My BMW 507 project

[A12pilot]

So far in my shop I’ve managed to stock it with an English wheel, brake, planishing hammer, bead roller, several hammers, sand bags, shears, and other small tools. I’m making good progress on at least being prepared to move the project along. Been watching a lot of tutorial vids on YouTube. Amazing what some can do.

I’m going to attend a workshop at Kingdom Metal Works up in KY and figured I’d do that in January so December I can spend figuring out what I don’t know. I’m really excited about finally moving forward!!

More pics later this month as I start to shape some panels!!

Cheers
Dave

[cliffrod]

Looks like it will be quite a project. I'll be watching.

[Sean in CT]

awesome project

How do you put a distributor in the front of a chevy?

[A12pilot]

Thanks, guys. There’s an old racing adapter that was made for supercharger clearance and ease of tuning the distributor by Smothers Brothers racing that relocates the distributor to the form of the engine. Neat item. Made on request by them. You can clock the distributor anyway you want provided you have clearance.

I can’t wait to start! Air compressor shows up tomorrow so now I’ll have air plumbed through the shop.

Cheers
Dave

[Rick Mullin]

I looked to see what I had in the way of parts and forms. Unfortunately, the few hammer forms are warped beyond usage. They were not made of a good hardwood and had been used in making two sets of fenders. I do have the steel die for the front and rear badges and a few badges in need of restoration. I had a collection of bits and pieces that were never returned to me from another restorer.

For some unknown reason, the Philadelphia area was big on 507s. There were several collectors of cars for personal use, two collectors of cars and parts and one person who fancied himself as a collector/ broker of 507s. Most of the people have died and the cars sold. One local car just sold at Hershey. At least two still remain in the area and perhaps a collection of parts. I will look into the possibility of an introduction if you wish.

Harry Tidmarsh also worked on several 507s. He was my mentor and an amazing craftsman. Amongst his many accomplishments, Harry and Roy Gains built the first Penske race car from scratch. Harry often complained that nobody got the shape of the nose correct when they restored them. It is probably true as the tip of the nose stuck out and was always being bumped. It was watching Harry make the nose of a 507 and the back end of an Allard that inspired me to learn to make panels.

I don’t know the serial numbers of any of the cars. The series 1 was very early. The last one I restored was the one I made the most body parts for (nose, fender sides, headlamp surrounds, doors, rockers and rear quarters). It won numerous awards (Pebble, Amelia, AACA …) and was on loan for several years at the BMW factory in Spartanburg before it was sold and went to Europe.

Any questions about how panels were pieced and formed are welcome. I have restoration photos of the last car hidden away somewhere. This gives me an excuse to dig through piles of old phots.

[A12pilot]

Wow, great info, Rick. Thank you! Too bad about the hammer forms. Those would have been neat to have and use on my project. I grew up in the Philly area. My hometown was Pennsauken, NJ right across the river from Philly. Had no idea it was a hotspot area for 507s. Amazing.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Cheers
Dave

[Mr fixit]

Hi Dave,

What an amazing model.. I will be watching this project all along the way as it looks like a fantastic car to see built from scratch..

The questions I do have is Aluminum or Steel for the body work? What thickness will you be using?


Look forward to the next installment..

TX
Mr fixit
Chris

[A12pilot]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the encouragement! I’m going with steel and using 20ga for the majority of it with 18ga for possibly the heavier items like the hood, doors, and trunk. I haven’t had any experience working or welding aluminum and although the original body is made from it, I decided that the steel would be best for me to work with this first time. They’ll be a lot of trial and error, but it’ll be fun!

Cheers
Dave

[blue62]

Originally Posted by A12pilot

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the encouragement! I’m going with steel and using 20ga for the majority of it with 18ga for possibly the heavier items like the hood, doors, and trunk. I haven’t had any experience working or welding aluminum and although the original body is made from it, I decided that the steel would be best for me to work with this first time. They’ll be a lot of trial and error, but it’ll be fun!

Cheers
Dave

If you have good access to 19 gauge you may want to use that for your body panels. 19 gauge runs .0418 where as 20 gauge runs .0359.
When you work 20 gauge and have to do any stretching (and there is stretch in just about any panel) it gets thin real fast so you can't make many mistakes in stretching or wheeling before the panel is trash. 19 gauge will give you that little bit extra thickness and will allow more tolerance for mistakes in stretching and wheeling. Also 19 will make a very nice very dent resistant panel.

If I could get my hands on 19 gauge it is all I would use. But it is not available in my part of the country.

[rustreapers]

Alro On line at myalro.com has it for $307 a sheet or $255 per sheet for 3 pieces. Yes the price goes down as you buy more. Shipping is commercial truck.