BMW 501 BAROQUE ANGEL 'BAUR' CABRIOLET

STORY

The vehicles built from 1952 to 1964 are known as “Baroque Angels” because of their curved lines.

The development of the new BMW car for production in Munich began in 1948. In addition to the design by the former director of the Eisenach plant, Peter Szymanowski, based on the technical basis of the pre-war BMW 326, there was also an alternative, very modern design by Pininfarina, of which a prototype was built. In the end, however, the BMW 501 with Szymanowski's body design was built.

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The representative vehicles were very expensive for the post-war period, with prices ranging between 11,500 DM (501, as of July 1956) and around 22,000 DM (3.2 litre Super, 1960–1963), so that in the almost twelve-year production period only a little more than 23,000 units were sold, including around 280 convertibles (all engine types) and coupés with bodies by Baur in Stuttgart and Autenrieth in Darmstadt.

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The prestigious but loss-making BMW eight-cylinder models 502/503/507 were one of the reasons why BMW was almost taken over by its main competitor at the time, Daimler-Benz, at the end of the 1950s. However, this was prevented by small shareholders at the 1959 Annual General Meeting. The industrialist Herbert Quandt played a major role in the restructuring of BMW with his considerable financial and personal commitment.