1955 | BMW 502 Sport
502 Sport Cabriolet
$410,015
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1955 | BMW 502 Sport
502 Sport Cabriolet
$410,015
1955 | BMW 502 Sport
502 Sport Cabriolet
$410,015
Dealer
Description
Description
The chassis was built on 15 November 1955 and delivered to the Bahnhofgarage in Baden-Baden. The car was driven in the Ruhr region for several years until it was dismantled for restoration. It then remained for a very long time at Lake Chiemsee in dismantled but primed condition. The “frame-off” restoration was completed in 2011. The vehicle inspected is a BMW 502 Autenrieth Sport Cabriolet, delivered in 1955, with vehicle identification no. 59085. The vehicle was restored at the Martini company on behalf of the previous owner.
The BMW 501/502 was a luxury-class passenger car. From 1952 to 1964, BMW produced the 501 models with two-litre six-cylinder engines, as well as the 502 and 506, or 2600/3200, models with 2.6- or 3.2-litre lightweight-alloy V8 engines. The sweeping body design of the prestigious saloon soon became known as the Baroque Angel. With prices ranging from DM 11,500 (501, July 1956) to around DM 22,000 (3.2-litre Super, 1960-63), the vehicles were very expensive for the post-war period, so only slightly more than 23,000 units could be produced over the twelve-year production period, including approximately 280 convertibles and coupés with bodies by Baur in Stuttgart and Autenrieth in Darmstadt. The BMW 507 (roadster), the BMW 503 (coupé or convertible) and the BMW 3200 CS Bertone were also based on the chassis of the 502 with its 3.2-litre V8 engine. Fire brigades and the police used the BMW 501/502 as emergency-response and patrol cars (known from the television series Funkstreife Isar 12 with Wilmut Borell and Karl Tischlinger). The Binz & Co. coachbuilding works in Lorch (Württemberg) built a comfortable ambulance based on the 502 on behalf of the Bavarian Red Cross, but it remained a one-off.
Series production of a Pullman saloon was planned; it was presented as the BMW 505 at the 1955 motor show in Frankfurt. This 5.10-metre-long car, with a partition and intercom between the passenger and driver's compartments, a fold-out writing table, drinks bar, etc., was intended to compete with the Mercedes-Benz 300 as a “state limousine”. However, after Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer continued to prefer the Mercedes, the BMW 505 did not enter series production; it remained limited to two show cars. Adenauer is said to have taken a test drive in the large BMW with a chauffeur, but bumped his hat while getting in. He apparently did not like this, and the Chancellery did not place an order.
The six- and eight-cylinder models were one of the reasons why BMW was almost taken over by its principal competitor at the time, Daimler-Benz, in 1959. This was prevented at a dramatic shareholders' meeting by minority shareholders and the principal shareholder Quandt, who later received a BMW 3200 CS Cabriolet in thanks. BMW recovered economically through the success of the Isetta, the BMW 700 and the “New Class” (BMW 1500) introduced in 1961. The catalogue “The Car Models 1963/64” (Vereinigte Motor-Verlage GmbH, Stuttgart) has the following to say about the last “Baroque Angels” (502 and 3200): “As impressive as the performance are also the smoothness, balance and elasticity of the eight-cylinder engines. Of course, one can hardly call them excessively economical (note: approx. 15 l/100 km), but experience shows that this plays only a minor role in this class of car. The buyer of such a prestigious automobile all the more appreciates the solid and sturdy workmanship, which nowadays can only be found to this extent in rare exceptional cases. In keeping with its exterior form, whose appeal understandably provokes widely differing opinions, the car also appears rather conservative inside. Nevertheless: there is far more space than one might suspect from the outside, and there is little to criticise in terms of comfort or more modern equipment.”
Source: WWW.100jahre-baur.de/chronik.php History of the development of the Firno body construction BAUR GmbH, Stuttgart
+The vehicle inspected is a BMW 502 Autenrieth Sport Cabriolet, delivered in 1955, with vehicle identification no. 59085.
Overview of BMW 501 and V8 series BMW V8 Club
Autenrieth
The Swabian Georg Autenrieth was born in 1881 and recognised his passion for coachbuilding and vehicle construction at an early age. After working for NUS, he founded his first company as early as 1912 and initially produced vehicle bodies on behalf of FIAT and NSU. Despite the fact that the Darmstadt company never advertised and built only to order, its customer base steadily grew. As all vehicles were individually designed and built, Autenrieth was one of Germany's most exclusive coachbuilders for a long time. Autenrieth was a coachbuilding company that manufactured passenger-car bodies in Darmstadt between 1921 and 1964. In the first decades of automobile production, up to the period before the Second World War, it was common for passenger cars to be fitted not only with bodies supplied by the manufacturer but also with bodies from specialised external coachbuilders. One of the better-known German companies was Georg Autenrieth, founded in 1921 in Weinsberg near Heilbronn and based since 1925 in Darmstadt, Feldbergstraße 72. In response to individual orders and customer requirements, it built saloons, coupés, convertibles and special bodies on chassis from various well-known pre-war automobile manufacturers such as Adler, Audi, Horch, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, NSU and the Röhr works located in Ober-Ramstadt (near Darmstadt). BMW vehicles were also bodied as early as the 1930s. At the end of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s, the first small-series convertibles based on the KdF-Wagen, the later VW Beetle, were also produced.
This description has been automatically translated. Original language: German.
Condition & Registration
Condition & Registration
- Condition category
- Authentic
- Historical license plate
- Registered
- Ready to drive
Self assessments
Engine (Seller assessment)
★★★★★
Paintwork (Seller assessment)
★★★★★
Interior (Seller assessment)
★★★★★
Technique (Seller assessment)
★★★★★
Inspection Report
Grade 2.25
Inspection Report
Grade 2.25- Report available
- Condition grade
- 2.25
- Report provider
- Kukuk / Schwadorf BVSK
Condition grade2.25
Technical Details
Technical Details
Vehicle data
- Make
- BMW
- Model series
- 502
- Model name
- 502 Sport
- Manufacturer code
- Typ 502
- First registration date
- 11/1955
- Year of manufacture
- 1955
- Mileage (read)
- 63,000 km
- Chassis number
- 59085
- Engine number
- Not provided
- Gearbox number
- Not provided
- Number of owners
- Not provided
Technical details
- Body style
- Convertible
- Power (kW/hp)
- 118/160
- Cubic capacity (cm³)
- 3168
- Cylinders
- 8
- Doors
- 2
- Steering
- Left (LHD)
- Gearbox
- Manual
- Gears
- 4
- Transmission
- Rear
- Front brakes
- Drum
- Rear brakes
- Drum
- Fuel type
- Petrol
Individual Configuration
Individual Configuration
- Exterior color
- Brown
- Interior color
- Beige
- Interior material
- Leather
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