What do legendary artists Alexander Calder and Keith Haring have in common with a young, up-and-coming Lisbon artist named Vasco Costa? Each applied his talent and skill to rolling, automotive art. Calder was the artist responsible for what is arguably the most recognizable example of this genre, the very first BMW Art Car: a 3.0 CSL raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975. Keith Haring painted a 1971 Series 3 Land Rover shown at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in 2016. And Vasco?
Welcome to a very special Land Rover 110 from CoolNVintage, one of the very first to roll off the assembly line in 1983 as the successor to the Series III. This would make it special enough. But this particular Land Rover is also the only one, as far as we know, to have a hand-painted chassis – by Vasco Costa. So, if you want to really admire the artistry of the artist and engineers who brought this car back to life, you need to take put it up on a lift or crawl underneath it.
Ricardo Pessoa, Cool & Vintage’s founder, has his own explanation for the unusual idea of rolling art you can’t see. “It began with a life-long passion for Land Rovers, the arts, and our hometown of Lisbon,” he comments. “Unlike museum pieces, our cars are built to be driven. For us, all of life is a journey, however one chooses to define it: a road trip or an hour in a museum contemplating a single piece. Our clients understand that art is a profoundly personal thing and doesn’t need to be worn on one’s sleeve or blaring on the side of a car.”
