Articles that Ben 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 -
Azimut Magellano 50
The Azimut Magellano line is a new direction for the Italian superyacht builder, they became famous for sleek, aerodynamic profiles that are immediately recognisable even at significant distances. With the new Magellano yachts, emphasis has been placed on classic, early 20th century styling. And I like it a great deal.
Steve McQueen In His Shelby Cobra
Steve McQueen was lent an AC Cobra in 1963 by Carroll Shelby himself, it’s fairly clear he had a great time in the British/American Ferrari killer although I am surprised to see there’s still tread on the tires.
1969 AC 428 Coupé II
The AC 428 Coupé or “AC Frua” is a singularly multicultural motorcar, the frame was built in England, the body in Italy and the V8 in America. AC Cars, most famous for the British/American Cobra, decided in 1965 to use the new, strengthened frame from the Cobra to build a GT car capable of competing with Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin.
Carter Coltrane by Imogene + Willie
The humble work shirt has survived many iterations over the years, today its far more common for the term to refer to a white collar shirt, however it used to describe shirts worn by blue collar workers.
Pikes Peak Trophy Girl
Pikes Peak represents the ragged edge of motorsport, guys slide their cars around gravel corners at 100+mph with nothing but a cliff on one side and a wall on the other.
Yamaha XS650 Café Racer by Chappell Customs
The Yamaha XS650 is a bike that gets a lot of love on the custom motorcycle scene, the parallel twin is renowned for reliability and a solid power to weight ratio and so it seems a little strange that most of the customs based on the model have been hardtail chopper/bobbers rather than café racers or flat trackers.
Lenox Sunglasses by Raen Optics
Raen is a smaller company, focussing on handmade sunglasses for the American market. Their Lenox sunglasses are all made by hand one at a time from 100% Pulp Acetate and have polarised lenses, just the thing for summer.
Amelia
This is the greatest picture of Earhart I’ve ever seen, it’s a snapshot of what was and what almost came to pass.
Yamaha XS500 by Karnage Kustoms
The team at Karnage Kustoms pulled the XS500 to pieces and went over each element, reducing weight and tossing unnecessary elements, the bike is fitted with R-1 rear sets, a stack of cafe racer equipment from Dime City Cycles, the carburettors have been rebuilt and the engine has been thoroughly sorted.
World’s Most Dangerous Sport
It seems a shame that this clip is only 0:48 seconds long, seeing people skiing down a mountain being pulled by a Porsche 550 Spyder, Porsche 356, assorted Triumphs and other motorcycles is genuinely incredible.
Freddie Spencer Explains Motorcycle Racing
This fantastic retro documentary about motorcycle racing is presented by “Fast” Freddie Spencer, it was filmed and released in 1985 so the era of 500cc 2-stoke super bikes was in full swing.
Alpine Jaguar XK120
The Jaguar XK120 was a revelation when it was first shown in 1948, the “120” in the name refers to it’s top speed of 120 mph which was the fastest top speed of any production car in the world at the time.