AUTO-ART: 50 Years of BMW Art Cars

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In 1975, French racing driver Hervé Poulain entered his BMW 3.0 CSL in the 24 Hours of Le Mans but he wanted to really stand out. So, Poulain commissioned artist Alexander Calder to turn his No. 93 race car into a work of art. It became the first in a series of 20 BMW Art Cars over the past 50 years.

Since that first vehicle, many well known artists have created BMW Art Cars including Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein. The artists are given carte-blanche to create a vehicle as they choose, and the cars are often raced in international sports car and endurance racing events.

Several BMW Art Cars have become highly influential, and are often imitated by independent teams in amateur racing, such as the 2003 BMW M3 GT2 race car by renown American artist Jeff Koonz. The No. 821 DriveTeq BMW that competes in Enduro Elite in Canada and AER- American Endurance Racing south of the border is an homage to Koonz’ creation.

Undoubtedly the best known BMW Art Car is the 1979 BMW M1 painted by Andy Warhol. In 1979, Warhol was commission by BMW to produce an Art Car for the company. traveled to Germany and used an artist friend’s studio north of Munich to paint the wedge-shaped BMW M1 on May 17.

Warhol used abstract elements in the Art Car, but also experimented with using colour and form to create a sense of speed. The patchwork of colours likely please BMW tremendously, as it would be easy to repair and repaint body panels in the event of a collision. One wonders which body-shop would be asked to ‘touch-up’ a Warhol original.

Canadian race team DriveTeq took inspiration from Warhol’s 1979 Art Car, as well as his silkscreened prints of Marilyn Monroe from 1968, to create the special livery on the No. 822 BMW 128i race car. Bearing a strong resemblance to the asymmetrical paint job on the original BMW M1 the Canadian car codenamed ‘Marilyn’ is one of the brightest, most beautiful, nd most creative cars on the grid.

To learn more about the Art Cars on the 50th anniversary of their inception, go over to BMWgroup.com and check out their fantastic article called “WILD AT ART: The History of the BMW Art Cars” which includes photographs and historical notes about all 20 of these valuable vehicles.

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