Maranello Moderne

It is hardly surprising that Ferrari brochures from the 1950s are as stunning as the cars.

Tuff Enuff

There was a time when you could paint whatever the hell you liked on your car. A refreshing change from today's sterile quarter mile where everything is driven by the uninspiring corporate dollar.

Surf O Rama

Presenting the ultimate in personal motorized surf transportation. Designed and constructed by George Barris this sporty little number is ideal for hodads and lazy surfers alike.

Guardian Of The Galaxy

Honey With A Hive

Our model is wearing the latest vinyl ensemble from Watson's House Of Style. Add a blonde beehive and Ed Roth's Road Agent for the hippest look this summer.

The Kandy Man

A great shot of custom painter extraordinaire Larry Watson's 1959 Cadillac.

It's A Miracle

Is there anything he can't do ?

La Curva Del Diavolo

Movie titles always sound much more sinister in Italian.

The Man In The Moon Jacket

May I be of assistance ?

Mind Bender

Le Mans 1970.

Amongst the profusion of competitors that year, one car stood out. This car resembled no other. Unmistakeably emblazoned with a swirling green and violet paint scheme, the hippie car as it became known, appeared to have been decorated by a mob of acid fueled signwriters. Looking for all the world like it ran on pure L.S.D, the Martini and Rossi sponsored Porsche 917 was a psychedelic slingshot capable of a mind bending 385 km/h. For a few short years psychedelia and motor sport met head on and this was their most outrageous descendant. Who cares that it came second that year, as its spectacular technicolor form is indelibly etched into history.

Mission Control

Peace Love And Methanol

Was there anything more extraneous amidst the Summer Of Love than a nitro burning dragster ?

Go Kart Au Go Go

Here is the perfect soundtrack for your next

go kart party.

Tharkol Lord of The Unknown

Another offering from the

Magnetic Brain Science Fiction Repository.

Dirtbike Deadbeats

Lookout !!!

The Satans are running wild.

Those creeps are bad news

and there's nothing the fuzz can do.

Miss Scat Pack

Get on it baby

Run with the Dodge Scat Pack !!!

The Brain Of Evil

Why is a machine gun needed to fight the mad scientist with the green complexion ? I have absolutely no idea but it makes for a wonderful poster. Too much of El Santo is never enough.

Patrulla 54 Where Are You ?

Cowabunga

Daddy-Oh

Aeons ago I drove my daddy up the wall until he bought me this decal. Gotta dig a martini and bow tie gassin' it into the asphalt jungle.

Endsville.

The Future Was 1970

What hasn't been going on for the last four decades ? I may be totally mistaken but I cannot recall anything this revolutionary being created in the interim. Imagine the stunned responses when Ferrari's Modulo was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970. Absolutely nothing this audacious had been attempted until progressive thinker Paolo Martin decided to unsettle the automotive establishment with this ground breaking design.

It is now 2009 and any unconstrained concepts appear to have been covertly deposited into a state of constant suspension.

Where are they ?

To The Batcave

"Holy Italian sports cars Batman."

Long before the George Barris restyled Lincoln Futura was secreted deep beneath Wayne Manor, Alfa Romeo had been busy in Turin building not one but three of their own batmobiles. Between 1953 and 1955 Alfa and their stylistic collaborators Bertone constructed three wildly futuristic concepts based on aerodynamic principles.

Named the Berlinetta Aerodynamica Technica or more simply B.A.T. their shapes were reminiscent of a bat, with the tail suggesting two tucked-in wings. Originally conceived to explore the effects of streamlining, these surrealistic sensations were the brainchild of Franco Scaglione who incorporated both aeronautical theories and jet design.

Introduced consecutively to great acclaim at the Turin Motor Show they were the manifestation of the future. With most early post-war automobiles exhibiting all the panache of a double breasted grey flannel suit, these visionary marvels appeared entirely capable of transporting their occupants into another dimension.

Pinninfarina's Finest

How is it possible that a car as beautiful as this Ferrari 250 GT Lusso was conceived without the aid of a computer ? Perhaps computers should be banished from automotive concept studios immediately as most modern vehicles look to have taken their inspiration from the world of designer sneakers.

Viva Mangusta

The De Tomaso Mangusta still cuts a menacing figure over 40 years after it was introduced. I don't know what Giorgio Guigiaro and his contemporaries were drinking but I wish some of today's designers would take a couple of shots of vino instead of saki.

Viva Mangusta !!

The Giant Killers

For many years the concept of a high performance Volkswagen seemed totally contradictory. To the uneducated, the suggestion that the lowly Volkswagen Beetle may be able to humiliate both European and American machinery over the quarter mile would appear to be sheer nonsense. The sight of the humble "people's car" standing on its rear wheels like some untamed stallion is totally incongruous to the average driver. Yet this is exactly the sight that greeted many an unsuspecting opponent both on and off the track.

Eliciting extensive reserves of horsepower from motors of small capacity has long been the domain of those who championed the Beetle. Volkswagen afficionados have always been the underdog, having much less to work with than many of their adversaries. The VW was never designed with racing in mind. Perhaps this was the force that drove those deranged owners to embarass their rivals. Whatever the reasoning behind their dedication, it is always a delight to see a dark horse upset the favourite.

Long Live The Underdog.

Teardrops On The Salt

The hot rodders of post war America, young men fresh home from the front line, were able to extract incredible amounts of speed from the discarded surplus of the U.S. Government's war effort. Southern California's dry lakes and later the vast salt flats of Bonneville were the perfect environs for this band of mechanical mavericks to test their homebuilt projectiles. With newly learned skills, acquired whilst serving in the military, they were able to register previously unheard of speeds in their flat out runs across the lake beds. There were no stylistic preconceptions or overbearing sanctioning bodies to hinder them as they wringed every last drop of horsepower out of their recycled missiles. Limited finances and resources only fuelled their imaginations and they adapted whatever was readily available, in their quest to be the fastest. Without access to wind tunnels or an acute understanding of drag coefficients, they recognised a silhouette of speed in the disposable excess of battle.

Their weapon of choice was the long range fuel tank from the Lockheed P-38 fighter plane. Here was an aerodynamic aluminium skin perfectly suited to their intended high speed missions. All manner of military componentry was scavenged from squadrons of obsolete warbirds, providing the necessary elements for an all out assault on the record books. In reality, the designers of these war machines played just as an important role in the burgeoning post war hot rod industry as did the constructors of these screaming teardrops. To an observer at one of these competitions, the image of these ovoid forms hurtling toward the horizon must have resembled a four wheeled invasion from outer space. Personally, the appeal of these bellytanks lies in their utilitarian construction, the paradox being that those abandoned relics of war were also objects of great beauty and ultimately speed.

Replica Ducati Imola - L'italiano Purosangue

Questa è la definizione del sesso su ruote, una delle moto più belle mai prodotte, la Ducati 750 SS 1974. Gustare. La magnetica cerebrale.

The Martians Are Coming

"Do not be alarmed earthling we will not harm you."

Metalflake And Magnesium

Funny cars aren't so funny any more. Drag racing was once a marvelous visual feast until corporate sponsorship strangled the last breath of individuality out of the sport. Dragstrips were choked with kandy koated beasts, cackling impatiently, ready to unleash their fury in a frenzied exhibition of smoke and fire, like maniacal fibreglass dragons.The cars had names as exciting as the show itself. Pandemonium, Rambunctious, Malfunction, Assasination, Brutus, Trojan Horse, Pure Hell, The Melrose Missile, Speed Freak, Mental Cruelty and the list goes on. Drivers were individuals with names to match. The Snake, The Mongoose, The Flying Dutchman, Mr Norm and The Hawaiian all vied for the winner's cheque. It was pure theatre. The spectacle has long since lost its lustre. Today's cars are virtually indistinguishable, their generic body shapes having all the visual appeal of a melted plastic spoon. Metalflake and magnesium have long since departed the dragstrip, driven to extinction by mechanised billboards. Yesterday's nitro trailblazers may not have been as quick as their modern counterparts but they looked a hell of a lot better burning down the strip.

Land Of The Giants

Who came up with this kooky stuff ? For more madness check out

http://www.jrcentral.com/

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