1965 BMW 700 - 700 LS Luxus

The car to which BMW owed its survival

Developed from a design by Wolfgang Denzel

Late Luxus model originally delivered to Belgium

Extensively and sympathetically restored

By the late 1950s, BMW was not concerned with market share or profit margins, but with survival. The Isetta and 600 had certainly proved successful, yet between these tiny cars and the expensive V8 saloons lay a sizeable gap that was becoming an increasingly serious problem. A crucial impulse came, of all places, from Vienna.

Wolfgang Denzel, BMW’s importer in Vienna, constructor and successful racing driver, commissioned Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti to create a modern small car and presented his prototype to BMW management in 1958. Munich was convinced. BMW developed Denzel’s concept for series production, and in 1959 the resulting 700 swept aside much of the marque’s previous design language.

Mechanically, it borrowed partly from the BMW 600. Mounted at the rear was a motorcycle-derived flat-twin, enlarged to 697 cc and initially producing 30 hp. The unitary body construction, however, was new – a first for BMW. Alongside the saloon came an exceptionally pretty coupé, with more powerful sporting versions following later. With little weight to carry and a surprisingly capable chassis, the 700 even proved itself rather well in motorsport.

More importantly, it sold. By the autumn of 1965, more than 190,000 examples had been built. The little BMW therefore played a crucial part in carrying the company through its financial difficulties and paved the way for the Neue Klasse. The BMW 700 was small, then, with just two cylinders and a mere 30 hp. For BMW, however, it was one of the biggest cars in its history.

According to its original service booklet, this BMW 700 LS Luxus was delivered in February 1965 to Mme Levebvre in Aulois-Quevy, Belgium. It is therefore a very late example of the model that had proved such a lifeline for BMW. A handful of invoices suggest that the 700 was brought back into fine order while still in Belgium around 2010. Today, it presents accordingly well in Meerschaum White with a black interior. Inside and out, underneath and on top, there is plenty to like – enough, indeed, to convince a German BMW collector to acquire it a few years ago.

The little flat-twin impresses not only with the ease with which it fires into life, but also with how effortlessly it seems to cope with the diminutive car. It passed its TÜV inspection with flying colours as recently as September, leaving this delightful little BMW ready fo