BMW is one of the top luxury car manufacturers today, but throughout the companies near 100 year existence they have nearly closed their doors on a number of occasions. Most of these near collapses were caused by wars, but in the late 1950’s they almost closed as a result of poor automobile sales. In 1955, they decided to try to move upmarket by building luxury cars for the American market, but this proved to be a costly decision. The cars that they built during this period were beautiful, but far too expensive for the times and nearly put the company out of business. Their poor sales numbers meant BMW didn’t build many of the 500 series, so the coupe and roadster variations being extremely rare and highly sought after today. We have had the pleasure of seeing a few 503s and 507s in person, but they were all in pristine restored condition, so you can imagine our intrigue when we came across this rough 1955 BMW 503 Coupe here on eBay with an opening bid of $1k and no reserve. It is currently sitting in a barn in Surrey UK.

This car isn’t just rough, it is missing a lot of components, all of its mechanical systems, and has even been cut apart. The seller states that someone has made a few cuts to the body, but what they should have said is that someone cut it into sections. Typically this wouldn’t be a massive issue, but this car makes extensive use of aluminum for the body structure. Like any metal, alloys can be welded back together, but it requires special equipment and a high level of know how. As long as the frame hasn’t been cut too, a skilled body shop should be able to put this car back together with few alignment issues. We have always wanted to learn how to work with alloys, but this wouldn’t be the kind of project to learn on.

Based on all the rust we see on the floors, we would assume the areas where the aluminum and steel meet were in very rough shape and perhaps was the reason it was sectioned. From what we can see, most of the floor looks salvageable, but will obviously need work. Hopefully the metal is still thick enough to be welded back together without any issues. The more we look at this body, the more dollar signs we see. Restoring a solid and complete 503 would be a costly and time consuming endeavor, so one can only imagine how expensive this project is going to be.

On the upside, the seller still has most, if not all the chrome and some of the impossible to find parts. It is going to need a complete drivetrain and the majority of the interior replaced. There were only about 400 of these built, so parts could be hard to find. We would guess the next owners best chance of getting it back on the road will be to find a 501 or 502 parts car. That is if a car can find one with a complete interior and drivetrain without spending a massive amounts of money. Then again, anyone who can afford to tackle this kind of project can probably afford to buy a parts car as well.

As they say, anything is possible with enough time and money, but this project is going to need more than just time and money. It is going to require a high level of skill at tracking down parts and a fair amount of luck to find everything it needs. As much as we hate the thought of this not being returned to original condition, its best hope for seeing the road again may mean installing a few incorrect pieces. If this were the highly coveted 507, we have no doubt there would be a line of collectors waiting for a chance to buy it, but the 503 has yet to achieve the desirability of its sportier brother. That being said, we only see the value of this BMW going up, so this might be a great chance to buy one. So if this were your project, what direction would you take it? Would you perform a no expense spared restoration or would you go a more affordable route?