46 BMWcar
BMW CLASSICS
In the second half of the 1950s, BMW
had been looking for design proposals
for a small saloon and, in 1958, BMW’s
importer in Vienna presented a concept
he had worked on in collaboration with
Michelotti. This was mildly reworked by
BMW’s head designer, Wilhelm Hofmeister,
to produce both saloon and coupé body
styles of the 700, with seating for four.
But the highlight of this new design was
its use of a monocoque body – a first for
BMW – and, while there were concerns
that this was moving away from traditional
BMW design, it offered a considerable
weight saving as well as lowering the
car by 60-70mm. Ultimately, it offered
reduced build costs, too.
Overall, the 700 was 3,540mm long
and tipped the scales at just over 600kg
- impressive for a four-seater machine.
There was plenty of space inside for four,
and even the coupé version didn’t suffer
from a lack of headroom for passengers in
the rear.
THE FIRST ‘FRUNK’?
As the 700 was rear-engined – like the
Isetta and 600 that went before it – its
luggage space was to be found under
the bonnet, and there was space enough
for two, reasonably-sized suitcases. The
fuel tank was located under the luggage
compartment, and there was even space
for a standard-sized spare wheel under the
bonnet, too.
Powering the 700 was a 697cc, twin-
cylinder engine that developed a heady
30hp; enough to propel the coupé version
to 78mph, accelerate it from 0-90km/h in
20 seconds, and 0-100km/h in less than
30 seconds. While those figures might
not seem all that impressive by today’s
standards, there was nothing wrong with
the 700’s economy figures, returning an
average of around 47mpg. With a 30-litre
In fact, the new 700 accounted
for some 58% of the company’s
overall revenue that year
The 700 is a rear-engined car.
The original 697cc, twin-cylinder
engine developed a heady 30hp.