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Art cars are growing in popularity, with a number of automakers and their subsidiaries getting on board the trend. But BMW is where it all started. The German automaker has been at it since 1975. A good blogger’s dozen of them have been commissioned for BMW over the years, and every one of them has remained in the company’s private collection. Except one.

That one is the M1 Procar you see here, painted by Frank Stella in 1979. It remains the only example in the series that was created for a private individual with BMW’s blessing. After years in the Guggenheim, Bonhams auctioned it off a couple of months ago at Monterey for a whopping 4,000 – well above estimate.

So who bought it? Jonathan Sobel, owner of (among other interests) BMW of Southampton, way out at the eastern end of New York’s Long Island. The dealership is just settling in to its new showroom on Montauk Highway, and that’s where the M1 art car will be showcased for much of the new year ahead. So if your plans include a trip out to the Hamptons, you may want to stop by for a rare glimpse. Press release after the jump.

Continue reading Frank Stella’s BMW M1 art car finds a new home in the Hamptons

Frank Stella’s BMW M1 art car finds a new home in the Hamptons originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The DeLorean used in the Back to the Future movie trilogy may be the single most memorable movie vehicle for anyone who grew up in the 1980s (as did the vast majority of the staff here at Autoblog). And so, whenever we hear anything having to do with the car, the movie or its main characters, we sit up and take notice.

No surprise, then, that a company may want to make use of all that nostalgia to market itself – apparently, even one based in Argentina that we’d never heard of called Garbarino. The superstore apparently has all manner of high-end gadgetry, and it’s hocked the skills of one Christopher Lloyd – forever known to BTTF fans as Doctor Emmet L. Brown – to help sell them.

You may remember a couple of videos that were floating ’round these parts a little while ago featuring Doc Brown and his time-traveling gullwing. It seems those were viral teasers intended to drum up some nostalgic interest ahead of the real deal.

We’ll get this out of the way right off the bat… these are just commercials for an Argentinian electronics store and aren’t going to set your BTTF-filled world on fire. Regardless, it’s good clean fun, and it gives us yet another reason to ogle over a certain nuclear-powered DeLorean and its flux capacitor (which is what makes time travel possible…). Check out the vids after the break.

Finally, for more on the actual car used to film these commercials, check out this link. We also think it’s cool that Garbarino is setting up a way for patrons to make donations to Michael J. Fox’s charity to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Continue reading Doc Brown goes Back to the Future, finds Garbarino electronics store

Doc Brown goes Back to the Future, finds Garbarino electronics store originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The likelihood that you’ll ever get your hands on an original Bill Thomas Cheetah is slim, to put it mildly. The iconic early 60s sports cars are rare as hen’s teeth and priced accordingly. While the originals may be all but unattainable, replicas can be fairly readily had, though they still aren’t what you’d call cheap.

This week, there are two Bill Thomas Cheetah Continuation models on eBay Motors, one a convertible and one in coupe form. Not originals and not really replicas, these cars are about as authentic as one can hope to get without winning the lottery. In the spirit of their original Corvette roots, both sport Chevrolet V8 power, rear-wheel drive and four-speed manual transmissions. The convertible, titled as a 1965, sports a 502-inch big-block Chevrolet mill, which only has 1,700 pounds of 4130-chromoly steel and fiberglass to push around. In case that weren’t enough, the Cheetah’s wheelbase is a scant 90 inches. Sounds good to us. Buy-It-Now on the red ‘vert is a reasonable sounding ,000.

The hardtop was built in 2008, but sports a 1964 title. It’s a bit tamer, sporting a 383 stroker that the seller says is good for 350 horsepower. Not quite as hairy-chested, but more than enough to make you pretty uneasy. It also sports heat and noise insulation and a “period correct” air conditioner, apparently to compensate for the fixed windows. The frame is powder-coated, the headers are wrapped and the bodywork sports three coats of Mercedes silver. The price? How does k sound? Click the main image for a gallery of both cars.

eBay Finds of the Day: 1964 Bill Thomas Cheetah continuation cars man up originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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msnbc.com: Autos

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