I love the BMW 3.0 CS. In fact it's definitely on my short list of cars to own some day. The power six-cylinder engine, beautiful coupe proportions, and distinctive detailing make this a favorite of mine. I discovered this rather nice example in the East Village. It was in great condition, and sporting a roof rack!
During some house-cleaning today, I turned up this old photo of my beloved blue 1973 BMW 2002, which was my first car. It was a real peach, with round tail lights, a single weber carb, very little rust, and a beautiful wooden Nardi wheel. Thought I'd put it up here to share. I have many fond memories of this car, which I learned to drive stick on. Despite the car's diminuitive size, it still had the highest steering effort I have ever experienced when parallel parking! I wonder who has the car now and why I didn't take more photos of it when I had it...
Any other '02 owners out there who want to share their stories?
After months of anticipation, BMW and Jeff Koons finally unveiled the latest in the Art Car series in Paris, in the same venue where Roy Lichtenstein unveiled his Art Car many years ago. I haven't even read any reactions about this new car on the internet yet, but here's mine: I like it! Maybe it isn't so intellectually esoteric as Jenny Holzer's race car or Olafur Eliasson's inexplicable ice sculpture. But as far as continuing the tradition started by Calder, Lichtenstein, Stella, and Warhol, Koons has clearly picked up where they left off. And he has done so in a way that is up to date and, frankly rather fetching to look at. I think the car is going to look really amazing as it blows past the spectators (and the competition?) on the Mulsanne Straight. Though viewers may not have to scratch their heads and ponder what it means, they'll find the chopped streaks of color exciting and dynamic, and I just think that's great. At night, the black car will recede and the colored stripes will leap out at the viewer like a neon comet! In this day of excessive sponsorship and car liveries that lack imagination or beauty, it is so refreshing to see a racing car that was painted with goal of expressing speed and being visually exciting. If that was his sole goal, Koons has acheived it well. I can't wait to see night photos of the car. I hope they put some irridescence in the printed colors so that it will reflect camera flashes.
If you want to read my prior article analyzing Andy Warhol's BMW M1 Art Car, click HERE.
"The Ultimate Driving Machine" has been synonymous with BMW for decades, but BMW's latest ad campaign de-emphasizes that well-loved slogan for the moment (they claim they are not abandoning it entirely) in favor of "Joy is BMW."
Naturally, the Bavarian automaker has gotten a huge amount of flak for this move from various people whose opinions I respect a lot. In particular, Peter DeLorenzo (aka the autoextremist) devoted his column this week to lambasting BMW for their boneheadedness. While many of Peter's points are on the money - namely the fact that they have over-broadened their product offerings to include bloated SUVs, the inexplicable and unforgivable X6 and other non sport-sedans, I thoroughly disagree with his assessment of the commercial itself. De Lorenzo claims that the ad is bland, and could have been made by any car company - even KIA. Makes me wonder if I saw the same ad that he did. I don't think KIA can show legions of fans polishing vintage examples of its cars, or classic roadsters like the 507 and Z8 in its ads. In the new Joy commercial, BMW's history, design culture, and performance capability are all well captured in a package that I could relate to as a car nut, but also which I think other people could find eye-opening. The ad showcases some of BMW's most forward thinking designs (such as the Gina concept) while touting their genuine following among enthusiasts with footage of BMW car club events.
In contrast to what the autoextremist says, I think that this is a refreshing step away from the overserious, monochromatic luxury sport sedan commercials -Stock white yuppie with sunglasses driving on deserted road- that BMW has been doing for years and years. The core of most German luxury sedan advertising has been about Engineering, Quality, and driving Performance enabled by advanced technology. In this respect BMW's message has been lost in the swirl of identical claims by Audi, Mercedes, and of course Lexus and the rest of the Asian luxury companies. This standard format has gotten tired, and I believe most people have learned to tune it out by now. Just as Cadillac radically altered their image a few years back in order to forge a more relevant brand identity, I don't think BMW is amiss in taking a different tack here. I don't think they should abandon "the Ultimate Driving Machine" (which is originally a line from a Pontiac GTO ad, mind you) but grow upon that and make the brand come alive more by appealing to the emotion as much as the logic of the target customer. So in my opinion this ad is successful in being disruptive, and making the viewer pay attention to the message that BMW is sending through Patrick Stewart's silky voiceover: Our cars are exhilarating to drive, technologically advanced, heirs to a noble legacy, and people of all stripes love owning them. Perhaps the mood of the commercial is overly jubilant, but so what? I like it. It's bright, optimistic and inclusive. I think it would have been just as effective though, had they kept the "Ultimate Driving Machine" tagline in the voiceover at the end. What do you think? Watch the commercial below, and contrast with the previous style of BMW ad beneath.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 12:04PM 
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