Mobile Masterpieces: The History of BMW's Art Cars

1989 BMW M3 Group A by Ken Done

BMW Art Car # 8 - 1989 M3 Group A by Ken Done 1989 marked a milestone for the Art Car program, as it was the first instance where BMW commissioned two examples in a single year -- both based off race-spec forms of its awesome first-generation M3.

1989 BMW M3 Group A by Ken Done

Done wanted to pay tribute to his homeland, but didn’t resort to transforming the M3 racer into a piece of Papunya art. Instead, he incorporated parrots and parrot fish -- native species of Australia -- and also found inspiration in the car’s speedy history. Like Nelson’s M3, it too had previously been raced -- in fact, Jim Richards won the Group A Australian Driver’s Championship in 1987 with this very car. “I have painted parrots and parrot fish,” said Done. “Both are beautiful and move at an incredible speed. I wanted my BMW Art Car to express the same thing.”