--- title: BMW · HICONIUM description: "Three cars carry the roundel into blue-chip territory — the 507, the CSL, the M1." canonical_url: https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/bmw image: https://hiconium.com/og/marque/bmw.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.com/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.com/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) › BMW > On this page: [The essential BMWs](#the-essential-bmws) · [Every BMW on file](#every-bmw-on-file) · [The Icons](#the-icons) · [BMW's collector market is concentrated in scarce roadsters, homologation cars and the M1.](#bmws-collector-market-is-concentrated-in-scarce-roadsters-homologation-cars-and-the-m1) · [Who drew and built the BMW files](#who-drew-and-built-the-bmw-files) · [Not a propeller.](#not-a-propeller) ![BMW — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/bmw.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) [Manufacturers  /  BMW](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) # BMW Munich, Germany · est. 1916 BMW's collector market is concentrated in scarce roadsters, homologation cars and the M1. BMW's collector hierarchy runs through the 507, lightweight CSLs and the M1. Matching-number drivetrains and original lightweight panels separate the strongest cars from restored examples. Models 3 Top value €1.9M Period 1916– [Explore models](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/bmw#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/bmw#house-profile) ![BMW — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/bmw.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 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](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/507) [1972–1975 ### 3.0 CSL The winged homologation coupé that founded BMW Motorsport. Collectibility 89 / 100 Indicative value €600k](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/3-0-csl) [1978–1981 ### M1 The only mid-engined BMW supercar — Giugiaro body, 453 built. Collectibility 90 / 100 Indicative value €650k](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/m1) Complete catalogue ## Every BMW on file 3 models · 1 families By family Sort Filter ## 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. [1956–1959 · 2 variants 507 Goertz’s aluminium roadster — 252 built, Elvis owned one. €1.9M 29 sales · median $1.93M 93 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/507) [1972–1975 · 3 variants 3.0 CSL The winged homologation coupé that founded BMW Motorsport. €600k 25 sales · median $293.79K 89 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/3-0-csl) [1978–1981 · 2 variants M1 The only mid-engined BMW supercar — Giugiaro body, 453 built. €650k 40 sales · median $606.29K 90 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/bmw/m1) 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. - [Giorgetto Giugiaro The M1, drawn at Italdesign. One file · design design 1 file](https://hiconium.com/people/giorgetto-giugiaro) [The whole register of people](https://hiconium.com/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](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-1913.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1913–1917 Rapp Motorenwerke’s roundel — the black ring BMW would inherit, a horse still in the middle. ![BMW crest, 1917–1936](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-1917.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1917–1936 The first BMW roundel: Bavaria’s white and blue in the quarters, inverted to satisfy trademark law. ![BMW crest, 1936–1963](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-1936.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1936–1963 Thinner lines, lighter blue — the badge of the 328 and the 507. ![BMW crest, 1963–1997](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-1963.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1963–1997 Redrawn cleaner and cobalt — the roundel of the CSL and M1 years. ![BMW crest, 1997–2020](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-1997.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1997–2020 Gloss and dimensionality for the screen age. ![BMW crest, 2020–](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/bmw/logo-2020.png.w1920.q75.webp) 2020– Jens Thiemer’s team goes flat and transparent — communications only; the cars keep the ring.