Celluloid doesn’t get much better than this, The Italian Job is essential viewing for any self-respecting red blooded male. Featuring Michael Caine and Noel Coward the 1969 comic caper centres around a gold heist in Turin, Italy.
This bike is, without question, my personal favourite build yet from The Wrenchmonkees. Based on a Norton Commando the minimalist, industrial style appeals to me. Probably because it looks exactly like a stripped down racer you’d have seen parked en masse outside the 59 Club in the 1960s.
Imagine if, for less than $1,000 USD you could build a jet engine in your garage, strap it to the vehicle of your choice, and blast off into the sunset. If this sounds like something suitably crazy for you I have good news. A man they call “Maddox” has your back. For $1,015 he’ll send you a kit that you can build with basic tools in your shed or garage.
This long line of Porsche 917s was taken in 1969, the cars are all awaiting delivery to their respective race teams. The 917 went on to win Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, it was also the car that co-starred in Steve McQueen’s now infamous 1971 film “Le Mans”.
Rat Rods are one of those things that I love in spite of myself. I’d be embarrassed to drive one around town but I’d love to race them on dirt roads, up windswept beaches or across the Bonneville salt flats.
The X-15 Space Plane had a top speed of Mach 6.72 (4,520 mph, 7,274 km/h) a service ceiling of 67 mi (108 km, 354,330 ft) and a blistering climb rate of 60,000 ft/min (18,288 m/min), the space planes were fuelled with liquid oxygen propellant and hydrogen peroxide.
The Honda CB400ss is a reliable and highly capable thumper that produces 29hp and 23ft-lbs of torque, the original bike weighs in at just 139kgs (306lbs) and by the looks of it, this reworked version is even lighter still.
The 1984 Mercedes Saloon Car race at the Nürburgring was meant to be a casual affair, quite who thought it actually would be a casual affair is unclear. It seems naive to think that a race track stacked with some of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, all in identical cars, would be anything other than a four-wheeled version of a bare knuckle fist fight.
Finding motorcycle boots is a matter of balance. At one end of the spectrum you have the hyper-modern-flashy-graphics boots with carbon fibre toe guards and dayglo neon logo’s emblazoned across every inch of available space and at the other end of the spectrum you have the “I’m a hard-core dentist wannabe biker” boots that are generally all black with lots of shiny chrome studs (and maybe even spurs).
Bolting a supercharger onto the side of a Honda CB750, then adding nitros, seems like the work of a maniacal, café racer obessed genius. And in this case, that’s exactly what it is. Built by Carpy, the tattooed two-wheeled engineering whizz over at CB750 Café.