It’s been half a century since Alexander Calder’s BMW 3.0 CSL inaugurated the Art Car series. The collection has since expanded to include 19 additional rolling sculptures, five of which are scheduled to appear at the Goodwood Revival. These special vehicles will be displayed together from September 12 to 14 during the Earls Court Motor Show. Every artist invited to create an Art Car was given complete freedom by BMW to express their vision, resulting in truly unique projects.
The oldest on display will be Frank Stella’s 3.0 CSL from 1976, the second official Art Car. It will be joined by Roy Lichtenstein’s 320i Turbo from 1977, based on the E21 platform. We’d like to mention that it’s a fitting highlight, as the original 3 Series also celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025. BMW’s showcase will also feature Ernst Fuchs’s 635 CSi from 1982, the fifth Art Car in the series and the first based on a street car.
Seventeen years later, David Hockney contributed the 14th entry with his 1995 850 CSi, famously featuring the outline of a driver sketched onto the door. Bringing things closer to the present, Jeff Koons’s vibrant 2010 M3 GT2 will round off the lineup.
Goodwood Revival is one stop in BMW’s ongoing Art Car World Tour, launched this past March in Europe. Around the same time, the Asian tour commenced with Julie Mehretu’s M Hybrid V8. The latest entry in the long-running series from 2024 will also be displayed at Contemporary Istanbul between September 24 and 28, alongside Calder’s CSL.
Although 2025 officially marks 50 years of the Art Car program, BMW plans to extend the tour well into next year. Stops include Vienna, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Dubai, Shanghai, Zurich, Taipei, Stockholm, Bratislava, Cernobbio, Munich, Båstad, The Hague, and Istanbul, with more locations to be added.
For the latest schedule, follow the official BMW Group Culture account on Instagram. As for which one we’d like to see the most, it would probably have to be Andy Warhol’s 1979 M1.
