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 -
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.
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.