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Mysterious, alluring, the most valuable 507 in the world
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The car is an icon for the BMW history. Mysterious, alluring and valuable
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Its appearance, it's breathtaking. It may be hard to believe, but this beauty spent decades rusted
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decades rusting in a California pumpkin shed. Now, thanks to its previous owner, it's the most valuable BMW in the world
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And just whose car was this? That's right, the king himself, Elvis Presley
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Elvis bought this 1957 BMW 507 from a racing driver while on military service in Germany
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When Elvis left the army in 1960 he sold the car to a drag racer in the United States and it returned to the track In 1968 the now battered BMW found itself in the care of car fanatic Jack Castor
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who had no knowledge of the vehicle's famous previous owner. Jack doesn't care about Elvis whatsoever
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I got the feeling that he wasn't a fan of Elvis in the slightest
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Jack takes it off the road with the intention of restoring it. He accumulates a BMW V engine for it
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He accumulates the proper ZF transmission for it. All kinds of little details
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But Jack never got round to restore in the car. He put 77079 in storage in a pumpkin warehouse in Pescadero
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And it sat there for 30 years. The story of Elvis's missing 507 became somewhat of a legend
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and automotive journalist Jackie was determined to find it. An ordinary 507 is really a $1.2 to $1.5 million car
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But with the Elvis Association it suddenly becomes the most valuable 507 in the world Jackie got her break when a friend of Jacks read about the quest to find the missing car
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Jack sends me an email. Then we go down to the pumpkin warehouse where he has the car store
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It was a moving experience. It was the thing that I had been looking for at this point for four years
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But this 507 had seen better days. We'd take the tarp off
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And the car is in intact but rough shape. You can see that the car had been white
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overpainted with black and then red again. And why repaint it red
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Elvis had the car repainted in red. Girls, of course, were crazy about him
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And they would leave lipstick messages and lipstick kisses all over his white car
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which of course drove him crazy trying to keep it clean. Then, the news Jackie had been waiting for
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BMW confirmed that it had been Elvis's 507. With the previous owner confirmed Jack was offered a staggering million for the car But instead of taking the money he decided to return to send her
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The state of the car, when it came to the restoration, was pretty bad in nearly all aspects
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The framework was rusty. The body itself was rusty itself. In fact, the engine bay was empty when we got the car
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Before there was a Chevrolet engine installed. On the back of the car, we had a big dent
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and the trunk wasn't even able to be closed. The interior of the car, and especially the dashboard
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have been considered as very beautiful all the decades long. There was an energy that was present when that car rolled out for the first time
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and no one had seen that car effectively since 1960-something. Sadly, Jack passed away before restoration was complete
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but he left the BMW to the museum. So now, car fans and Elvis fans alike can pay Hamash to the king of 507s
