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For starters, it is really beautiful in the flesh. In 1956 it must have been stunning, unless it was parked next to a Gullwing. The proportions are ideal, the surfacing superb, and the details timelessly elegant. The engine starts well enough when cold (totally different when very hot) and the gearbox action instils confidence. There is no American-style V8 burble, just a technical, clean, Germanic engine note which never becomes intrusive. So far, so good. It doesn’t accelerate as well as one may expect, getting to 100 kph in about 12 seconds from standstill, and its top speed is around 200 kph, but I doubt many current owners have experienced that. Steering is heavy and vague, and while the car can be hustled along a mountain road, it requires skill and doesn’t flatter the driver. At least the suspension is supple and soaks up bumps pretty well. The controls are nicely weighted, but that only serves to emphasize other, more negative characteristics.

Stodgy, clumsy, not exactly conducive to spirited driving, the BMW 507 is not a driver’s car, but as a poseur’s car, a cruiser, a boulevardier, it is quite credible. Yeah, I know Hans Stuck raced one and won his class at a hillclimb in 1958, but Hans Stuck had won hillclimbs in the deadly V16 Auto Unions, and he could drive anything with wheels on it faster than anyone else. So his sole win means nothing for mere mortals.

But the appeal of a sports car lies not in the fact that an extremely gifted professional driver can drive it fast, but that any buyer can feel like a hero while driving it. And in that respect the 507 is definitely underwhelming. The wooden brakes (all but the last few cars had four Alfin drum brakes) need a proper shove to decelerate the car, and at speed the chassis feels average for the period. Granted, it’s safer for an inexperienced wheelman than a Gullwing, but also because the Mercedes arrives at corners more quickly plus it overwhelms the senses with the abundance of stimuli. In comparison the 507 appears almost anaesthetized, and, to me at least, boring. Yes, the look over the hood and fenders compensates that to a degree, but it’s much worse to drive than to look at. Apologies if I shatter someone’s dream, but that is my opinion. A Gullwing, on the other hand, is much more challenging to drive, especially to drive fast, actually dangerous, but once you get into a groove in it, it feels better than the outlandish looks suggest. Haters, hate me all you want. (to be continued).

Most people today connect the iconic BMW 507 with Elvis Presley, who owned one, recently restored to its former glory, and with some unspecified golden age in the history of the Munich-based brand. In fact that beautiful car was a commercial disaster, wasn’t too good to drive and that period in the history of BMW was one burdened by doom and gloom…

During WWII BMW did not really build cars, as in those days a ministry told the industrialists what it wanted them to manufacture, sometimes making for very strange bedfellows (Mercedes built Opel Blitz trucks for a while). With its aviation engine production capacity growing (it acquired the Bramo company) it was told to develop and produce as many airplane motors as it could. While developing the arguably best radial engine of World War II, the BMW 801 of Focke-Wulf Fw-190 fame, it also worked on jet engines and managed to start the production of one, the 003, before hostilities ended. That engine did not contribute anything of importance to The Reich’s war effort, but captured engines taught the war winners a lot, especially the Soviets. BMW also produced its excellent motorbikes for military use, and that was that.

My personal favorite BMW product from the war era is the incredible BMW 803 piston engine, intended for heavy bomber aircraft, including the so-called Amerikabomber. It had four rows of seven cylinders each, 28 in total, driving twin counter-rotating propellers through a special gearbox. The engine’s capacity was a scarcely believable 83.5 liters, it had sodium-filled exhaust valves, direct fuel injection and supercharging, and developed almost 4000 hp with a dry weight of around 3 tons. In 1944. It never found practical use, and at that time jet and turboprop engines were already considered more future-proof. The only surviving example is on display at the Deutsche Flugwerft in Schleissheim near Munich, a branch of the Deutsches Museum (next to many other totally unique things to see), and is a monster of complex technology and lateral thinking, so typical of the German aviation industry in the 1940’s. Too complicated to succeed under war conditions, but beautiful as a concept.

Right after the war BMW almost ceased to exist. Its main carbuilding facility in Eisenach found itself under Soviet occupation, and the Soviets told their tame East Germans who had officially all been anti-Fascists (a statistical impossibility) to restart production. This they did, and, using the undamaged tooling and the stock of parts, began to turn out brand new cars like the 327. BMW was too weak for its protest to be heard, but after a while the Soviet masters told their GDR puppets to change the name to “EMW” so as not to cause further conflict with the West. In East Germany this was common practice, as factories were taken over, Horch vehicles were produced until the parts lasted, the Wartburg two-stroke car was created using 1930’s DKW technology, and the Robur truck was a mildly restyled Phänomen. Because the American occupying forces did not permit BMW to restart vehicle production, it resorted to making pots and pans, and thus contributed to the rebuilding of Germany and its subsequent economic miracle. The Munich facility, which used to make aircraft engines, was reduced to rubble and very little could be salvaged. Nevertheless the BMW management persevered, and kept begging the Americans for permission. In the changing political climate this was granted, and in 1948 the production of the R24 motorcycle commenced. BMW was back in the game.

It was alive, but only just, and had no car to build. One of the managers tried talking to Ford and Simca to produce their vehicles under license, which would pay for factory tooling, but the talks got nowhere. Germany was poor and BMW’s chief engineer, Alfred Böning, believed a cheap car was the answer: the motorcycle engine-powered 331 looked like a scaled-down prewar BMW model, but the board did not approve it for production. It was vetoed by the former banker and Opel plant manager, Herr Grewenig, who believed, correctly, that for a while BMW would not possess a large enough factory to efficiently produce a cheap car while making money on it, and he pushed for the creation of luxury automobiles which could be made in small numbers and with a more sizeable profit margin. He won in the end, and he had Böning design the BMW 501.

This car, powered by a 6-cylinder engine, a development of a design before the war, was delayed, too heavy, underpowered, and cost as much as an average German earned in four years, not exactly a recipe for commercial success. The bodies were built at subcontractor Baur in Stuttgart, because of delays to in-house facilities, thus adding to the cost. The 501 was updated after a while, and in 1954 a parallel model was introduced, the 502, with a new, 2.6 liter V8 engine, designed by Bőning and Fiedler (the same Fiedler who was instrumental in the creation of the 328 before the war, and who earlier had gone away to work for Bristol Cars in England). Sales of the 501 and 502 were finally healthy, but insufficient for the company to develop. The next stage of BMW’s history involves Max Hoffman, the same former Austrian Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealer who sold cars on the East Coast of the United States, so important in the history of Mercedes and Porsche. In those days influential car importers could actually have a say in what car makers built, especially people like Max Hoffman and Luigi Chinetti, people with a strong track record in sales. People who made trends, not waited for them.

Max Hoffman, buoyed by the success he generated with the 300SL Gullwing and the 190SL Mercedes, suggested that BMW take advantage of the new trend for fashionable sports cars and produce a coupe based on the 502. He felt sure that if it cost 5000 dollars or below, he could easily shift thousands in the US. BMW decided to take the plunge, but the 503 coupe proposal, a four-seater using a lot of 502 carryover parts, was deemed by Hoffman not to be radical enough. He did not like what the factory was working on, so he suggested that his friend, Albrecht Graf von Goertz, a disciple of Raymond Loewy, submit his refreshingly different design. His work was approved for production as the 507, and both the 507 and 503 were introduced to the public in the same year 1955, the 507 in New York, and the conservative 503 in Frankfurt. Unfortunately for the beautiful 507, the expected US sales never materialized, as Hoffman, having learned the car cost twice as much as the initial estimate, more than the 300SL, withdrew his huge order. BMW produced only 252 (or 253, depending on who you ask) 507 roadsters between 1956 and 1959, and even such owners as Elvis Presley (whose car surfaced recently) would not persuade the buyers to part with their money. The car was practically handmade, hence very expensive, its 3.2 liter V8 engine only developed 150 horsepower, and its performance was inferior to that of British cars imported to the US. At the same time the demand for motorcycles, the staple of BMW income, tumbled, and the 500-series of sedans were no longer selling in numbers which would guarantee profit. 1959 was a year of huge losses, and of despair.

Today the BMW 507 is no longer associated with the worst year in the company’s post war history, and most people have no idea what BMW did before the X5 anyway. They just automatically assume it was always making piles of money on cars that sold like hot cakes. The 507, whose styling elements surfaced on the Z3 and the Z8, is now a fantastic investment, with cars reaching well over 1 million dollars at auctions, and recently exceeding 2 million. If you have one in your garage, it can only grow in value. If you don’t, it’s unlikely you will get a chance to try one, so let’s talk about how it drives. (to be continued)

H.R. Owen Lamborghini hosted a number of its customers for the road trip of a lifetime; a seven-day, 1400-mile tour of picture-perfect Italian countryside and coastline in a range of Lamborghini performance icons.The line-up of Aventadors, Huracans and even a Diablo were led throughout the tour by Lamborghini’s new Urus. On the final leg of the official Lamborghini Italian tour, cars gathered in the picturesque town of Saturnia, with the sound of the naturally aspirated Lamborghini engines echoing throughout the region’s vineyards. From there, they headed south along the stunning coastline towards Rome, and into the Lazio region. Built on top of Lamborghini’s four-day ‘Official Italian Tour’, the H.R. Owen extended experience included an additional four days and 900 miles of driving, taking in some breathtaking roads in Italy and France.

H.R. Owen began their Extended Tour by leading cars north for the Italian Alps, and the beautiful lakes and valleys of Piedmont, taking on some of the region’s most exhilarating mountain passes. Up into the mountains, the rumbling V10 and V12 engines of the Lamborghini cars bounced off the flint walls and into the valley, until the group reached more than 9,000 feet above sea level at Cime de la Bonette. To complete the trip, the unique convoy then tackled the final stretch of the epic journey, into the famous Gorges du Verdon and on the Descente Gréolières featured in the opening sequence of Goldeneye, before heading south to the French Cote d’Azur. 

Today both versions command high prices, and a number of Zagatos are always being offered for sale somewhere, be it at a dealership or at an auction. In order to learn more about their idiosyncrasies I turned to a true expert, Roger Bennington, former rally driver, racing driver, long time Aston Martin Lagonda dealer and owner of Stratton Motor Company Ltd. (strattonmotorcompany.com), who made a car available to us for photography. As he recalls, when the first deliveries of the Zagatos reached the eager customers, who had paid £97,000 each for their cars, other people tried to buy them immediately, offering up to £250,000! Cars started to change hands for stupid money, Bennington recalls, who has been an Aston Martin dealer since 1976, and they were being put into storage, which was a pity, as they were tremendously good to drive. As it happened, there were cars on the market with 7 owners in the paperwork and zero mileage. Before 1990, Zagato coupes reached a high of £600,000, and Volantes even £750,000. Exorbitant prices, and they didn’t last. They tumbled down, and at one point Volantes could be had for £50-60,000, coupes for £65,000. And nobody wanted them. 

However, as Bennington tells me, people who had driven them, loved them. “Once you’ve driven a Zagato, you know it’s phenomenal”, he says with a twinkle in his eye. “Light, responsive, and a lot quicker than a standard-bodied X-Pack.” The former Triumph works rally driver who still races GT cars knows what he is talking about. “The Zagatos should have been painted and trimmed at Newport Pagnell”, he insists. But he also tells me that a profit was made by Aston Martin on each Zagato produced. “Unique Astons are an exceptionally good investment, but they should not be bought with the heart; every car needs to be professionally looked at.”, says Roger Bennington. “Take the car to a specialist involved with those cars when they were new, so they can assess how much needs to be spent on it. There are half a dozen people in the UK who are capable of that.”

Since about two and a half years ago Zagato prices have been going steadily up, with cars with no special history reaching easily over £500,000. They are now liked, as they must have grown on a number of collectors. As Bennington remarks, speaking obviously from experience, “over time any Aston will appreciate. Their prices go down and up with the economy, but always displaying a slight constant increase”. Asked what to look for in a Zagato coming up for sale, Bennington immediately mentions the paintwork. It was not done in Italy to the same standard as in Newport Pagnell, and at this age it usually needs to be redone, however this must be budgeted for, as it does not come cheap: it requires at least 250 man-hours for the respray to AM standards plus at least 40 man-hours for rust improvements and sill repairs (sills go rusty underneath). The sum required is in the region of £25,000. As opposed to the paintwork and interior trim, all mechanical and electrical parts are by Aston, and pretty much bulletproof. 

The engine was the same as the one in the V8, in theory. The V8 had been fuel-injected between 1969 and 1973, but the system was unreliable, and prompted a return to carbs. The Vantage engine had bigger carburetors than the regular one, and at the time Aston did not publish official power output figures (Bennington estimates the power output of Vantage Zagatos at 425-430 hp, higher than what is usually quoted). In 1987 the excellent Weber-Marelli fuel injection system was introduced, and it enabled the bulge-free engine cover on most Zagato Volantes. All Zagato engines, like X-Pack Vantage engines, are incredibly reliable, but if one really needs a rebuild, possibly due to maintenance having been neglected, one must not take any shortcuts: a proper rebuild by one of several specialists has to cost around £30,000. The manual gearbox with a dogleg gear arrangement was a 5-speed by ZF and it came from a light commercial vehicle. Noisy but very strong, it was installed in the majority of Zagatos. The automatic transmission was a Chrysler TorqueFlite, basically the same as used on the Jensen Interceptor. A modification was found in the US in the form of a low-stall torque converter, and conversions were sold to clients by Aston dealers. This gearbox, properly maintained, is also very reliable. Brakes are not up to the rigors of consistent high-performance driving, and upgrades were often installed. On another Vantage Zagato, which in his hands had covered over 10,000 miles, Bennington installed different rims which permitted a better airflow around the brakes: the original Speedline wheel is very beautiful to look at, but miserably bad in that respect. 

My conversation with Roger has revealed that the car is fantastic to drive, much less fragile mechanically than one might expect, and a sound investment if properly assessed prior to purchase. My own conclusion is that it is that rare beast in the classic world, where it actually drives so well that at least some of the current value seems justified. And please allow me not to mention the cleverly disguised Citroen CX door mirrors…

The angular Aston Martin V8 Zagato is not a car which people point to when asked to identify their favorite supercar, most regular folk don’t know what it is, and Bond never drove one. Enough reasons to make it unpopular with the general public. There is, however, a sound reason why it’s growing more popular with collectors: over time it has become an exceedingly good investment.

It all started at the Geneva Motor Show in 1984, when by pure chance Aston Martin’s stand found itself next to Zagato’s. Victor Gauntlett started wondering if a limited run of Zagato-penned Astons would sell, and AML owner Peter Livanos walked over to the Ferrari stand to see the stampede of people trying to catch a glimpse of the limited-production 288 GTO. Another crowd gathered at the Porsche stand, where the 959 was being previewed for the second time (the first was at the previous year’s Frankfurt show). Another limited production run, potentially bringing in shovelfuls of cash to Zuffenhausen. The memory of the stunning DB4 GT Aston, a Zagato masterpiece, was still very much vivid, even though two and a half decades had passed. The AML chairman sat down with Elio and Gianni Zagato, and proceeded to discuss the possibility of building a visually fresh supercar on the existing V8 Vantage chassis. The mechanicals were by then getting a bit long in the tooth, and it was obvious to all the participants, in what must have been an epic discussion, that a lighter, more streamlined solution was required. Gauntlett remembered a special lightweight Vantage mule displaying some promising performance, but the engine seemed to be developed as far as it would go (with hindsight, the wrong conclusion…), and to get orders from people who could order any supercar in the world the new Aston had to be much faster. The Geneva show ended, and a preliminary agreement had been reached.

In July an Italian delegation traveled to Newport Pagnell to present an early sketch and to discuss the economic side of things. Gianni Zagato was accompanied by Giuseppe Mittino, his chief stylist. The angular, sleek concept was approved in principle, and both AML and Zagato agreed that a production run of about 50 cars would strike a perfect balance between the initial investment, the necessary tooling costs, the “limited production effect” and profitability. Already in March the following year a finalized styling sketch was ready and it was made public. Prospective customers were invited to place deposits in order to secure their orders. They did so on the basis of Mittino’s styling sketch alone. No mockup was made, no full scale model, nothing but the sketch. All 50 cars sold easily by the end of August, 1985, but before that happened, Gauntlett chartered a plane which flew customers and dealers to Italy, so that they could see the first prototype being built. That kept them happy for many months.

Full-scale drawings of the car were made ready, and attachment points for the new body were engineered. The body was mounted on what was basically a standard V8 Vantage X-Pack chassis, preserving the same wheelbase, but the carburetor stack made its impossible to clear the low-slung engine cover, and a bulge was necessary. Some critics still today contend that it is unsightly, while I believe it actually made the car appear more muscular and more powerful. Most of the body panels were hand-formed out of aluminum on a wooden body buck, with the nose and the rear bumper fashioned out of a GRP/Kevlar composite with a polyurethane foam filling with steel reinforcements. The windows were all mounted flush with the body to improve aerodynamics, and only a small section of each side window could be lowered in order to hand in parking tickets and so on. The roof had a subtle double bubble shape, a Zagato signature styling cue, and there are various Zagato logos on the vehicle, including the front fenders behind the wheels, on doorhandles and a special Aston Martin Zagato badge on the trunk lid. The car had a stereo and air conditioning as standard, but the majority of the interior trim was designed by Zagato in such a way as to keep the weight down (the car’s kerb weight was 1650 kg).

Chassis were shipped from the UK to Zagato, where the bodies were built, painted and trimmed, and then the complete cars were shipped back. If anyone sees a similarity to the fate of the much later Cadillac Allante, no, this wasn’t a similar disaster, this process was well planned and actually still produced a profit. The car was powered by the 410-horsepower Vantage motor with quadruple Weber carbs, driving the rear wheels via a 5-speed ZF dogleg gearbox and an LSD. The customers were told the car would reach 300 kph (187 mph) and that it would run the 0-60 mph sprint in 4.7 seconds, although real-life performance tests never seemed to get quite the same figures (although they got close to them). The aerodynamics, however, were excellent, with a drag coefficient of 0.32 confirmed in the Southampton University wind tunnel (the rear spoiler was functional and resulted from the same research). Braking was handled by 273 mm vented discs at the front and 263 mm inboard discs at the rear. The elegant rims were made by Speedline and shod with Goodyear Eagle 255/50 ZR16 rubber. Two cars were prepared for competition and were raced, one of them by Rowan Atkinson. Both survive.

52 cars were built in total out of the planned 50, therefore resale value was not affected by the manufacturer diluting the breed and giving in to temptation to sell more units (the car retailed for £97,000). As customers were still asking to be permitted to order a car after the order book closed, the decision was taken in November, 1986, to produce a run of 25 convertible Zagatos with less powerful engines in order not to affect the value of the existing coupes. The car, which was to be offered at £125,000, was manufactured in precisely the same manner as the preceding coupe, with small differences: Newport Pagnell sent complete rolling chassis units to Zagato, where they received additional bracing under the waistline to compensate for the lack of the roof (allegedly the torsional stiffness was better than that of the coupe!), the body and interior trim was built up, and the complete cars returned to England for fuel system flushing and test drives, plus a valeting to prepare them for the handover to customers. They were powered by regular (not Vantage-spec) V8 engines, equipped with the Weber-Marelli injection system, hence no need for the engine cover bulge. The convertibles, called “Volantes” in Aston-speak, had a different nose with pop-up headlights, fully retractable side windows, a plastic rear window and a tonneau cover. Each weighed in at 1782 kg, and with the 305-hp engine their performance was more leisurely than that of the coupe: 0-60 mph in 5.5 seconds, and the top speed was equal to 249 kph (155 mph). In total 37 V8 Zagato Volantes were built, including two prototypes. Some cars later received the front of the coupe and the bulged engine cover, however, to keep marque archivists busy, plus bigger capacity engines, some were modified into Vantage Volantes by the Works Service at the additional charge of £30,000 each.

Porsche has unveiled the new 935 race car on the occasion of “Rennsport Reunion VI” at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in California. Featuring a body reminiscent of the legendary Porsche 935/78, the 700-horsepower competition vehicle will be produced in a limited number of 77 units. The race car’s technology is geared towards clubsport events and private training on racetracks. It is based on the street-legal 911 GT2 RS high-performance sports car. Like its historic predecessor, most of the body has been replaced or supplemented by carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) parts.

The spectacular aerodynamics are a completely new development, and pay tribute to the Porsche 935/78 Le Mans race car, which fans dubbed “Moby Dick” due to its elongated shape, massive fairings, and white base color. The distinctive wheel arch air vents on the front fenders, which also are a feature of the Porsche 911 GT3 R customer racing vehicle, increase downforce at the front axle. Many exterior details are a salute to successful vehicles from the company’s motor racing history: The aerodynamically enhanced rims echo those of the 935/78, with the LED rear lights on the rear wing endplates adopted from the 919 Hybrid LMP1 race car. The side mirrors come from the current Le Mans-winning 911 RSR, with the exposed titanium tailpipes modelled on those from the Porsche 908 from 1968. The new Porsche 935 can be ordered now from 701,948 Euro plus country-specific VAT. Customers will receive their vehicles from June 2019 at exclusive delivery events.

Finally the dates of the 2019 Goodwood Revival and Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard have been revealed by the organizers:

Festival of Speed: 4 – 7 July 2019

Revival: 13 – 15 September 2019

Tickets for the general public go on sale 5 November. More information: www.goodwood.com.

At DRIVERSHALL we hope that in 2019 the Festival will not clash with other top events, as in 2018 it happened on the same weekend as the RIAT airshow and the Duxford Flying Legends…

In 2019, legendary Italian design house Zagato celebrates its centenary. For 58 of those hundred years, Aston Martin and Zagato have enjoyed a remarkable creative partnership. One in which these two iconic brands have created some of the world’s most desirable and stimulating cars, from the first DB4 GT Zagato to the latest Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake. To commemorate this landmark year, Aston Martin and Zagato are continuing their historic partnership with a truly unique collaboration. One that will come to fruition in Zagato’s centenary year with the remarkable DBZ Centenary Collection – a unique project that pays tribute to an icon of the past and creates a classic of the future.

With a build run strictly limited to just 19 pairs, this exceptional duo comprises a new, track-only DB4 GT Zagato Continuation and a new, road-legal DBS GT Zagato. The DB4 GT Zagato will be built at Aston Martin Works, Newport Pagnell – the original home of the DB4 – while the new DBS GT Zagato will be produced at Gaydon, Aston Martin’s global headquarters. The DBZ Century Collection will be priced at £6 million plus taxes. First deliveries to customers will commence in the final quarter of 2019 for the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation and the fourth quarter of 2020 for the DBS GT Zagato.

The latest Ferrari Special Series model, the 488 Pista Spider, has been unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California. The new car sets a new benchmark for Ferrari for spider performance with an unprecedented weight-power ratio of 1.92 kg/horsepower. A result made possible by the adoption of the most powerful Ferrari V8 engine ever, which was recently named Best Engine in the world for the third consecutive year at the 2018 International Engine of the Year Awards. The 3902 cc twin-turbo V8 unleashes 720 hp. The unique engine sound is now even more riveting thanks to the open-top configuration.

In terms of engineering, the Ferrari 488 Pista Spider is directly derived from the 488 Pista which encapsulates all the racing experience gathered on world’s circuits with the 488 Challenge and the 488 GTE. As a result, the new Spider offers the highest level yet of technological transfer from the track to a road-legal drop-top car. The new Ferrari weighs only 1380 kg, accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.85 s, and completes the 0-200 km/h sprint in 8 s. Its top speed is 340 km/h.