The most valuable car in the world?
10/18/2018
The Ferrari 250 GTO is known to be the most expensive car ever, as evidenced by transactions at auctions and private sales. USD 70 million is considered the highest mark to date.
But the GTO is probably not the most valuable car on earth, as there are several vehicles in Munich that would perhaps be significantly more expensive if they were ever sold.
We are talking about BMW Art Cars and their value is much more difficult to determine than that of "simple" racing or sports cars. As is well known, the Art Cars were designed by famous modern artists and then used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as we reported on the occasion of the current special exhibition at the BMW Museum .
For the moment, let's stay with the first four of these speeding works of art, which were painted by Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.
The question that arises here is whether these cars should be compared with works of art or with other cars, or with both. After all, these are rare racing cars that are attractive even without the special painting. And with the Le Mans entry, these vehicles were also given a valuable history, some of which ended with outstanding positions and class victories. However, this alone would probably not be enough for valuations well in excess of one or two million.
So let's turn briefly to the art market. The high-flyer of the four artists is Roy Lichtenstein, whose "Masterpiece" was traded for USD 165 million. Andy Warhol achieved USD 105.4 million with "Silver Car Crash [Double Disaster", while Alexander Calder, the inventor of the mobile, was traded for USD 25.925 million in the form of "Poisson volant". Frank Stella brought up the rear, with his painting "Delaware Crossing" valued by the market at USD 13.7 million.
If a flat, square and 137 cm tall painting by Roy Lichteinstein already exceeds the hundred million mark, shouldn't the BMW 320 from 1977 with its painting be even more expensive? After all, this work of art is much rarer.
However, Lichtenstein did not paint the large car at the time, but only a maquette. The paintwork on the Le Mans car was done by BMW painter W. Maurer. The car was also repainted after the Le Mans race.
The story is different for Warhol's M1 from 1979 (picture above). With 6th place overall at Le Mans, it almost made it to the top, beaten by four Porsches and a Rondeau. However, the paintwork was largely the work of the master himself, applied with generous brushstrokes. Naturally, corrections had to be made after the race, with the front spoiler being practically white after the 24-hour race. Nevertheless, the BMW M1 was painted by Warhol and was probably the most massive work of art that the artist, who died in 1987, left behind.
Over a hundred million for a BMW Art Car would probably be quite realistic if BMW ever wanted to part with it. However, the likelihood of this happening is low, as the Munich manufacturer's business is still going extremely well, at least at the moment.
