Craig Vetter

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Craig Vetter is an inventor and designer. Having been influenced by Buckminster Fuller in the 1960s, whose message was to “Do more with less,” the common thread of Vetter’s work became to “Live better on less energy.”
 In an era when motorcycles got 40 mpg and cars got 12 mpg, Vetter invented, designed and manufactured equipment that made riding motorcycles more enjoyable. His timing was good. A whole generation rode with him.

Vetter’s Windjammer became the most popular motorcycle fairing ever made. Today, every motorcycle manufacturer produces a model with the motorcycle touring components Vetter invented. In the 1980s, Vetter hosted the Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Contests in which, over 6 years, winning mileage went from 78 mpg to 470 mpg. By the time he sold his company, Vetter Corporation was second largest motorcycle-oriented manufacturing company in the United States. Only Harley-Davidson was bigger.

In 1998, Vetter’s design for the British Triumph Hurricane was selected to be in the Guggenheim “Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit which toured the world. Vetter’s work has earned him a place in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Vetter’s interests are not limited to motorcycles. He invented a sun-powered “Still Water Aerator” for Alcoa to help to keep ponds from dying. He built windmills that compressed air for his factory. He owned California Cooperage, a hot tub company where he designed unique, insulated tub covers and clever wood fired heaters. For another company he founded, Equalizer Corp, his innovative human powered design won the Boston Marathon wheelchair class in 1982.

Vetter continues to develop ways to live better on less energy in his homestead studio near the ocean in Carmel, California. His current “Freedom Machine” is being designed to get 100 mpg at 70 mph, into a 30 mph headwind, carrying 4 bags of groceries and be the most comfortable vehicle in the garage. Like all Vetter inventions, there is nothing like it.

Looking ahead, Vetter is planning for a world without electricity in the lines or gas at the pumps. How will we survive if such a situation comes about?
Vetter invites interaction as he discusses solutions on his blog for MOTHER EARTH NEWS. He intends to offer plans and kits for solutions that MEN readers will find useful.

Consider the proposals in his blog's first post, The Dream of Independence, Freedom, Personal Responsibility and Self-Sufficiency. This man does not see things the way most of us do. Is he right or is he wrong? One thing for sure: Craig Vetter has a remarkable record of success.
At any time, you can see his work at www.craigvetter.com

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Vintage Fine Art Illustrations Reproductions

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Retroscope : All their illustrations are inspired by period ads or posters, but every graphic elements of the image (subject, logos, fonts) gets totally redrawn.
They also produce “Custom” creations, giving their clients the possibility to generate a unique “à la carte” poster, providing their own images and concepts.

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1930 HENDERSON CUSTOM

The machine is apparently based on a 1930 Henderson—presumably the 100 mph (160 km/h) Streamline model—and was built in 1936 by a gent called O. Ray Courtney. Today the bike is owned by Frank Westfall of Syracuse, a motorcycle collector and local identity, who was seen happily riding this extraordinary motorcycle around the showgrounds.

According Mortillaro, “The craftsmanship is absolutely stunning and it’s surely more of a museum piece than a daily rider. Frank has obviously spent an incredible amount of time meticulously restoring and rebuilding the bike to its current state.”

As a marque, Henderson is unfortunately buried in the sands of time, despite a short-lived attempt to revive the name in the late 90s. But until its demise in 1931, the Excelsior Motor Mfg. & Supply Co.—the owner of the Henderson brand—was one of the ‘Big Three’ American motorcycle manufacturers, along with Harley-Davidson and Indian.

[ Texts from BikeEXIF. First four images by kind permission of Grail Mortillaro, © Knucklebuster. Final image located by Pete Plassmann. Thanks also to Bill Tikos, Benjie Flipperboi, Scott Ruffalo and Twitter denizens Fuzzygalore and qcmw. ]

Shinya Kimura @ Chabott Engineering

shinya kimura @ chabott engineering from Henrik Hansen on Vimeo.

A short film about custom motorcycle engineer shinya kimura @ chabott engineering, directed by Henrik Hansen www.henrikhansen.net, shot on the Canon 5D and 7D.

Vintage Drag Racing

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Vintage Drag Racing by : Cynthia Meyer Art

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3D Artwork

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This guy from Israel is just simply amazing. Take time to visit his website, 3D-Files, and ... dream



Copyrights © 2009 Amir Glinik


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David Brown

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Sir David Brown (10 May 1904 - 3 September 1993) was an English entrepreneur, managing director of his family firm David Brown Limited and one time owner of shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft.
Brown was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. After attending Rossall School he started work as an apprentice in the family business, David Brown Gear Company Ltd. He became managing director in 1931, on his uncle Percy's death. In 1934 the company built a new factory on a site at Meltham, on the south side of Huddersfield. Brown, who also owned a farm, started building tractors with Harry Ferguson there in 1939, but they disagreed over design details, which led David Brown to design his own version.

During the Second World War his new heavier tractor, called the David Brown VAK1, was produced, with over 7,700 units eventually sold, making Brown into a wealthy man. Harry Ferguson went to America and did a deal with Henry Ford to incorporate his system in the Fordson N series, before setting up Ferguson tractors. In 1972, the David Brown tractor interests were sold to Tenneco International (Inc.), and were rebadged as Case.



In 1947, Brown saw a classified advertisement in The Times, offering for sale a High Class Motor Business. Brown acquired Aston Martin for £20,500 and, in the following year, Lagonda for £52,500, followed by the coachbuilder Tickford in 1955. He subsequently concentrated all the Aston Martin manufacturing at the Tickford premises in Newport Pagnell.



The legendary 'DB' series of Aston Martin cars, including the Atom, the DB2, the DB3, the DB4, the DB5 (famously driven by fictional character James Bond), the DB6, and the DB7 - Aston's most successful model yet - were named after Brown using his initials. Ironically, while at the helm of Aston Martin, he actually used a rival product, a Jaguar XJ Series I, as personal transport. Aston Martin was sold off in the 1970s when the company was in financial difficulties.



He was a natural adventurer who owned race horses, played polo, raced cars and motorcycles, and was a qualified pilot. He was knighted in 1968.



He married three times, to Daisy Muriel Firth in 1926, Marjorie Deans (his secretary) in 1955 and to Paula Benton Stone in 1980. He had two children, David and Angela, both of whom entered the family business. Angela married George Abecassis the racing driver. Sir David Brown died in September 1993 in Monte Carlo, 8 years before David Brown Ltd was acquired by Textron Inc.


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William Fife

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William Fife III OBE (1857-1944), also known as Wm. Fife, Jr., was the third generation of a family of Scottish yacht designers and builders.
Fife was born in the small village of Fairlie on the Firth of Clyde. His father and grandfather (both also named William and often referred to as Fife I and Fife II) had also been designers and boatbuilders in Fairlie. The family business operated from a yard on the beach in the village. Fife began building yachts in 1890 and soon surpassed the achievements of his father and grandfather and became known as one of the premier yacht designers of the day.

Fife designed two America's Cup yachts for grocery and tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton who challenged for the cup a total of five times. The Fife-designed challenger Shamrock I (1899) lost to Columbia (Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, 1899) and Shamrock III (1903) lost to Reliance. After the establishment of the first International Rule in 1906, Fife became a prolific designer of meter boats, designing and building several very successful 15mR and 19mR yachts in the years leading up to the Great War.




Éric Tabarly, the famous French sailor, two time winner of the OSTAR and owner of the Fife design Pen Duick (formerly Yum, 1898), writing on the designs produced by Fife during the first few decades of the century noted that: "the great designers of the period were Herreshoff, George Lennox Watson, Nicholson and William Fife. Amongst these, Fife has acquired a particular reputation thanks to the sheer artistry and balance of his designs. Furthermore, those of his designs which took shape in his yard were of unmatched construction."



While Fife established a leading reputation on the yacht racing circuit, his work also included a number of fine cruising vessels. Dr. William Collier of Fairlie Restorations in Hamble, UK, writing on Fife's work in the 1920s, noted that during this period, ”[Fife] designed and built not only smaller Metre boats but also a series of fine cruisers. This combination typified the inter-war era of the Fairlie yard. Like the schooner Altair (1931), many of the cruisers echo his turn of the century designs such as Cicely (1902) or Suzanne (1906); similarly there were few fundamental differences in his ketch designs spanning this era. Perceived by some as anachronistic, these yachts were considered by many to represent some of the greatest refinements of the auxiliary cruising yacht ever achieved.” Id.
The Fife yard also had a reputation for the extremely high quality of the craftsmanship of the yachts built at the yard. Today, it is thought that there are somewhat less than 100 Fife designs still in existence. Of these, there are around fifty still sailing. Of the larger vessels, the schooner Altair (1931) and the keel cutters Cambria (1928), Hallowe'en (1926), The Lady Anne (1912), Moonbeam of Fife (1903), Moonbeam IV (1920), Mariquita (1911) and Tuiga (1909) grace the classic yacht circuit in Europe. In North America, the ketchs Adventuress (1924), Belle Aventure (1929) and Sumurun (1914) are located in New England waters.



Fife once said that the secret of a great yacht was that it should be both "fast and bonnie".

Fife was awarded an OBE for his work. In 2004, he was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame.

Shamrock & Reliance

Fife died in 1944, never having married and without an heir. He is buried in Largs. The yard was continued for some years after his death by his nephew, but never achieved the renown known under Fife's ownership.


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P120 FIGHTER COMBAT - CONFEDERATE MOTOR COMPANY

Photograph by Randal Crow.

The Fighter clarifies opaqueness and nullifies hype with straight-forward true to concept certitude.  At the source is a classic right triangle.  Proportion is classically derived.  Scale is middle way.  Bearing exudes structural permanence. Human integration deploys yang energy, vitality, and power in the most simple, pure and direct form.  Geometry is optimized for the medium and/or long disciplined journey of sensory heightened motion.  Torque to weight is maximized.  Engine, suspension and ergonomic luxury and ease of use is optimized.  Materials utilization is the finest. Individual piece and component specification is highest and best.

Craft preparation and specification is uncompromised.  The aesthetic is fresh, industrial, sculptural, holistic and honest.  The saddle of the Fighter is your place for those outings which require extended time, geography, meditation and distance.  Personal liberation will result!

The new Confederate Motorcycles P120 Fighter Combat is here, producing 160 horses at the rear wheel. Add this to a dry weight of 460 lbs and you start to appreciate how amazing this machine really is! Production of this model is limited to fifty motorcycles: 25 Roman numeral and 25 Arabic numeral models will be produced.

The Eames lounge chair

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The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman, correctly titled Eames Lounge (670) and Ottoman (671), were released in 1956 after years of development by designers Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company. It was the first chair the Eames designed for a high-end market. These furnishings are made of molded plywood and leather. Examples of these furnishings are part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.



The chair is composed of three curved plywood shells. In modern production the shells are made up of seven thin layers of wood veneer glued together and shaped under heat and pressure. This differentiates the newer chairs from the "original" (vintage) chairs which used Brazilian rosewood veneers and were constructed of five layers of plywood. Also differentiating the very earliest sets from newer sets were rubber spacers between the aluminum spines and the wood panels first used in the earliest production models and then hard plastic washers used in later versions. In the earlier sets, the zipper around the cushions may have been brown or black as well, and in newer sets the zippers are black. The shells and the seat cushions are essentially the same shape: composed of two curved forms interlocking to form a solid mass. The chair back and headrest are identical in proportion, as are the seat and the Ottoman.



The Eameses constantly made use of new materials. The couple's first plywood chair—the Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW)—made use of a heavy rubber washer glued to the backrest of the chair and screwed to the lumbar support. These washers, which have come to be called 'shock mounts', allow the backrest to flex slightly. This technology was brought back in the 670 Lounge chair. The backrest and headrest are screwed together by a pair of aluminum supports. This unit is suspended on the seat via two connection points in the armrests. The armrests are screwed to shock mounts on the interior of the backrest shell, allowing the backrest and headrest to flex when the chair is in use. This is part of the chair's unusual design, as well as one of its biggest flaws. The rubber washers are solidly glued to the plywood shells, but have been known to tear free when excessive weight is applied, or when the rubber becomes old and brittle.



Other creative uses of materials include the seat cushions - which eschew standard stapled or nailed upholstery. Instead the cushions are sewn with a zipper around the outer edge that connects them to a stiff plastic backing. The backing affixes to the plywood shells with a series of hidden clips and rings. This design, along with the hidden shock mounts in the armrest allow the outside veneer of the chair to be unmarred by screws or bolts. The chair has a low seat which is permanently fixed at a recline. The seat of the chair swivels on a cast aluminum base, with glides that are threaded so that the chair may remain level.



It first appeared on the Arlene Francis 'Home" show broadcast on the NBC television network in the USA in 1956. The chair has become iconic with Modern style design although when it was first made Ray Eames remarked in a letter to Charles that the chair looked "comfortable and un-designy" (sic). Charles's vision was for a chair with "the warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt". Immediately following the début Herman Miller launched an advertising campaign that highlighted the versatility of the chair. Print ads depicted the 670 in a Victorian parlor, occupied by a grandmother shelling peas on the front porch of an American Gothic style house, and in the middle of a sunny field of hay. One notable advertisement was produced by the Eames for Herman Miller warning consumers against imitations and knockoffs.



Since its introduction, the chair has been in continuous production by Herman Miller in America. Later, Vitra began producing the chair for the European market. Immediately following its release other furniture companies began to copy the chair's design. Some copies were direct knockoffs, while others were merely 'influenced' by the design. Most notably Plycraft Company, now defunct, issued dozens of chairs that directly mimicked or were in-the-style-of the Eames 670. More recently the Chinese market, as well as other European companies, have begun making direct copy knockoffs. However, Herman Miller and Vitra remain the only two companies to produce these chairs with the Eames name attached.



The Eames Lounge Chair appeals to people for several reasons. It is a classic design that has been in production continuously since its creation. In addition to the style, it is also very comfortable, a combination not always found in high design. Additionally, some people find it desirable purely for reasons of conspicuous consumption—the chair with Ottoman retail for around $3,200 or more, depending on the selection of veneer and leather (leathers by Edelman, recently offered by Herman Miller, add considerably to the cost). In part the appeal of the chair comes from its comfort. The Eames focused first on usability in their designs.


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