Manufacturers  /  BMW

BMW

Munich, Germany · est. 1916

BMW's collector market is concentrated in scarce roadsters, homologation cars and the M1.

Models
3
Top value
€1.9M
Period
1916–
Explore modelsManufacturer profile
BMW — manufacturer stage

Curated entry points

The essential BMWs

Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition.

1956–1959

507

Goertz’s aluminium roadster — 252 built, Elvis owned one.

Collectibility
93 / 100
Indicative value
€1.9M
1972–1975

3.0 CSL

The winged homologation coupé that founded BMW Motorsport.

Collectibility
89 / 100
Indicative value
€600k
1978–1981

M1

The only mid-engined BMW supercar — Giugiaro body, 453 built.

Collectibility
90 / 100
Indicative value
€650k

Complete catalogue

Every BMW on file

3 models · 1 families

The Icons

3

The three BMWs that matter to collectors — a coachbuilt roadster from the fifties, the winged CSL that founded the Motorsport division, and the marque’s only mid-engined supercar.

The house

BMW's collector market is concentrated in scarce roadsters, homologation cars and the M1.

BMW’s collectible apex is narrow and brilliant. The 507 of 1956 was Albrecht von Goertz’s aluminium-bodied answer to the 300 SL — so expensive to build it nearly broke the company, so beautiful it now trades near two million.

The 3.0 CSL of the early seventies was a homologation special with wings the road cars carried in the boot — the “Batmobile” that founded BMW Motorsport and won six European Touring Car championships.

The M1 followed in 1978: a Giugiaro-drawn, mid-engined supercar built for a racing series that collapsed under it. Only 453 were made, and the straight-six M88 behind the seats became the heart of every great M car since.

Founded
7 March 1916
BMW dates itself to Bayerische Flugzeugwerke; the Bayerische Motoren Werke name followed in 1917.
507 output
252 cars
The commonly published total; BMW Group Archive's current model-series page instead gives 251.
Engine lineage
Inline-six since 1933
The 303 introduced BMW's first straight-six; the layout later powered the 3.0 CSL and M1.
2018 auction result
£3.81 million
Bonhams sold John Surtees' one-owner 507 at Goodwood, setting a BMW auction record at the time.

Selected milestones

A bloodline, not a list.

  1. 1916

    The official origin

    BMW dates its founding to the formation of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke on 7 March.

  2. 1928

    BMW enters car production

    The purchase of Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach adds automobiles to the company's engine and motorcycle businesses.

  3. 1955

    The 507 is presented

    BMW unveils Albrecht von Goertz's aluminium-bodied V8 roadster at Frankfurt; limited demand keeps the production run short.

  4. 1972

    BMW Motorsport is formed

    BMW consolidates its racing activities in a wholly owned subsidiary whose first touring-car project is the 3.0 CSL.

  5. 1978

    The M1 reaches production

    BMW Motorsport's first clean-sheet car appears as a mid-engined road model created for Group 4 homologation.

What defines BMW

Competition defines specification

Homologation requirements shaped the 3.0 CSL and led directly to the road-going M1.

Weight is reduced in the structure

BMW uses lightweight frames and aluminium or composite panels when lower mass serves the car's purpose.

Engine families develop over time

The inline-six runs from the 303 through the CSL and M1 into later BMW performance cars.

The hands

Who drew and built the BMW files

One name in the register stands behind this manufacturer. Their own file follows the work wherever it went.

The whole register of people

The mark

Not a propeller.

Munich, 1917: aircraft-engine maker Rapp Motorenwerke becomes Bayerische Motoren Werke, and the new firm keeps its predecessor’s badge architecture — the name set in a black ring, the horse in the middle swapped for quarters of white and blue. Bavaria’s colours, inverted: trademark law of the day barred state arms from commercial emblems.

The propeller is a myth, and BMW has said so itself. It dates to a 1929 advertisement that drew the roundel into a spinning airscrew to sell aero engines built under Pratt & Whitney licence — a story so good the company let it stand for decades. The badge means Bavaria; it never meant a propeller.

BMW crest, 1913–1917

1913–1917

Rapp Motorenwerke’s roundel — the black ring BMW would inherit, a horse still in the middle.

BMW crest, 1917–1936

1917–1936

The first BMW roundel: Bavaria’s white and blue in the quarters, inverted to satisfy trademark law.

BMW crest, 1936–1963

1936–1963

Thinner lines, lighter blue — the badge of the 328 and the 507.

BMW crest, 1963–1997

1963–1997

Redrawn cleaner and cobalt — the roundel of the CSL and M1 years.

BMW crest, 1997–2020

1997–2020

Gloss and dimensionality for the screen age.

BMW crest, 2020–

2020–

Jens Thiemer’s team goes flat and transparent — communications only; the cars keep the ring.