured a high-performance five-litre V8 sports engine delivering no less than 400 hp. Combined with a manual six-speed gearbox, this supreme engine enabled the driver to enjoy the utmost in performance at all times and under all conditions. Indeed, this superiority translated into equally clear facts and figures, the ambitious driver being able to lap the 20-km Nordschleife of Nürburgring in the Z8 in a remarkable 8:15 minutes.

Credits: Story and Photos by Raymond Lai