[Brookside]

Graf Albrecht von Goertz dies.
Designer of BMW 503 and 507




BMW 507 roadster


Albrecht Graf Goertz (en: Count Albrecht von Goertz) (born January 12, 1914, died October 27, 2006)

He was the second son to an aristocratic family in Germany from Brunken in Lower Saxony. After attending school, Goertz was apprenticed to Deutsche Bank and then to a London-based private bank, but his prospects were not good, so in 1936 he emigrated to the the U.S.. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and worked at a car wash and in a factory making aircraft engines. In 1938 Goertz rented a garage and showroom and modifiedFord Model A and B models. On a Mercury chassis, he built a two-door coupe called the "Paragon". This was exhibited at the World Exhibition in San Francisco in 1939.
Goertz then served in the US Army for five years. After leaving the Army he drove the Paragon to New York and while driving it he accidentally encountered Raymond Loewy, the famous car designer. Loewy invited Goertz to his office, sent him to college to learn about design and later gave him a job in the Studebaker

Max Hoffman, the New York-based importer of everything European from Alfa to Wartburg, suggested that a two-seat sports car based on the 503 be built in order to bring people to showrooms and help move the unsold sedans. Two cars were cobbled together in 1953, but these were so ungainly that when he first saw them, dapper Max spilled his martini on his pinstriped suit.

Not too far from Hoffman's emporium, a young designer named Al Goertz had his studio. Hoffman could talk birds out of trees, and thus persuaded the BMW management to give total design control of the new 507 to Goertz. (Of course, it helped that Hoffman was the 900-pound gorilla when it came to selling foreign cars in the U.S.)

Al Goertz had come to the U.S. in 1937 as Graf Albrecht von Goertz, son of a wealthy banking family. When the war started, the flow of family money stopped, and the young Count had to feed himself just like all the other poor immigrants. Working in menial manual labor led him to an automobile repair shop. While there, Goertz decided that he wanted to be an automotive designer.

Pratt Design Institute, a top school at the time, became Goertz's alma mater. Bright, talented and hard working, he graduated and earned more than his diploma—he became an American, not just a naturalized citizen, but an American in his approach to life and design, something he was proud of. He shortened his name to Al Goertz and went to work for Raymond Loewy at Studebaker in 1950. After a year or two with Loewy (who by reputation was not the easiest man to work with), Goertz opened his own industrial design studio.

Now we're back to Hoffman, who wanted a car he could sell in the U.S., so Al Goertz again became Graf Albrecht von Goertz to make him more palatable to the people at BMW. While they did go along with Hoffman's plan, Goertz was still resented by the Germans, not only because he was an outsider, but also because he had become an American.

source> SportsCarsAuctioneers

"Just call me Al"




BMW 503 Coupe

[Brookside]

Last May a 1959 BMW 507 roadster sold at auction in Monaco for $416,159
according to SportsCarsAuctioneers.
When it was new BMW charged $11,000 for one-a steep price for those days.

[Brookside]

"In Albrecht Graf Goertz, BMW has not only lost the creator of the BMW 503 and 507, one of the most consummate cars in history.
The entire design fraternity bids farewell to one of its most passionate champions, a man who was not only a car designer heart and soul
but also creative and successful in every field of design," said Christopher Bangle, Head of BMW Group Design.

"If I can touch somebody emotionally with a car, then I can do it with other products as well," was Goertz's conviction.
His success proved him right, with commissions coming from every sector of industry.
From his studio in the USA, which was still his main place of residence, Goertz travelled the globe designing a wide and diverse range of everyday commodities.
In the 1990s he returned to his parents' estate in Brunkensen, from where he continued to work as a designer.

Examples from Goertz' design portfolio:

BMW 503 and BMW 507; Agfa camera; Kienzle clock; Rowenta irons, lighters, coffee makers, toasters et. al.; Mont Blanc fountain pen, ballpoint pen, disc pen;
Custom Craft fibre-glass sports boat; Polaroid camera; SABA radios, TVs etc.; ACCO office equipment; Datsun Silvia, Datsun 240Z;
Fuji cine-camera, film projector; Bicicletas Monark bicycle; school furniture; Oxford Filing Supply office furniture; Jensen jewellery;
Puma sportswear and accessories. source: BMW AG


Datsun 240Z


Datsun Silvia