I've walked countless times through New York's Grand Central Station while on my way to the J. Walter Thompson ad agency next door. During those memorable years I observed many unusual things (and people!) in that great terminal but never, ever, did I see a car in the station. Now BMW has produced a special display of its renowned "Art Cars" as part of a public exhibition to run from March 25th to April 6th in Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall. Cars by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Frank Stella (an avid racing fan) will be shown while a fifth car, a 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster used by contemporary artist Robin Rhode to create a painting, will also be on display. For me, currently living 3000 miles west of Manhattan, this is one of those rare events that make me wish I was there again.

The concept for the BMW Art Cars was introduced by Hervé Poulain, a French auctioneer and race driver from France. Searching for a link between art and automobiles he asked his friend and famous artist Alexander Calder to paint a rolling canvas on a BMW 3.0 CSL, the same car he would race in Le Mans in 1975. Prompted by enormous enthusiasm for his art on wheels, BMW then decided to put the idea into establishing an Art Car Collection. Altogether it's a group of 16 cars from a 635CSi to an M1, each painted on by world famous artists plus some lesser-known but upcoming talent. Even without the art these cars would be valuable to collectors but now they're priceless. The New York Times online edition has a slide show featuring all of the cars. You can view it here.

[Photo courtesy of http://media.newscastus.com]