Background: Around '72 or '73 (I was 9 or 10), I remember my dad putting his BMW up for sale with an ad in The Washington Post. He sold the car, but in the process, I remember that several people called him in response to his ad to tell him there was no such model as the one he was offering for sale. I asked him, just today, what model of BMW that was. He responded this evening:
Aye, and then there was the 1800TiSa. . . . . . which some consider the very first Motorsport car. It is the only BMW ever to come from the factory with 45DCOE Weber carbs! But tell your dad that before the Neue Klasse cars---the 1500, et al---the company staved off bankruptcy with a pretty cool little two-seater: the 700. . . .
Wait a minute...in last month's Roundel there was an article about and older gentleman (who has since passed-on) who came to the US with a car he used to race in Germany back in the 50's...was THAT the 700?? The writer of the article chronicled his racing days with the car, where the car has been since, and how he acquired the car with the hopes of restoring it. Supposedly that car saved the company from being bought by Mercedes (HORRORS !), if I recall correctly.
Hopefully you're familiar with the Neue Klasse forum here: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewforum/f,19/
The 700 and the Neue Klasse 1500 Don't confuse the late-50s/early-'60s cars with the post-war "Baroque Angels," the 501/502 sedans which were still being built into the 1960s. Those were huge, bulbous, hideously expensive sedans, well beyond the means of mere mortals (which is also why the 507 sold in teeny-tiny numbers) The 700-Wikipedia does a pretty good job on them here-followed the Isetta and the 600. The Isetta was built under license, and did keep the doors open. But the 700 sold quite well, and the 1500 series put BMW well on the road to prosperity. Be careful: Once you become interested in BMW's history, the complex tangle of money, drama, and politics is addictive!
Here's a pretty decent 700 http://bringatrailer.com/2010/10/31/stored-20-years-1962-bmw-700-s-cabriolet/
I had an english class with a 10 page essay as a final project. I chose to write about the history of BMW and ended up with an 18 page essay that I couldn't bear to cut anything out of got me an A in my class though so that ain't bad
Oh not an issue...the only question I had was about which car actually "saved BMW" from the scrap heap/bankruptcy/takeover/whatever. The first posts in this thread mentioned the 1500 doing the job and I thought I had read that the 501/502 post-war thingys did the trick. God it sucks gettin' OLD - not that we would know, eh?! Duly noted...but I could use a story or 2 of someone ELSE's money/drama/politics for once! God knows I'm sick o' my own...
Dad is 72 and drives an E46 M3 Cabrio. He says he'll give it up "when you pry the keys out of my cold, dead hands."
1800 My first BMW was a '68 1800, looked just like the picture above, white. Bought it in '72, sold in '74 to buy a '72 2002. Freude am Fahren...
