Peter Gregg IMSA car FS

[996 esquire]

Peter Gregg's BMW Pro Group Four race car FS at Bonhams auction.
.....you were expecting maybe a Porsche?


The 1979 BMW M1, featuring a custom paint job by Frank Stella.Visitors to the atrium of the IBM Building, at 56th Street and Madison Avenue, encounter a brightly colored BMW M1 painted by the artist Frank Stella in 1979. Many pause and pose for mobile phone photos, and with good reason.

The car will be on display all week in the atrium, which adjoins the offices of Bonhams auction house, to advertise its presence in a collector car auction scheduled for Aug. 18 and 19 at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif., held concurrently with the Pebble Beach week of automotive events. According to the auction house, the car is being sold by the Guggenheim Museum, its current owner, to finance other acquisitions. Bonhams’ presale estimate is $450,000 to $600,000.
Bonhams“This is the only BMW car ever painted by an authorized factory artist for a private client and, therefore, is totally unique from the 16 official Art Cars commissioned to date by BMW,” a statement issued by Bonhams said. Although not an official part of the company’s series of art cars, it is the next best thing, said Rupert Banner, automotive expert at Bonhams. “You could call it the only art car not in captivity,” he said.
BMW is not likely to sell art cars in its possession, making the offering a rare opportunity. This car was specially ordered from BMW Motorsport GmbH in 1979 by Peter Gregg, a seven-time International Motor Sports Association world-champion racer and built to BMW Pro Car Group Four specifications.
The car was given to the Guggenheim Museum in 1999, Mr. Banner said, and had been lightly maintained and driven on rare occasion, including by Jochen Neerpasch, a German racecar driver and team manager, with Mr. Stella in the passenger seat at a Pro Car M1 racing event in 2003.
Radhe Vaswani, an advertising account executive who had stopped to look at the car, said she was not familiar with the art car program. “It reminds of the car in ‘Back to the Future,’” she said. She wasn’t far off. Like the M1, the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 famous from the film was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and shares its low, thin front end.
The interrupted, gridlike pattern of the decorative scheme painted by Mr. Stella appears to have been draped across the car. Mr. Stella signed the car on its louvered back. It also famously wears the double BMW badges on its rear quarters. For its part, the M1 was inspired by Paul Bracq’s Turbo concept; both were reprised in 2008 with the debut of the BMW M1 concept, unveiled at the 2008 Villa d’Este collector car event, held at Lake Como, Italy.
BMW Motorsports built fewer than 500 M1s from 1978 through 1981. Andy Warhol painted another M1 as an art car in 1979.
It was the Art Car program that put Mr. Stella, a longtime fan of motorsports, in contact with race drivers. But it was not until 1976, when he was commissioned by BMW to paint a 3.0 CSL, that he began to spend time on the courses of Europe. At Le Mans, he met Peter Gregg, who drove the 3.0 CSL at the fabled French circuit. The two became friends.
While Mr. Stella’s 3.0 wore a pattern resembling graph paper, the M1 displays a blue, rose and purple pattern with a grid suggesting latitude and longitude. It is based on Stella’s series of paintings and prints called Polar Coordinates. (Mr. Stella’s work tends to fall into thematic groups, from the early Protractor series to one called Indian Birds. Later, he produced a series inspired by renowned racetracks called Circuits.)
The BMW Art Cars series began in 1975 when the company commissioned Alexander Calder to paint a car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The most recent addition was a car by Jeff Koons. Another BMW Art Car, a 525i from 1991 by Esther Mahlangu, is on display a few blocks away from the IBM Building, in the lobby of the Museum of Arts and Design as part of its Global Africa show, through May 15.

[996 esquire]

Yes, expecting a red, white and blue 911 variant, but this is nice too.
I think if there are a couple of enthusiastic bidders, the estimates a low.
Bill K

[carr914]

I would think that BMW would want to buy it - while not an "Official" Art Car, it still has significance

[URY914]

I took these photos in 1983 when it was stored at the old Brumos' racing shop.

[URY914]

[URY914]

I've only seen one magazine article about it. It was a one page layout years ago.

[URY914]

BTW why are you calling this an IMSA car? It never ran an IMSA race.

[jluetjen]

When you said Peter Gregg IMSA car (on Off-Track) I was expecting this...

[Racerbvd]

[xbrumossalesman]

A little piece of trivia that some of you probably already know....Frank Stella was in the car with Peter Gregg when he had his wreck on the way to the track at Le Mans that began his off track issues.

[996 esquire]

Originally Posted by URY914

BTW why are you calling this an IMSA car?

Sorry I made a mistake. The post has been edited to reflect that fact.
Bob S.