Surtees’ 507 set to fetch £2m
Late racer’s beloved BMW to go under the hammer at Goodwood’s FoS
John Surtees’ BMW 507 – which he owned from new until his death in March last year – is to be auctioned at Goodwood later this summer.
Bonhams is selling the 1957 507 with a £2-2.2 million estimate at its Festival of Speed sale on 13 July, and displayed it at its Members’ Meeting sale last weekend.
The bike and car race ace was originally gifted the car as a reward for winning the 500cc motorcycle world championship for MV Augusta, and Surtees used it extensively on journeys across the UK and Europe. The car was fitted with four-wheel disc brakes after Surtees used the car for Dunlop brake testing in Birmingham, which Bonhams says makes it likely to be the only 507 fitted with such a system.
A Bonhams spokesman says: ‘ This is not only a beautiful example of one of BMW’s most elegant and refined sports cars, but it is offered for the very first time at public auction having come directly from the estate of one of the world’s most revered and successful sporting personalities. ‘It’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’
markets editor, Richard Barnett, described the 507’s consignment as a coup for Bonhams, and predicts that it will exceed its upper estimate: ‘If the Festival of Speed sale wasn’t already going to be a corker, featuring the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato ‘2 VEV’ and the ex-Richard Shuttleworth Alfa Romeo Tipo B, it’s surely going to be one of the best ever UK classic auctions with the addition of John Surtees’ BMW 507.
Already a highly desirable car, the fact that this particular example has had just one celebrity owner adds immeasurably to its appeal. History and ownership adds so much to cars in this sphere, and this is very, very special.’