The days of shooting straight to 8mm film are gone for most people, that said there is a small community of film makers still specialising in the craft and as a result you can still buy fully operational cameras and film online.
The film they shoot can be digitised without too much hassle in most major cities, so the vintage cameras provide a unique perspective, far removed from the innumerable “vintagized” iPhone videos online.
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.
This 16-cylinder stirling engine is a fully-functioning model capable of speeds of almost 2,000 rpm. It’s powered by burning butane (lighter gas), there’s a small clear cylinder at the rear of the engine that feeds gas through copper pipes up to the 8 bases of the rear “hot” cylinders. Stirling Engines Stirling engines are remarkably simple,…
At first glance this 1958 Ice Speedster looks like a prop from one of the original Star Wars films. In fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if George Lucas had encountered one and used it as a base for the X-34 Landspeeder driven by Luke Skywalker on Tattoine. Snow Planes Those of you from…
The Original 1960s Batmobile The original Batmobile from the 1966 TV series was famously built by George Barris with just 3 weeks notice. The contract to build the Batmobile had first been given to well-known car customizer Dean Jeffries, who began the project using a 1959 Cadillac as the starting point. The contract was pulled…
A Note of Warning: Near the end of this film there are a few racing accidents that likely resulted in the death or serious injury of the drivers involved. If there’s a possibility you’ll find that troubling please consider not watching the film. Devil Drivers is a pre-WWII racing documentary that was likely filmed in…
This Ford Model T Track-Nose is one of the most well-known hot rods of its era, it was built by Jack Thompson with help from Claude Hampson, and it appeared in the August 1958 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Track-Nose hot rods have a distinctive look that sets them apart from their more traditional counterparts,…
Abel Brown is an American motorcycle gear company based in Fort Collins, Colorado. They pride themselves on very close attention to detail and only using the best materials, to create gear that’ll last for decades. Just like it did back in the old days before the race to the lowest price-point began. Each pair of…
