A photograph taken by David Smith in 1959 of the floor of the garage that served as his Bolton Landing studio in upstate New York shows Land Coaster at an early stage of its conception ("David Smith: Notes on My Work," Arts Magazine, Feb. 1960, p. 47). Set on top of white rectangles painted on the floor, Smith has laid out groups of shapes cut from stainless steel and labeled them to indicate various sculptures being developed at the same time. Land Coaster's distinguishing wheels are not yet part of its conception, but his interest in this unusual sculpture element is clearly evident on the left side of the photo where another sculpture is labeled Doorway on Wheels.

In fact, Smith's first use of wheels as a part of the base of vertical sculptures, appears in versions III and IV from his 1957 series of nine Sentinels. As the series title implies, these nine works suggest standing figural presences. The wheels impart "the illusion that the piece is movable, a kind of sentry capable of being rolled into position...Practical as these wheels may be, they also serve a formal purpose...By slipping in the wheels...Smith separates the mass from the ground and gives the forms a visual as well as actual sense of energy." (Carmean, op cit., pp. 93-95)

Land Coaster retains the verticality of the Sentinels, but is far more abstract and open in its configuration. Nonetheless, the flat disc at the top suggests a head and the work as a whole ressembles a figure seated or standing on a wheeled vehicle. Carmean speculates that the title is "likely a reference to the prairie schooner, a canvas-covered wagon lighter than the Conestoga, which was used by pioneers in crossing the North American prairies. Such a wagon would have been part of the Smith family lore of its pioneering of Indiana, with which he identified." (Carmean, ibid., p. 174)