In the 1920s and 30s it was common for people to personalise their cars with custom radiator caps – the radiators were commonly exposed out on the front of the car and so the mascot would be out in front for all to see, not unlike the nautical figureheads used on sailing ships.
This three wise monkeys mascot is nickel plated bronze, it was made in France in the 1920s and it carries the signature of the A. Delm – the artist who designed it. It stands at 10cm high (4 inches) and will likely sell for between £300 and £600 when it sells via Bonhams on the 19th of September.
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.
The Pilot Racer Jacket by Vaktare M.G. was designed as a modern motorcyclist’s equivalent of the iconic WWII fighter pilot and bomber crew flight jacket. The team at Vaktare M.G. make all of their jackets in Los Angeles by hand in small batches to keep a close eye on quality. The Pilot Racer jacket uses…
This series of 12 automobile mascots from the upcoming Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais are from the golden age of motoring, when exposed radiators led to an entire industry popping up to provide unique, aspirational, and often comedic mascots to attach to the top of radiator caps. Most mascots of this era were…
The BaughbLabs Aluminum Pen was designed to be the last pen you’ll ever need to buy. It was developed by architect Robert Isaac to have no breakable clicking or moving elements other than the screw down end, and each pen is individually milled from a solid 3/8″ diameter 6061-T6 aluminum alloy rod. 6061-T6 aluminum alloy is used in applications where…
The Überleben Lødern is a ferro rod (ferrocerium) fire starter designed to last a minimum of 12,000 strikes, sending out a shower of sparks at 5,430 °F. Ferrocerium is a pyrophoric alloy that produces hot sparks when it’s rapidly oxidized, typically by quickly scraping a piece of metal down its length. This property has made…
The Simpson Street Bandit Helmet is a design that’s been around since the 1970s, the American company recently updated it with all modern materials and it now meets the exceptionally challenging Snell M2015 helmet certification standard (as well as the regular DOT). This is the motorcycle-specific version of the Street Bandit, it has an enlarged…
The original Petromax lantern was designed in 1910 in Germany by Max Graetz, the name of the lantern is a combination of “petrol” and “Max” a reference to its fuel source and its creator. Graetz developed the lantern based on principles that were already well-understood at the time, he differentiated his lantern from its competitors by…
