BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella headed for the auction block
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/timewarp/" rel="tag">Classics</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/auction-action/" rel="tag">Auctions</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/bmw/" rel="tag">BMW</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/design-style/" rel="tag">Design/Style</a></p><img alt="BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/05/web630-stellabmw1.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; margin: 4px 0px;" /><br />
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BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella - Click above for high-res image gallery</div>
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In a perfect world, maybe the world's top museums would have infinite space and infinite resources to acquire and display every significant piece of artistic creation they could get their hands on. But, as we are all at times painfully aware, this is an imperfect world. Which is why the Guggenheim Museum is forced to sell this unique <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/make/bmw">BMW</a> M1 art car, in order to raise funds and make way for other works of art. And their loss could be your gain.<br />
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The original Bavarian supercar was painted by the celebrated artist Frank Stella in 1979. But while BMW has commissioned many art cars (including another <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/15/pics-aplenty-bmw-art-cars-at-los-angeles-county-museum-of-art/">M1 by Andy Warhol and a 3.0 CSL also by Stella</a>) since the program kicked off in 1975, this is the only one that was officially sanctioned by the factory for a private client, whereas all the others remained in the German automaker's private collection. This, then, represents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire an original BMW art car.<br />
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The vehicle has been part of the museum's collection since 1999, and will be auctioned by <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/tag/bonhams">Bonhams</a> this coming August at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, where it's expected to fetch around half a million dollars, an estimate we can see it blowing right past. Us? We're just hoping that BMW itself decides to bid on the car so that this Stella M1 can rejoin its celebrated relatives in the German automaker's collection.<br />
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If you're in New York and want to catch a glimpse at this one-of-a-kind rolling work of art, it's currently on display outside Bonhams' offices in the atrium of the IBM Building at 56th and Madison.<br />
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Follow the jump for the official press release and scope out the images in the gallery below.<p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/13/bmw-m1-art-car-by-frank-stella-headed-for-the-auction-block/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella headed for the auction block</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;backgr ound:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/13/bmw-m1-art-car-by-frank-stella-headed-for-the-auction-block/">BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella headed for the auction block</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblo g</a> on Fri, 13 May 2011 09:57:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/13/bmw-m1-art-car-by-frank-stella-headed-for-the-auction-block/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19936885/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/13/bmw-m1-art-car-by-frank-stella-headed-for-the-auction-block/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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