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 -
Nimbus Bobber
This modified 1950 Nimbus Bobber is the brainchild of Kim Scholer, a Danish man who says he chose the 22hp inline 4 due to the fact that it isn’t fast enough to get him into trouble. It’s hard to place the Nimbus into any particular category…
The Douk-Douk Knife
First created in 1929 by Gaspard Cognet the Douk-Douk knife is still made by M.C. Cognet in France using the same, time tested methods. Each blade is handmade from high-carbon steel and both handle and blade features a beautiful series of engravings that are a story unto themselves.
JAP Flat Tracker
It amazes me that some people are this cool without even trying. After spending some time looking over the photograph above I’ve hypothesised that that’s a 1940’s or 1950’s JAP based flat tracker, I’ve also decided that I want one.
Lady Grease Monkey
So an old friend of mine had a Mrs who treated him like her personal mechanic, this was more work than you might expect as she was the kind of lady who only changed up a gear when the engine was revving so high it was on the verge of creating a tear in space/time, she also liked to smush the brake pedal at the last possible moment, often creating so many forward-Gs that items in the back seat would end up embedded in the glove compartment.
No. 109 Belt by Billykirk
Billykirk creates some of the finest handmade leather gear you’ll find anywhere, this is their No. 109 belt and it features a nickel-silver buckle with hand-oiled and edged 3/4.” leather. All Billykirk products are handmade in the USA and are famous for looking better as they get older, if only that were true for all of us.
Volvo P1800
The Volvo P1800 is one of those classic cars that very nearly never existed, Volvo had contracted Karmann to build the beautiful coupé however before full production began Karmann received an ultimatum from VW clearly stating that if they built the P1800 for Volvo, VW would cancel all contracts with them.
Waxed Loden Hunt Boot by Oak Street Bootmakers
Oak Street Bootmakers is a small company that makes the kind of boots our grandfathers wore, by hand, one at a time. Founder and designer George Vlagos apprenticed in his father’s shoemaking company as a child and founded Oak Street as a way to keep the old methods alive for another generation.
Volkswagen Kommandeurwagen
It isn’t widely known that there was a 4×4 Beetle produced in Germany during the second world war, the car was dubbed the “Volkswagen Kommandeurwagen” as it was primarily designed for use by the Wehrmacht.
Moto Guzzi by Matt Machine
This Le Mans Moto Guzzi is quite easily one of the most famous Guzzi cafe racers in the world, it was released to the public last April to rapturous global applause and now, a year later, Matt has decided to list the bike for sale.
Bell & Ross WW2 Bomber Regulateur
I’ve developed a bit of a fascination with some of the recent designs from watchmaker Bell & Ross, we featured their beautiful PW1 last month and this month I’ve decided to go with this, the new Bell & Ross WW2 Bomber Regulateur.
1977 Suzuki RM370
I’m a bit of a sucker for vintage motocross machines, they seem to be popping up less and less often so when a pristine example like this 1977 Suzuki RM370 crops up, I’m all over it.
Mags Tee by The Lovewright Co.
I’m going through a bit of a tee buying frenzy in the lead up to summer, this beautiful and understated design by The Lovewright Co….