Posts Tagged ‘CSL’

Calder and the CSL

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Now I know we might be accused of becoming a little obsessed with the rakish lines of the BMW CSL of late, and that we also bang on a little about the relationship between art and the car.

But indulge us on a little bit of Friday morning admiration.

Imagine being able to make a living from a) driving cars quickly, and b) from painting colourful creations, making mobiles and innov­ative scult­pures in all the colours of the pallete. That’s one thing that seem to us a healthy aspiration.

When you combine these two things, then something special just may happen.

When French gallerist and racing driver Hervé Poulain commis­sioned American born avant garde artist Calder to tag up his CSL in 1975, it was a stroke of genius in itself.

Calder’s art was all about movement and colour in space — the man was after all in credited with the invention of the now kid-​​bedroom-​​standard ‘mobile’.

Three strokes of genius. BMW’s Poulain’s and Calder himself.

That’s what we call the art of the motor.

CSL Heaven

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Talk about a green car. Every now and then we like to post pictures that make you fall in love with the idea of moving fast along a well-​​tarmaced road. The CSL is the epitome of cool German design.

Lightweight, super-​​nimble and fast as you like, the light­weight version of the iconic CS was a homolog­ation special and just over 1000 units were made.

We’re not sure if this beauty is a series 1, 2, or 3 –  the main differ­ences involved carbs versus injection and a slight difference in engine displacement.

Whichever version this is, we think it’s the nicest example we’ve ever seen.

And this is a classic cutaway too.