The very first BMW Art Car, a BMW 3.0 CSL, designed by American artist Alexander Calder, was showcased by BMW in Monterey this week. The iconic race car was displayed next to the BMW M3 GT2 Art Car and it’s the centerpiece at the BMW stand in Laguna Seca.
For over 40 years, the BMW Art Car Collection has captured the imagination of art and design enthusiasts as well as lovers of cars and technology with its unique combination of fine art and innovative automobile technology.
The collection first started when French race car driver and art aficionado Hervé Poulain, together with Jochen Neerpasch, then-director of BMW Motorsport, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to design an automobile.
The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL which competed in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, driven by Poulain and American Sam Posey. Also included in the class are both the BMW CSL that won the 1975 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the CSL that won the 1976 Dayona 24 Hour race.
