Tribute 507 door handle in stainless steel

Looked at from the outside this handle is a faithful replica of the BMW 507 door handle. Press the button and the lever flips out waiting for you to pull it and for the door to open. Being made from marine grade 316L stainless steel you know this is going to last.

Take a look from the inside and you will see that the mechanism has been completely redesigned to enable simple operation of the Z3 door latch mechanism. The original 507 push button directly operates the original 507 door lock and does so with only around 8-9mm of button travel. The Z3 locks need somewhere between 15-25mm of movement and just having a push button stick out by that much would not be a thing of beauty.

Our solution maintains a low profile button and relies on less than 6mm of button travel to get the lever to the half cocked / primed position. Pulling the lever all the way out will fully actuate the Z3 lock and will then allow the door to be pulled open. Release the handle and the lever will return to the closed position where it is kept in place by a combination of spring tension and a stabilising bolt.

Currently we have a plain push button version. A prototype key slot version has been developed and is undergoing further development. In the ‘locked’ position the button won’t able to be pressed. This is intended to prevent the casual passer by from releasing the lever and yanking on the handlle of a still locked door.

Installing door handles on to an outer fibreglass door skin and with the original Z3 door in the way can make for a challenging experience. To make things easier we include a simple template to show you where to mount the handle on the outer skin, how much fibreglass to take out and how much inner door to trim. We include a stainless and cable and stainless steel ferrules to attach the cable at each end. We also include a 3D printed rubber gasket.

Understanding how challenging these installations can be we have developed an optional widget which massively simplifies the installation procedure and provides a good range of adjustment in the cable tension. We also have a load spreader which will sit underneath the rear M6 bolt to help minimise the likelihood of the fibreglass crazing under the pressure of the M6 bolt and the leverage imposed on it by the operation of the door’s pull handle.