This collection of silkscreen and graphite art was the last commission work Warhol did before his death, and it’s all about cars.
Andy Warhol, a name that immediately brings up images of Campbell’s soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and Marilyn Monroe, was the innovator and leader in the Pop arts movement. Being an artist, he was also someone who did commission work in addition to displaying his art in your typical museum. His final commission was paid for by Mercedes-Benz in 1986 and this set was to celebrate the German brand’s 100th anniversary. “Cars” was planned to feature 20 different Mercedes models across those 100 years as 80 different screen prints.
Unfortunately, only 49 works were completed before Warhol’s untimely passing in 1987 after recovery from a routine surgery. Now, his collection and select Mercedes-Benz iconic and historic cars are on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
It’s probably too simple to say that Andy Warhol was just an iconic painter and silkscreen artist. His work was as eclectic, vivid, and controversial as his own life was, ranging from creating art on canvas to film stock. Warhol’s work, no matter what his canvas was, spoke about artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture of the 1960s. However, it wasn’t his works on Cambell’s Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe that caught the attention of Mercedes-Benz, it was a commission by German art dealer, Hans Meyer, of a 300 SL coupe that did it.
Once they laid eyes on that interpretation of their iconic Gullwing, Mercedes knew what they wanted for their 100th anniversary. They wanted “Cars,” a collection of 80 pieces of art depicting 20 different Mercedes-Benz vehicles including the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the 1886 Daimler Motor Carriage, the 1901 Benz Mylord Coupe, the 1925 Mercedes-Benz Type 400 Tourenwagen, the 1937 W 125 Grand Prix Car and others.
“Cars” is probably not Warhol’s best known automotive work and his only work to feature non-American made or designed objects. His best known automotive artwork usually goes to the 1979 BMW M1 art car race car, commissioned by BMW. This is potentially because the work of “Cars” has only been exhibited two other times in its entirety, 1988 in Tubingen, Germany and at the Albertina in Vienna in 2010 while half the set was on display in Miton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. At least half of what was completed, as only 49 works—36 silkscreens and 13 graphite drawings—were completed before Warhol’s death in 1987.
The Petersen Automotive Museum has 40 of the 49 works of “Cars” on display along with five eight iconic Mercedes-Benz cars used in this commission. This is also the first time in over 30 years since it was created that any of the collection was on display in the United States and North America. Once Warhol passed away, what was completed went to the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection and only displayed outside of it the few times mentioned before. Even if you’re not an art fan, there are cars on display that are iconic to Mercedes and some of the most valuable cars in existence.
The first car you’re greeted with is the 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe, the Gullwing. This car is not only famous and valued for its unmistakable doors, but also because it was the first sports car produced by Mercedes after World War II. One such example sold for as much as $1.9 million, though the original car sold for around $7,000 when it was new. On average, the 1954 300 SL Coupe will fetch around $1.16 million.
To its right, as you walk forward into the Armand Hammer Foundation Gallery, you’ll quickly spot a replica of the original 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen built by Carl Benz. This was the foundation of Mercedes-Benz along with the Diamler Motor Carriage and credited as the first practical automobile. It used a 1.0 liter single cylinder engine that made around 2/3 hp. Originally, the Patent-Motorwagen sold for $150 (which would be around $4,728 in 2022) and somewhere around 25 were sold, but the sole surviving version built in 1988 resides at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Most others are replicas of the original like the one on display at the Cars Exhibit. Even as a replica, you can spend as much as $70,000 or more for one.
Continuing forward, we’re then greeted by the 1937 W 125 Grand Prix car was literally more engine than car, as most of its 1653.5 lbs was reserved for its 5.6 liter supercharged I-8 engine. This was thanks to use of nickel-chrome-molybdenum for the oval tube frame and aluminum body panels. Even as it ran a single season, the W 125 racked up six first place finishes, nine seconds, and six thirds and resulted in a 1937 Grand Prix championship in its first year out with an acclaimed top speed of 200 mph.
Continuing our clockwise walk around the Armand Hammer Gallery, we see a car that gives off a lot of DeLorean vibes, but this is a 1970 Mercedes-Benz Type C 111-II experimental vehicle. The original C 111 not only had this wedge-shaped fiberglass body with a 0.191 Cd, but it also had a mid-mounted three-rotor Wankel rotary engine with fuel injection before the Mazda 20B was even a thing. According to Mercedes, this Wankel produced 350 hp and was capable of 186 mph. This C 111-II, however, uses a 500 hp 4.8 liter twin turbo V-8 engine, instead, that set a 250.958 mph average lap record at the Nardo Ring with Hans Liebold behind the wheel on May 5, 1979. There were 16 C 111s produced, 13 with the Wankel engine, two with a diesel engine, and a single V-8 engined car, but no C 111s were ever produced for the buyers, even those who offered blank checks.
The final car in the Armand Hammer Gallery is the 1954 W 196 R Formula 1 Grand Prix car. It was essentially a streamliner version of the W 196 Grand Prix car known as the “Type Monza” body. It was first raced at Circuit Reims in Guex, France as part of the 1954 French Grand Prix. It was a high-speed track where Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling claimed a 1-2 finish, but it was Hans Herrmann that set the fastest lap of that race at 2:32.9 on the 5.159 mile circuit. This was in no small part due to its technological advancements its engine had at the time.
It was not only the first ever Grand Prix car to use mechanical direct fuel injection, but also the use of springless desmodromic valves in its 2.5 liter I-8 engine to produce 253.5 hp. It also used Elektron magnesium-alloy bodywork, in-board drum brakes and a double wishbone front suspension with torsion bars fitted inside the aluminum tubes of the frame. In 2013, Chassis number “00006/54” W 196 R was sold by Bonhams auction during that year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed for $29.6 million and was the only example in private hands. All others are owned by Mercedes-Benz or by museums, as is the case of this W 196 R that is on loan from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
However, outside the Cars exhibit is a vehicle unique to being owned by Andy Warhol, a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. The thing was, Warhol did not have a driver’s license. Instead, he purchased it, brand new, in 1974 with its 6.75 liter V-8 engine and owned it until his unfortunate passing. Rather than drive the Silver Shadow illegally, he would allegedly have friends like Jed Johnson, Liza Minnelli, Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, and even Jacqueline Kennedy chauffeur him around instead. As we said, his life was as eccentric as his own artwork was.
If you want a once-in-a-lifetime experience, do yourself a favor and see the Andy Warhol Cars exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum while it’s on display. You may not have another chance to see it again once the artwork and cars travel back to their respective homes. Because, remember, it was only in North America last when Andy Warhol was still alive.
