Carbon Black 650i Sport W/navigation, Heads Up Display & Comfort Access. on 2040-cars

Auto blog

BMW begins restoring Elvis Presley's 507 [w/video]

Imagine the King of Rock n' Roll driving a car and you'll likely picture a pink Cadillac or a yellow De Tomaso shot full of holes. But Elvis also owned a 1957 BMW 507 roadster, and now that roadster is returning home to BMW headquarters.
The 507 was a rare bird, of which only 254 examples were ever made. They were sold mostly to celebrities and royalty, but Elvis Presley was a GI when he bought it while stationed in Germany. The example that he bought had been displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, used as a press car and raced by Hans Stuck (which is how Elvis came to see it in the first place), so when he took delivery of it second-hand, the dealership had a new engine installed. It was originally white, but legend has it that Elvis got tired of women writing their phone numbers on the side of it in lipstick that he had it repainted in red.
Stories differ on what exactly happened to it next, with some saying that he returned it once the lease was up and other saying that the army shipped it back to him in the States after his tour was over. But what we do know is that the car sat for many years, neglected but sheltered from the elements. Now it's heading to the the BMW Museum in Munich, where it will be on display until August 10, after which the BMW Group Classic department will undertake a comprehensive restoration of the star-studded roadster that's expected to take two years of work.

Mini might build a sedan because it's running out of shapes

Rumors suggest we could soon see a Mini with a trunk to haul your junk. Autocar cites unnamed insiders who claim the sedan is part of the brand's plan for upmarket growth. There's even a possibility the new model could use the Riley moniker in reference to the Elf (pictured above) from the 1960s, which was a Mini with a tiny trunk. The Mini sedan would use BMW's front-wheel-drive platform that underpins the X1 and Clubman and might share the wheelbase and frontend styling with the Clubman as well, according to Autocar. Mini's execs think the four-door would perform especially well in North America and China, where there's less demand for hatchbacks. Ralph Mahler, vice president of Mini's product management, hinted at the possibility of the four-door to Autocar. "For example, in Asia and the US, the sedan segment is very big. This is very interesting to us, of course," he said. Mahler admits that many people don't know about the Mini-based vehicles with trunks from the '60s, like the Riley Elf, so it would be hard to market the new model on that heritage. This could be the perfect time to add a Mini sedan to the lineup, and it might not be a completely new idea for the brand under its BMW stewardship; a rumor from 2012 shows that Mini's bosses considered a four-door at least once before. The company launched new versions of its Hardtop, Convertible, and Clubman, and even added four-door and all-wheel-drive versions of the Hardtop to further blur the lines between that car, the Clubman, and the Countryman. The next-generation Countryman crossover should debut later this year, and the brand reportedly cancelled the Superleggera Vision roadster and Rocketman compact, as Mini has chosen to go big with its new models and its lineup breadth. There are only so many versions of a hatchback a company can make, and the short-lived Mini Coupe wasn't exactly a huge success. If Mini is going to try a new body style, a sedan actually makes some sense, even if we'll probably prefer the look and practicality of the hatches. Related Video:

2014 BMW M5 facelift shows up online

Is it that time already? Like its predecessors, the current BMW M5 has been endangering US licenses since it first went on sale here in 2012, but its design became a known quantity back at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Apparently that also means that the F10 generation has already grown tired enough to the "Must Have Latest Set" who can afford these sorts of super saloons that a facelift is in order.
If these leaked images sourced from Autocar are anything to go by, BMW stylists have used a predictably light hand to rework their hottest 5 Series, with a revised grille that echoes the M6 along with modestly resculpted headlamps. The rear end appears wholly unaltered. Interior changes gleaned from a look at the cabin photos include an updated touchpad-equipped iDrive controller and a new steering wheel cribbed from the M6.
No new word on changes to the 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 powertrain, but in late April, we heard that BMW was readying new competition packages for the M5 and M6. The packages are said to include 15 more horsepower, revised suspension and steering, along with new wheels and blackened exhaust tips. Given that BMW is known for habitually underrating its cars' horsepower outputs (particularly its M models) we can't help but wonder if its engineers will need to do anything other than wave a magic wand to corral those extra ponies underhood...