Tag Archives: automotive

April12012
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automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

Detroit Auto Show: vintage photo archives

Before the days of saturated bloggers filling up the press days of modern Auto Shows, we often forget that only serious journalists were really taking photos and writing up the major international auto shows.  Before digital cameras, blogging, websites, etc—–these photos were mainly issued in newspapers and magazines, and hence we don’t see a lot of vintage auto show photos.

Car & Driver have posted a huge archive of Detroit Auto Show photos and they really are fantastic.  They range through many years, and show how cars were displayed in a different time!  Very cool.   Make sure you check out the link at the bottom to look through the entire archive they have up on their site:

1926

1966

1932

1978

1975

1967

1985

1967

1965

check out the archive here: Car & Driver

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January132012
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automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

foto of the day. 3 NYC blogs. 3 cars. 1 drive.

the Alfa GTV6 belongs to Automobiliac, the E30 325i belongs to  Motoring Con Brio, and  the TT is mine.  We took a nice drive to somewhere random; which culminated in me beating them handily at a friendly bowling match *cough*.

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January22012
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applications, automotive, cars, design, gadgets, iedei, ipad, men, technology, vintage

iPad: ROAD Inc.

The iPad is a pretty astounding device; sure you’ve heard the hype and the blah blah blah—-but the fact of the matter is, it is the premier mobile all-in-one multimedia device.  If you’re not convinced, then you should check out just how many amazing motoring and automotive applications there are available.  I have multiple folders full of stellar automotive enthusiast applications.  The latest of which is called Road Inc. 

I’ve always found it pretty amazing that automobiles (sometimes) have so much aesthetic importance given to them, yet automotive websites are so NON-aesthetically pleasing.  Often I find them to look like an offshoot of ESPN or some tacky jock football page. The iPad, however, serves to provide a clean, interactive platform to make apps.  A stylistic revolution is surely needed—-enter why i love the Road Inc. application so much.

To start, the app comes with various ‘veiled’ classics—each of which can have a packet downloaded into the iPad for free, upon the user’s interest in the automobile.  After that comes a barrage of information, media, photography, 3D image renderings, essays, and a wealth of information about the car being looked at.

Earlier today, i downloaded the packet for one of my favourite all-time (race)cars—-the Bugatti Type 35b; here are just a couple sample screenshots i took earlier:

They supply a 360 degree rotatable image, to check the car out in its entirety.

There is beautiful attention to detail here; and you get the sense that someone has poured in plenty of time and energy to make this app a beautiful one to use for the motoring enthusiast.  I salute Road Inc. for making something like this.  Currently there are 50 cars available with a full data packet download of information.  I really look forward to see Road Inc expand on this list in the future.  The app is currently available in the iPad application store for $4.99.

Link: Road Inc.

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October272011
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automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

Pietro Frua’s 1971 Porsche 914 design proposal.

Pietro Frua is one of my favourite designers ever—-mainly because he created weird, mysterious, and often rejected-by-manufacturer designs which were generally better than the manufacturers ended up producing.  I think car companies used him for his brainstorming, and then ditched his designs in the end only to steal them.  BMW surely stole many of his ideas when they plagiarized his ideas from the Frua ‘concept’ BMWs on all their production cars of the 70s and 80s.   I’m looking at this photo of a 1971 Hispano Aleman Porsche 914 design study and seeing all sorts of stuff going on.  I see some De Tomaso Pantera, i see some Lamborghini Urraco, and I see lots of Frua cues.  What i don’t see is a 914.  Obviously Porsche did not use any of his ideas for their eventual collaboration with VW on the 914.

As far as I can tell, the car was seized by customs in 1971 after being shown at Geneva.  The car was in ‘exile’ until 1976 and is currently put away in a private collection, having not been driven since 1977.   Production of the real production Porsche 914 ended by the time the design was even recovered.  Frua was paid $200k to make the design study.  (source, Frua website cited below)

There are TONS of amazing pictures here on the Frua.de website (with copyrights so i cannot post them here)

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January92011
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automotive, cars, iedei, men, men's accessories

Billykirk card case.

I’ve always liked nice wallets.  I’ve also always liked tidy, non-George Costanza wallets.  I rarely carry much cash—and if i do, it will be less than $40.  I don’t like loading up on people’s business cards, etc.  This is why we have electronic assistance in storing numbers, names, etc.

Last year, i went around the corner from our old flat to Hollander & Lexer when i was having a bad day, and decide to buy myself a new wallet.  For years now, i’ve noticed that my life takes small changs after i change (A) my wallet and (B) my phone.  I am not a superstitious person, however i do acknowledge that finances and communication are 2 reasonably important elements in our daily lives.

I bought a small card case made by Billykirk that day.  It was about $90 with tax.  Kinda steep for a simple leather case, but beautifully made, with vintage stitching and authentic, non-overfinished faded leather.  A beautiful card case, which never bulges out of my rear pocket. Easily carries 5-10 card-related things on me, with room for 2-$20 bills if i need be.

They have nice bags and belts as well if you are in need of gentleman leather goods.

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November232009
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automotive, business, cars

editorial: Honda, Toyota & the US market.

How Honda and Toyota took over the U.S. market.

In the past fifty years, the US auto market has declined tremendously.  With the recent bankruptcy and unsteady industry forecasts, Americans feel uneasy giving their hard earned money to a faltering establishment.  As a result, foreign auto makers like Honda and Toyota are capitalizing on the prospect, raking in all of the U.S. auto business.  In addition, Honda and Toyota continue to break the barrier of new technologies which astound the industry time and time again.

Honda has enjoyed much success in the U.S. auto markets.  With the introduction of the Civic in 1975, Honda’s popularity rose with each passing year.  The new, lighter Honda Civic rivaled its U.S. competition with its low weight and small exterior.  Furthermore, the EPA, in order to reduce emissions, required the addition of expensive catalytic converters in all cars manufactured for the United States auto industry.  As a result, sticker prices rose while consumer demand plummeted.

As American auto makers rebuilt their exhaust systems, Honda busied themselves with the creation of the new CVCC stratified charge engine.   Cars built with these new engines passed the required emissions tests without the need for expensive catalytic converters.  This charge engine technology burst onto the scene with the 1975 Honda Civic, a car met with extreme consumer demand.  With the rising costs of gas and auto insurance, Americans turned their focus to the Japanese auto maker to save money.

Continue reading →

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November132009
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art, automotive, cars, iedei

sculptures from cars.

Works Austin

James Corbett makes cool sculptures, and the coolest part about the sculptures are that the materials used to make them are entirely from recycled auto parts!

BSA Bantum

auto union sculpture

check out his homepage at— http://www.jamescorbettart.com/

to see what works of his are on display at the John Davies Gallery (Derbyshire, UK)—

http://www.johndaviesgallery.com/exhibitionsView.asp?exhibitionTitle=James%20Corbett%20Exhibition%202009&exhibitionID=27

thanks to Pistonheads for the original article—

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20958


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April132009
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iedei

automotive t-shirts for the spring & summer.

enthusiastapparel

Been meaning to order a couple new t-shirts for this spring/summer….and this year is gonna be the year of car-related stuff……racing gear, and clever t-shirts celebrating petrolhead lifestyle.

Found the fantastic Enthusiast Apparel website with a bunch of cool t-shirts for cool prices.  The Nurburgring map might be a bit played out these days, but it’d still be quite charming for a shirt design.

check em out! https://www.enthusiastapparel.com/gear/index.php

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March242009
6 Comments
iedei

iedei: the 14th fastest growing blog on WordPress!

file under: EDITORIAL

14th fastest growing blog on WordPress! hurrah! IEDEI was started on a warm, August weekend, with the purpose of covering the petrolhead culture and soul—in addition to some auto news with focus on its relation to car culture, history, and legend.

There are plenty of car blogs out there, the majority of which attempt to cover ‘news’ as it happens.  What i’ve found is that many of these blogs (i.e. Autoblog) appear to simply run on sensationalism, gossip, weak rumours, scouring other blogs for info, treading through other auto websites for scoops, etc.  Autoblog for example, writes a piece of juicy gossip on a monday, retracts it on a tuesday, and then re-confirms it on a wednesday—–ONLY to retract it fully a week later! For all we know, they’re making this stuff up after getting bored…who knows!?   I think it all gets a bit tiring.  I remember having bookmarked several automotive blogs several months ago, and on a particular day I clicked all of them, to find the same tired ‘breaking news’ story about the new Hyundai Coupe.  It’s fine to read it on ONE blog, but I really don’t feel like occupying my time clicking bookmarks only to find the same photo(s) and similar writing explaining and re-explaining what soon becomes old news.

steve-mcqueen-and-his-1963-ferrari-250-gt

While i do think those car blogs are entertaining sometimes, and are now considered to be cornerstones of obtaining daily information—I feel what’s missing in many of them is passion.  There is hope, however! A few months ago, I came across a modern news-filled blog that DOESN’T sacrifice passion for the sake of quantity.  Autofiends is a fantastic blog based out of California that does attempt to address the culture of cars, rather than just the bland news stories.  It has a grip on the past, with links to the future—and liasons the in-between.  Well done!

Recently, I discovered a great website out of the UK named Drivers Republic, started by Chris Harris (ex-Car Magazine) and some of his mates/colleagues.  Great video reviews, daily scoops and news, and a growing community-type atmosphere.  What they’ve done is create an e-magazine, the sort of thing which signals the end of those nasty auto magazines such as Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, Automobile, etc….the likes of which we are exposed to in the United States.  The UK magazines have always been better, and Drivers Republic has created an innovative, interesting website that’s regularly updated and is ready to evolve into more.  Good job, sirs.

So where does IEDEI fit in to the automotive news world?  This is a blog that attempts to correlate the past into the present.  The production car industry, the racing world, the lifestyle, the accessories, lost archives of automotive legend, new frontiers of the industry, places to go, things to buy, interesting links—this blog is attempting find the SOUL of what we petrolheads spend so much time and energy thinking about and being interested in.   The history of cars changes in relevance every time a new technology or innovation is introduced.  Racing from the past, present, and future are undeniably tied at the hip by a culture—a strong culture of progress, imagination, and most of all fascination.

Grow on! thanks for reading!  WordPress.com has thousands and thousands of blogs, and knowing that people are reading, and that there are people out there into the same things I am, is a GREAT feeling!

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