Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more. Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Ben Branch -
Hobo Nickel Ring
The Hobo Nickel is the American version of an art form that began to appear in the mid-1700s as sailors, travellers and railwaymen whiled away the hours by carving their coins into miniature works…
An Original 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta
The De Tomaso Mangusta was famously named after the Mongoose – the only animal that hunts and kills cobras. It’s widely thought that the name was a friendly jab at Carroll Shelby, whose AC…
1932 Helicon Propeller Car
In 1932 somewhere deep in the French countryside a project was underway to build an automobile with a slightly unusual method of propulsion. It isn’t known if the designer of the Helicon was a pilot or an aircraft engineer, but it’s clear that the car takes a significant amount of influence from early aircraft design.
Norton Commando Scrambler
The Norton Commando is a motorcycle that defied the odds to become a cult classic in its own lifetime, it was developed to compete with the new wave of bikes coming out of Japan…
Mechanic Renaissance Series by Freddy Fabris
This fantastic series of images were created by veteran photographer Freddy Fabris. He wanted to capture the spirit of iconic Renaissance works and after coming across a garage in the American Midwest he was…
Steve McQueen’s Porsche 911T
The Porsche 911T made its debut in 1967 as a direct replacement for the 912 as an entry level version of the now legendary 911. The “T” in its name stood for “Touring” and…
Who is your Chassis and What Does it Do?
/ENGINEERED is a new technical series by the talented team behind /DRIVE, this episode is titled Who is your Chassis and What Does it Do?, and it features Joey Seely – the co-owner of…
1965 Jaguar E-Type Series 1
Jaguar introduced the E-Type in 1961 – It was a car with sweeping lines that was faster than any contemporary road-going Ferrari at half the price. Enzo Ferrari himself called it “The most beautiful…
Worth Motorcycle Company BMW R60
The Worth Motorcycle Company is a nonprofit organisation based in New York that teaches at-risk youth the art and engineering of vintage motorcycle restoration. Each student works their way through a 48-52 week course…
The Sandqvist Roald Ground Backpack
The Roald Ground Backpack by Sandqvist is a classically styled Scandinavian hiking carry-all with a 17 litre capacity, a padded laptop compartment and two outer pockets. Sandqvist named the backpack after the Norwegian polar…
Donald Healey’s Personal Austin-Healey 100S Coupe
In 1953 Donald Healey asked Gerry Coker, his chief designer, to design two hard-top/coupe versions of the popular Austin-Healey 100. The two designs were slightly different and Donald preferred the red one, so he…
Acme Traffic Regulator
The Acme Traffic Regulator sounds like something Wile E. Coyote would use to lay an elaborate trap for Road Runner, but it actually used to be a very common sight on the streets of…