There’s one thing very calming about watching a staff of consultants restore a beautiful outdated automobile. Whether or not it is a basic Ferrari that is certain to bankrupt the wrenchers or a stop-motion rebuild of a Vary Rover, restoration tasks occupy my favourite nook of the web. Should you’re of the identical opinion, then this movie of a basic BMW restoration might be proper up your road.
The method of eradicating and re-upholstering outdated seats or stripping again the effervescent paint on a classic automobile is all the time extremely satisfying to look at, and this footage documenting the restoration of a beautiful BMW 507 roadster isn’t any exception. The added intrigue with this clip, nevertheless, comes if you discover out who the automobile’s outdated proprietor was: Elvis Presley.
That is proper, we have got one other wonderful venture to resurrect one of many King’s automobiles, following within the footsteps of this RV construct that repurposed Elvis’ deserted personal jet. This time, the basic BMW is not being became something outlandish, and as an alternative the automobile is being introduced again to its former glory.
Prepared for concours
The eagle-eyed amongst you could keep in mind that BMW already restored an outdated 507 that belonged to Elvis to indicate off at automobile exhibits again in 2016. This is not a second 507 that when belonged to the King — it is the identical automobile, and the rebuild is documented in a brand new movie from the Body YouTube channel that exhibits off the meticulous consideration to element that goes into reviving a classic BMW.
The movie, which you’ll be able to see for your self above, begins with the rusting body of a 1958 BMW 507 that Elvis owned for round two years whereas stationed in Germany throughout his army service. So as to carry the automobile again to its Fifties situation, the BMW staff begins by stripping again the bodywork and eradicating the inside.
The roof, hood, trunk and seats are simply unbolted and eliminated, earlier than drills and precision instruments are introduced in to take away caught fasteners and rivets holding the remainder of the automobile’s outdated panels in place. As soon as freed, the entrance and rear bodywork is taken away for cleansing and repairs.
Sixty years and counting
This simply leaves the chassis of the automobile, which Body explains is corroded and broken due to the automobile’s near-60 yr life on the street. To start restoration of the chassis, engineers at BMW dip the body in a boiling alkaline answer to strip away the worst of the corrosion.
As soon as the body is patched up, staff begin on the brand new and restored panels to prep them to suit again onto the chassis. It is a course of that entails a lot of measuring, slicing and shaping by hand to excellent the clean curves of the 507 and be sure that the bodywork seems nearly as good because it did within the Fifties.
As soon as the chassis is repaired and primed, engineers match these pristine panels onto the automobile, and all of it begins taking form as soon as once more. The following job is to color the outside again to the automobile’s authentic white end, as an alternative of the pink coloration that it got here into the store with.
A couple of ending touches
All that is left then is to complete up the inside, which is totally re-upholstered by BMW’s staff after years of neglect. Black leather-based trim is utilized to the doorways and surrounds, whereas the seats are given a beautiful black and white masking – making them look a bit like comfy Oreos.
Lastly, the Chevy V8 that was within the automobile when BMW obtained its fingers on it’s ripped out and burned, I assume, earlier than BMW fitted certainly one of its personal V8s below the hood. The unit it went for is a 3.2-liter motor that produces round 150 horsepower.
With the beating coronary heart of the automobile again in place, the method attracts to a wonderful shut. The completed automobile seems implausible, and went on to reside out its days at prestigious automobile exhibits around the globe as you’d count on. To look at the whole satisfying course of unfold for your self, head right here.
