There’s something very calming about watching a team of experts restore a lovely old car. Whether it’s a classic Ferrari that’s sure to bankrupt the wrenchers or a stop-motion rebuild of a Range Rover, restoration projects occupy my favorite corner of the internet. If you’re of the same opinion, then this film of a classic BMW restoration will be right up your street.
The process of removing and re-upholstering old seats or stripping back the bubbling paint on a vintage car is always incredibly satisfying to watch, and this footage documenting the restoration of a lovely BMW 507 roadster is no exception. The added intrigue with this clip, however, comes when you find out who the car’s old owner was: Elvis Presley.
That’s right, we’ve got another excellent project to resurrect one of the King’s vehicles, following in the footsteps of this RV build that repurposed Elvis’ abandoned private jet. This time, the classic BMW isn’t being turned into anything outlandish, and instead the car is being brought back to its former glory.
Ready for concours
The eagle-eyed among you may remember that BMW already restored an old 507 that belonged to Elvis to show off at car shows back in 2016. This isn’t a second 507 that once belonged to the King — it’s the same car, and the rebuild is documented in a new film from the Frame YouTube channel that shows off the meticulous attention to detail that goes into reviving a vintage BMW.
The film, which you can see for yourself above, starts with the rusting frame of a 1958 BMW 507 that Elvis owned for around two years while stationed in Germany during his military service. In order to bring the car back to its 1950s condition, the BMW team begins by stripping back the bodywork and removing the interior.
The roof, hood, trunk and seats are easily unbolted and removed, before drills and precision tools are brought in to remove stuck fasteners and rivets holding the rest of the car’s old panels in place. Once freed, the front and rear bodywork is taken away for cleaning and repairs.
Sixty years and counting
This just leaves the chassis of the car, which Frame explains is corroded and damaged thanks to the car’s near-60 year life on the road. To begin restoration of the chassis, engineers at BMW dip the frame in a boiling alkaline solution to strip away the worst of the corrosion.
Once the frame is patched up, workers start on the new and restored panels to prep them to fit back onto the chassis. It’s a process that involves lots of measuring, cutting and shaping by hand to perfect the smooth curves of the 507 and ensure that the bodywork looks as good as it did in the 1950s.
Once the chassis is repaired and primed, engineers fit these pristine panels onto the car, and it all starts taking shape once again. The next task is to paint the exterior back to the car’s original white finish, instead of the red color that it came into the shop with.
A few finishing touches
All that’s left then is to finish up the interior, which is completely re-upholstered by BMW’s team after years of neglect. Black leather trim is applied to the doors and surrounds, while the seats are given a lovely black and white covering – making them look a bit like comfortable Oreos.
Finally, the Chevy V8 that was in the car when BMW got its hands on it is ripped out and burned, I assume, before BMW fitted one of its own V8s under the hood. The unit it went for is a 3.2-liter motor that produces around 150 horsepower.
With the beating heart of the car back in place, the process draws to a glorious close. The finished car looks fantastic, and went on to live out its days at prestigious car shows around the world as you’d expect. To watch the entire satisfying process unfold for yourself, head here.
