Fast Art

There was a time, back in the 1970s, when the rules for race car color schemes were changing. The traditional national racing colors (Italian red, German silver, British green, etc.) were giving way to sponsor-driven livery, but there was still some room for something truly original.

So in 1975, Herve Poulain got a friend, Alexander Calder, to come up with a nifty paint scheme for the BMW 3.0 CSL that he would drive at Le Mans that year (photo from here):

That's when the BWM Art Cars were born, with future installments from such luminaries as Roy Licthenstein and Andy Warhol. All 16 are on display in New York right now, which prompts this good story from the New York Times. Be sure and check out the photo gallery for pix of all 16.