BMW fan turns his 330ci into an Art Car

I have always said and I will continue saying that the BMW owners and fans are some of the most passionate and loyal people out there. From all the “crazy” modding jobs to changing the paint color by using 3M tape, there is no limit to their imagination. But who believed that they would go even further and explore things never done before? Well, in a way, we did, but we were still shocked to see Travis Todd turn his car into an…..Art Car.

BMW Art Cars need no introduction and in the past few months, we have introduced to you hundreds of photos showing some of the most amazing and fascinating BMW Art Cars ever designed. Todd is a member of E46Fanatics and I would let him tell us the story behind his BMW 330ci “Art Car”.

“I purchased my 2001 BMW 330ci in September 2008 from a local individual after much searching for what I believe to be the perfect car. Being the picky one that I am, I had a list of things that were required: Black leather, coupe, 330, aluminium trim, and 5-speed were at the top of the list and were all non-negotiable. I drove the immaculate, but bone stock coupe straight home and immediately pulled the kidney grills, reflectors, and window trim off to be “blacked out” on the dining room table.

I never had plans to daily drive the car and only would be bringing it out in nice weather on weekends. One day I decided to break my own rule and drove it to work. On the way home from a long day thinking about my car in the parking lot, disaster struck. In an unavoidable accident, I struck a concrete cinder block with rebar sticking out of it that had been thrown from a truck in front of me on a bridge at 70mph. The aftermath led to the beginning of the more serious modifications. First off, an M3 front bumper, M3 mirrors, smoked corners, and m3 spoiler were purchased. After a failed vinyl wrapping attempt of the roof that involved my wife, me, a lot of four letter words, a squeegee, spray bottle, and a hairdryer, we decided to have the roof sprayed jet black while the car was at the shop getting the other pieces painted. This “incident” also allowed the purchase of 18″ CSL wheels and Tein S-tech springs.

The BMW art cars have always made an impact on me, and my wife would give a kidney for the Sharpie Lamborghini. Since you cannot go out and buy an artcar , and my wife really needs to hang on to both kidneys just in case, it was only natural for me to create something beautiful to call my own. It all began on a Saturday afternoon after pulling the hood off of the car and propping it up in the living room. After prepping the paint with denatured alcohol, I used an oil-based Sharpie brand paint marker and just started drawing. I had no plan , no stencil , or predrawing of any kind. Believe it or not, I only went through one and a half markers for the entire project. My wife was working an overnight shift and I had to keep her updated on my progress via cell phone pics. Being my greatest fan and also greatest critic, her support kept me going through the 12 hour project. I simply drew until there was no more metal to draw on.”

To read his full story and more details about his project, please visit this link.