THE BEST BIMMER.(News)(Column)

Byline: Matt Davis

Despite the vast number of choice motor cars produced during the company's lifetime-and the number of you who will have something to say about it-the 507 sports tourer is the finest car that will ever be produced by BMW.

The Series 1 507 was first put on public display as a prototype at the German motor show in Frankfurt on Sept. 22, 1955. Dutifully, I waited until that very date this year to arrange a drive at BMW's corporate hometown of Munich.

Where to start when effusing over a masterpiece? That shape is simply gorgeous. I get verklempt. Almost everyone who doesn't know what a 507 is will look at it and not recognize it as a German car, much less a BMW. Most citizens assume that it's Italian, maybe British, or even American.

This mistake by those unaware of the 507 is understandable. U.S. importer extraordinaire Max Hoffman was the driving force behind the eventual 507 we know and love. If it weren't for his strong opinions about what Americans wanted in a sports car-and the BMW board's eagerness to listen to him as an expert in the untapped American market-what we would have ended up with would have been much less attractive.

Hoffman went so far as to commission New York City-based German ex-pat designer Count Albrecht Goertz to create his vision for the 507 so that he could show those in Munich what they were missing. Happily, Munich dumped its previous plans and chose the Goertz-Hoffman version.

About the only universal complaint aimed at the Series 1 507 is that the space between the driver's chest and the steering wheel (and the consequent lack of legroom) forces anyone over five foot six to scrunch up tight. And, seeing as the 507 was the star of the first batch of BMW models created with the United States in mind, this ...