This B-17 Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engine table is built from a decommissioned R-1820 engine – this is the motor that powered every wartime example of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Douglas SBD Dauntless bombers as well as countless other aircraft, armored vehicles, and tanks including the M4A6 Sherman and the M6 Heavy Tank.
The Wright R-1820 Cyclone first entered production in 1931, it’s a 9-cylinder radial engine that was loosely based on the Wright P-2 engine, and it was built under license in the Soviet Union as the Shvetsov M-25 and in Spain as the Hispano-Suiza 9V.
Over the course of its decades-long production run the R-1820 was developed into dozens of different engine specifications including diesel variants. The most powerful example was the R-1820-82WA which was capable of an eye-watering 1,525 hp.
Although there are still a considerable number of Wright R-1820 Cyclones in service, most of them have been retired, and a lucky few have been converted into functional art like this one. With a diameter of 1,600 mm (5′ 3″) and a height of 1,100 mm (3′ 7″) it’s not a diminutive piece of furniture, meaning it’d make an excellent centerpiece and an ideal beverage consumption platform in a suitably large drawing or billiard room.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, 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 millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
FlashBurn Eyewear is a new collection of sunglasses by the team at Vibrazioni Art-Design, the famous Italian design house known for their work repurposing old oil barrels into furniture, art, and custom motorcycles. There are two design styles to choose from, Welder and Grinder. Welder is a full-framed design and Grinder has a top frame…
The Martin-Baker Mk 5 ejection seat was developed alongside the Mk 4 in the 1950s as a tougher variant created to meet the specifications laid out by the US Navy. The MK 5 was installed in a wide variety of fighter, combat, and training aircraft including the F-4 Phantom, the F-86D Sabre, the Vought…
This is an original Rolls-Royce Olympus Turbojet engine (593-610), fitted with afterburner. It was fitted to a Concorde and flown at supersonic speeds as engine #3, it’s now notable as it’s the only Concorde engine sold by BA with its afterburner and serial number still in place. If you’ve been concocting a plan to buy…
This series of tees by Nik Schultz of L-Dopa Design are called “Dark Mode”, he developed the series to showcase a series of motorsport icons against the blackness of a night sky, rather than the more traditional bright white. The t-shirts include a modified Porsche 911 2.2, a Mini Cooper S, a Porsche 917, an…
The Tree Tent is the signature creation of the aptly named Tree Tents International based in England. Each of these spherical tents has is made from sustainably sourced plywood, recycled aluminium, UK-grown wool, and recyclable synthetic canvas. Inside you’ll find either a double bed or two singles, with the option to have a double and…
The Zagato Raptor Concept was developed in 1996 for Lamborghini as a possible direction for the replacement for the Diablo. The Raptor took its V12 and much of its running gear from the Diablo but it has a bespoke space frame chassis and a carbon fibre body designed in-house at Zagato under the direction of…
