Home » I Sure Do Like BMW 700s: Cold Start

I Sure Do Like BMW 700s: Cold Start

Cs Bmw700 1

You know what’s a really appealing car I have yet to drive but would desperately like to drive around, a bit? The BMW 700. You know these, right? These conventionally-shaped little cars were developments of unconventionally-shaped cars like the BMW 600 and the Isetta, and retained the rear-engine, air-cooled flat-twin layout of the 600. These also were the cars that helped save BMW’s ass, financially, selling over 180,000 cars between 1959 and 1965, giving BMW the space it needed to develop its Neue Klasse of cars that would go on to define its future. But, for the purposes of these more visually-oriented Cold Start posts, look how fantastic that old brochure photography and art direction is! That neutral background, punctuated with the red car and the colored circles in the BMW 700 logo! The speed blurs! That look she’s giving you! It’s all gold, gold I tell you!

Cs Bmw700 2

The other brochure pictures are similarly good, with severely minimized backgrounds and driver poses that say something, like the serious determination of this guy to, I guess, reverse a a bit? Mothergrabber looks like he means it, no matter what. Umbrella couple back there agrees with me, just look at them!

Cs Bmw700 Cutaway

It’s just a flat-twin motorcycle-derived engine back there, only 697cc, but the sport versions of these made 40 hp, not too bad considering the size. You know what these always reminded me of?

Cs Bmw700 Type3

Yes, VW Type 3s. I mean, look at them! They really look alike there, with the BMW being a somewhat more rectilinear and creased version to VW’s more pillowy look. Still, these two feel like brothers.

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stefthepef
stefthepef
28 days ago

Such friendly lil’ cars. I love them.

JakobKsGarage
JakobKsGarage
28 days ago

It’s just one of those post war poor economic times european vehicles, like the DAF, the Trabant, the Renault Dauphine – or the VW: It was never really good enough for the times it existed in, but nobody was harsh enough to tell the makers, who tried their best. Like when you don’t tell your kid a drawing he made is really crap.

mr.choppers
mr.choppers
28 days ago
Reply to  JakobKsGarage

These were pretty cool… they rocked at ice racing in Sweden; severely modified ones were still winning in the 1990s.

JakobKsGarage
JakobKsGarage
28 days ago
Reply to  mr.choppers

Yes, one of my old car friends here had one for classic car racing also. Impressive. But still a pretty crap car, compared to a 4+ cylinder water cooled front engined “regular” car.

awesomeaustinv
awesomeaustinv
29 days ago

I too have always appreciated the BMW 700 and its older cousin the 600. Small, cute, rear-engined, what’s not to love? It’s a microcar you can actually use and I think that’s awesome.

What’s not awesome is that I’ve been trying to upload a profile picture to this site for like an hour, had to make accounts on two websites that I’ve never heard of and don’t intend to use again to do it, and after all that it doesn’t freaking work and I still can’t see a profile pic on this website and I have no idea why it’s not showing up or why I’ve gotten this worked up about it. I just want to be one of the cool kids with a profile picture and not some anonymous rando, why can’t I be one of the cool kids!?

awesomeaustinv
awesomeaustinv
29 days ago
Reply to  awesomeaustinv

Oh, there it is. I knew ranting about it would finally summon the image!

mr.choppers
mr.choppers
28 days ago
Reply to  awesomeaustinv

I made a profile pic with that mysterious company like in 2010, I have never ever logged back in but it never seizes to surprise me how it continues to work across hundreds of websites.

Gilbertwham
Gilbertwham
1 month ago

That woman looks like Myra Hindley.

jcbeckman
jcbeckman
1 month ago

I think the guy is looking back after running something over, and the umbrella couple are staring at him for hitting whatever – or whomever – it was.

Daryll Rardon
Daryll Rardon
1 month ago

These are cool. There is a nice one at the BMW Welt in Munich. Funny how much in common (layout-wise) this has with the i3 designed 50 years later. Flat two cylinder motorcycle engine out back, seats four inside. The 700 has a better frunk than the i3 though.

Neil Vecchiarelli
Neil Vecchiarelli
1 month ago

My dad restored a couple of these (I guess a kind of upgrade from the Isettas he had before that). My brother currently owns the 700 Sport they worked on together)….

https://youtu.be/IC-ZRDkmyd8

VWNotch
VWNotch
1 month ago

Having driven both and own the Notch. I will say the 700 was like a Type 3 little brother. Although, the 700 somehow resolved the rear oversteer tuck problem of the swingaxle. It was likely due to their use of an Anti-rollbar which VW forgot. You could buy one from EMPI, but that is a different story.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
1 month ago

‘You know what these always reminded me of?’

The cold war love child of a Corvair and a Trabant?

Fjord
Fjord
1 month ago

Don’t forget the Sports 700 – the cool coupe cousin that went racing!

This Guy
This Guy
1 month ago

If I ever had to own a BMW, it would be the 2002. This is now a close second.

SquareTaillight2002
SquareTaillight2002
1 month ago
Reply to  This Guy

Just for you. Happy Spring!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QH1vDC1BrYrtnavP9

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
1 month ago

That’s an excellent blue. Thanks for the pic!

ekranoplan
ekranoplan
1 month ago

Beautiful 2002!

98Z28
98Z28
1 month ago

Love those derptastic headlights. 🙂

flyingstitch
flyingstitch
1 month ago

The dude hopped in to steal the car and was shocked to hear the engine BEHIND him.

Masa Yoshikawa
Masa Yoshikawa
1 month ago

Which looks a bit like an Autobianchi Bianchina?

maribert
maribert
1 month ago

The guy that turns his head to look what’s behind him? He tells us that the mirrors on this thing are hopeless. Or else he would be looking into the mirror instead of craning like that.

Fireball
Fireball
1 month ago
Reply to  maribert

He’s yelling to the car behind him “It’s a BMW, it doesn’t have turn signals!”

interrobang
interrobang
1 month ago

Somewhere out there is a German industrial designer who lays awake at night thinking of the time he managed to get the B-pillar visually centered on the body, but not on the wheelbase.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 month ago
Reply to  interrobang

Well now I can’t unsee that. Thanks a lot.

nlpnt
nlpnt
1 month ago
Reply to  interrobang

There are short and long versions of the sedan, as well as (short only) coupe and roadster models. Compare the red car in the lead pic (short) with the pale green side-view car (long). The long model was a later development.

DKW and NSU did the same thing in the early ’60s – lengthened but still two-door versions of their sub-Beetle-sized sedans. In their case new roof pressings were shelled out for, so that in addition to a wider, wheelwell-hump-free rear seat there was also a bit more rear legroom. In all cases the original short models continued alongside and I can only wonder why nobody followed through with the next logical step of making the long model a 4-door.

mr.choppers
mr.choppers
28 days ago
Reply to  nlpnt

Odd, but Germans were really reluctant to buy four-door cars until the seventies. I think it was a feeling of safety to know that the kids couldn’t tumble out. Cars like the Opel Kadett were available with four doors, but those were generally mainly sold in export. France, meanwhile, was the complete opposite – two-door sedans have generally been non-existent there.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago

Speed lines? I thought those were erasure marks. Fun article, as usual.

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