This feature documentary titled Trip Through The River Rouge Plant offers a fascinating insight into the world famous Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan. At the time of its construction the River Rouge Plant was the single largest factory in the world, it was intended for automobile production however the first vehicles produced there were actually Eagle-class…
This film is the first in a series of showcases that Silodrome will be doing on filmmakers from around the world whose films include automotive or motorcycle elements. If you’re a filmmaker and you’d like to have your work featured please get in touch via the Contact Us page. Film Description Part observation, part memory, The Cop Hunter…
This short marketing film is so abstract that I couldn’t pass up the chance to feature it here, it’s a James Bond parody of sorts, the first Bond film “Dr No” had been released in 1962 which was just 3 years earlier. It features characters named James Bland and Dr Yes, along with a few…
This 1982 Barry Sheene interview has been largely unseen for the past 36 years, it includes some fantastic quotes from Barry including him remembering a time he had to steal diesel in from a construction site in Munich to get to a Grand Prix in Austria in 1971. It was originally filmed as part of a…
John Mollo was the costume designer for Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), this is his sketchbook from the period of January 1978 to October 1979, and it includes many original costume designs from The Empire Strikes Back as well as two other films Mollo was working on at the time –…
Max Balchowsky Max Balchowsky, alongside his wife Ina, was a self-taught race car builder and racing car driver who raced his own junkyard creations in the 1950s and 1960s. Originally from West Virginia, Max and Ina set up shop at Hollywood Motors in California to work on sports cars and enthusiast cars. Max spent his…
This film covers the remarkable rediscovery of the Vixen GT, a one-off mid-engined sports car from the early 1960s built by British Formula racing driver Ian Stronach. The Vixen GT Although very few have ever heard of the Vixen GT is has a couple of very significant claims to fame. It was the first GT…
The Racing Scene is a 1969 film presented by James Garner, interestingly it’s a personal favorite of Quentin Tarantino who showcased it at the New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles alongside the Steve McQueen classic Le Mans. The film covers a wide array of different racing series and formats including sports car racing at the…
The Making Of Bullitt is a short documentary featuring Steve McQueen, it shows the film’s car chase scene in some detail including the 100+ mph training the drivers did at a race track near San Francisco. Bullitt – The Car Chase and the Oscar The film is obviously best remembered today for its ground-breaking 10…
Datsun is a Japanese automobile manufacturer with a fascinating history, they officially dropped the Datsun name in 1986 in favor of Nissan, but the Datsun badge was brought back in 2013 to sell inexpensive cars in developing countries without the risk of diluting the perceived brand value of the parent company. A Brief History of…
Once Upon A Wheel is Paul Newman’s iconic 1971 racing documentary, it’s a fascinating window into the period and it includes appearances by the likes of James Garner, Kirk Douglas, Mario Andretti, Stirling Moss, John Surtees, Richard Petty, Jackie Stewart, Hugh Downs, Dick Smothers, Dean Martin, Denny Hulme, Cesar Romero, Al Unser, Jackie Oliver, Pedro Rodriguez,…
Flying boats were initially considered to be the only way to feasibly build large aircraft successfully due to the fact that they didn’t need heavy and complex landing gear, just a hull-shaped underside allowing them to touch down on water – the water itself would act as shock absorber and runway. The great benefit of…
