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AFTER years of neglect, a 1957 feather white BMW 507 that previously belonged to Elvis Presley has been fully restored - and is now the most 'valuable' of its kind in the world. Elvis owned the car when he posted in Germany as a US Army Sergeant, but later sold it when he returned to the US. Nobody knew what had happened to the famous car up until 2014, when automotive journalist Jackie Jouret discovered that it had been sitting in a pumpkin warehouse on the outskirts of San Francisco for over 30 years. Its new owner, named Jack Castor, had no idea about who the car had previously belonged to. Jackie said: “I got the feeling that he wasn’t a fan of Elvis in the slightest. We take the tarp off, and the car is in-tact but rough shape. An ordinary 507 is really a $1.2-1.5 million car, but with the Elvis association it suddenly becomes the most valuable 507 in the world.” After finding out about the car’s history, Castor sent the BMW to be restored, but he sadly passed away before it was completed. The car now features at the BMW Museum in Munich, mere miles away from where it was first manufactured.

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Motor
Transcript
00:01Mysterious, alluring, the most valuable 507 in the world.
00:15The car is an icon for the BMW history.
00:19Mysterious, alluring and valuable.
00:23Its appearance is breathtaking.
00:24It may be hard to believe, but this beauty spent decades rusting in a California pumpkin shed.
00:33Now, thanks to its previous owner, its the most valuable BMW in the world.
00:41And just whose car was this?
00:44Oh well, oh well.
00:46That's right, the king himself, Elvis Presley.
00:49Elvis bought this 1957 BMW 507 from a racing driver while on military service in Germany.
00:59When Elvis left the army in 1960, he sold the car to a drag racer in the United States.
01:06And it returned to the track.
01:07In 1968, the now battered BMW found itself in the care of car fanatic Jack Castor, who had no knowledge of the vehicle's famous previous owner.
01:23Jack doesn't care about Elvis whatsoever.
01:26I got the feeling that he wasn't a fan of Elvis in the slightest.
01:30Jack takes it off the road with the intention of restoring it.
01:36He accumulates a BMW V8 engine for it.
01:39He accumulates the proper ZF transmission for it.
01:42All kinds of little details.
01:44But Jack never got round to restoring the car.
01:51He put 70079 in storage in a pumpkin warehouse in Pescadero.
01:57And it sat there for 30 years.
02:01The story of Elvis' missing 507 became somewhat of a legend.
02:05And automotive journalist Jackie was determined to find it.
02:10An ordinary 507 is really a 1.2 to 1.5 million dollar car.
02:16But with the Elvis association, it suddenly becomes the most valuable 507 in the world.
02:22Jacky got her break when a friend of Jack's read about the quest to find the missing car.
02:31Jack sends me an email.
02:32And then we go down to the pumpkin warehouse where he has the car store.
02:36It was a moving experience.
02:39It was the thing that I had been looking for at this point for four years.
02:44But this 507 had seen better days.
02:47We take the tarp off.
02:49And the car is in intact but rough shape.
02:53You can see that the car had been white.
02:56Overpainted with black.
02:58And then red again.
03:00And why repaint it red?
03:02Elvis had the car repainted in red.
03:05Girls, of course, were crazy about him.
03:06And they would leave lipstick messages and lipstick kisses all over his white car.
03:14Which, of course, drove him crazy trying to keep it clean.
03:17Then, the news Jackie had been waiting for.
03:20BMW confirmed that it had been Elvis' 507.
03:23With the previous owner confirmed, Jack was offered a staggering $9 million for the car.
03:34But instead of taking the money, he decided to return to Senda.
03:41The state of the car when it came to the restoration was pretty bad in nearly all aspects.
03:47The framework was rusty, the body itself was rusty itself.
03:52In fact, the engine bay was empty when we got the car.
03:56Before there was a Chevrolet engine installed.
03:58On the back of the car we had a big dent and the trunk wasn't even able to be closed.
04:04The interior of the car, and especially the dashboard, have been considered as very beautiful all the decades long.
04:12There was an energy that was present when that car rolled out for the first time.
04:19And no one had seen that car effectively since 1960-something.
04:24Sadly, Jack passed away before restoration was completed.
04:28But he left the BMW to the museum.
04:31So now, car fans, and Elvis fans alike, can pay homage to the king of 507s.
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