JEFF!
Top Gear|June 2022
We hitch a lift in BMW's latest art car with the artist a who created it. You might have heard of him...
JASON BARLOW
JEFF!

Can a car really be a work of art? Let's examine some evidence. In a landmark 2019 legal hearing brought by Ferrari against the Ares coachbuilder, an Italian court decreed that the 250 GTO was exactly that and therefore could not be imitated or reproduced. At $50m-plus, its monetary value is on a par with some of humankind's greatest artistic achievements, if monetary value is your preferred metric.

So that's the car as art. But what of the art car? The vehicle you see here is the 8 X Jeff Koons BMW, a car that tests the thesis by being available in a run of 99, and bears the unmistakable and mischievous imprimatur of one of the world's top artists. And showmen.

BMW has form here, having created 19 art cars since American artist Alexander Calder treated a 3.0 CSL as a mobile canvas in 1975. BMW raced it at Le Mans that year. "The public loved the idea. It was easy to understand, and it looked rather like a kid's drawing, with very bright colours. It was like a moving sculpture,” Hervé Poulain, the French racing driver, and auctioneer whose idea it was, told me a few years ago.

Since then, the programme has grown in stature and attracted the superstar likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, and Andy Warhol. “I adore the car,” Poulain observed. “It's much better than a work of art.” Rather than using a scale model before transposing the work, Warhol set about a BMW M1 with thick decorating brushes and pots of paint. It was done in 20 minutes. That car also raced at Le Mans, in 1979, finishing an impressive sixth. Extraordinary at the time, all the more so now given that this is widely regarded by experts as the most valuable car in the world. “Effectively priceless," one told me. Well north of $100m, if you insist on a figure.

Bu hikaye Top Gear dergisinin June 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Top Gear dergisinin June 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

TOP GEAR DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
ELECTROMECHANIC
BBC Top Gear UK

ELECTROMECHANIC

Meet the electric restomod that you can create at home it's so easy you can do the conversion in a day, apparently

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
ALL THE SMALL THINGS
BBC Top Gear UK

ALL THE SMALL THINGS

Word is there's no such thing as a decent, small, simple, reasonably priced car these days. Allow TopGear to investigate

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 7-SEAT
BBC Top Gear UK

VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 7-SEAT

Volkswagen’s new seven seater ID.Buzz is now the family mover it always should have been

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
BMW M5
BBC Top Gear UK

BMW M5

TO THE POINT: THE NEW BMW M5 IS AN excellent car. It's very fast, confident, endlessly configurable and now offers a not inconsequential 40ish miles of electric-only running for happy tax returns.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025
VAUXHALL GRANDLAND vs FORD EXPLORER
BBC Top Gear UK

VAUXHALL GRANDLAND vs FORD EXPLORER

These two brands have been the 'pile it high, sell it cheap' kings of the UK market for decades, but their new core models take a very different tack...

time-read
7 dak  |
January 2025
CAR OF THE YEAR - 5 STAR
BBC Top Gear UK

CAR OF THE YEAR - 5 STAR

Yep, Renault's retro-chic new supermini with an optional wicker baguette holder Scoops the grand prix...

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
MEANWHILE... IN THE FUTURE
BBC Top Gear UK

MEANWHILE... IN THE FUTURE

Catching rockets with chopsticks isn't the only autonomous tech going on in Elon Musk's world...

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
KING OF THE HILLS
BBC Top Gear UK

KING OF THE HILLS

You wait for one 800+bhp super GT, then two rock up at once. It's the Aston/Ferrari showdown we've all been waiting for...

time-read
8 dak  |
January 2025
PACKAGE
BBC Top Gear UK

PACKAGE

What better way to test the Hyundai Santa Fe's SUV-ness than hand delivering TopGear magazine to each and every subscriber in... New Zealand?

time-read
10 dak  |
January 2025
MYTH BUSTER
BBC Top Gear UK

MYTH BUSTER

\"THE GOLF GTI WAS THE OG HOT HATCH\"

time-read
2 dak  |
January 2025