Jo Fischer: Ford GT

Jo Fischer just passed me some beautiful shots he did last week. Damn, Jo, you should shoot more cars! Btw, I love your snpahot of Mrs. Fuel ...

SEO, SMO and Motorkultur. Err ... what?

As I mentioned before, I've just fallen in love with Tumblr. I know—under SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aspects it isn't really clever to share your stuff on several platforms. But as we all just learned: SEO isn't everything, in lieu thereof SMO (Social Media Optimization) becomes more and more important. Especially if you deal with a special interest topic like car passion.

Imho SMO is CRUCIAL if you want to reach the right people. To speak from my own experience: I follow a lot of "trust agents". Which means: I read their blogs and follow their Twitter. In short: Really awesome and inspiring stuff isn't brought to me by search engines. And as my partner Chris philosophizes: "It can't be the interest of search engines that everyone out there is writing/producing search engine "correct". It must be more in everyone's interest that search engines digg really inspiring stuff—which is seldom SEO correctly produced. Or—btw—don't you ever have had that creeping feeling that you only find stuff via search engines which is produced by companies with big SEO budgets? Well, I do. Every day.

Any way. Buzzword bingo switched off. I just changed the template on my Tumblr, and with that new (free!) layout comes a tiny archive button. This function was new to me, but what I found behind that link really blew my mind. It's a thumbnail mosaic of my tumblered articles. Ok, the pages takes a moment to get loaded, but it's a nice little feature which I would love to have on my other—really content heavy—site(s) as well. It just gives you an intutive approach to content, which I actually miss on several sites. Especially when I am en tour with my iPad, where a "nornal" hypertext navigation hits the wall.

Maybe this doesn't impress you, but it exactly matches with some thoughts about an all-embracing Chromjuwelen.com weight-loss program. Also it solves another problem: Thumbnails are language independent, so you don't have to read my German School English any longer ...

Bottrop Kustom Kulture Show 2010: Pictures

Just in case somebody is interested in pictures. I just uploaded a Bottrop Kustom Kulture 2010 set to Flickr. An article will follow. This year the legendary Kustom Kulture Show in Bottrop, which is Europe's biggest Hot Rod and Custom Car meeting, teamed up with with DicE magazine and presented—for the first time—a separated bike area.

Just move over to Flickr to see more than these shabby cell phone pictures!

KLE's Passat Pirat

One of the reasons, why I started Chromjuwelen.com five years ago, was to show unusual cars and the people behind them. One of them, who doesn't give a rip about what others say, is KLE. KLE has a preference for oddball German cars, especially the stuffy Volkswagen Passat. Today I had the pleasue to meet up with KLE—who paid Hamburg a visit—and his latest creation, the "Pirat". Though I don't like every detail on KLE's cars, I think his jalopies are some kind of lowbrow art cars.

Please make sure you visit KLE's blog, he keeps a very painstakingly record about every modification. Btw, the other car—a badly modified Ford Granada—belongs to Helge Thomsen.

Meilenwerk Berlin

Actually I wanted to be in NYC this week. But thanks to the latest vulcano activities my flight had been canceled. Damn. But every cloud has a silver lining—and I finally managed it to visit the Meilenwerk in Berlin. Just click on one of the cell phone pictures to start a Flickr slideshow. Btw, I really like that 1993 Toyota Crown ...

1955 "Gauloises" Citroën 2CV

The presentation of this tasty luxury Snail is long overdue. When Björn Gerdes (Imagency Hamburg) got in touch with me early summer 2009, he was searching for a Citroën 2CV to carry on the legendary tradition in building special Gauloises 2CV. The car should combine both: French nonchalance and latest entertainment electronics.

Fortunately we could help Björn. Or to be precise: Oliver Kaps, Style Deluxe Hamburg, was able to help him. Oliver not only found this beautiful 1955 Citroën 2CV, but also did the customizing. The upholstery has been done by Peter Theobold. Well, with it's new dress this simple daily transport car—which was a revolution in the segment of small cars—isn't any longer able to enter a Concours d'Elegance, but it is much more laid-back instead.

For more photos just hit one of the images.

Tuning World Bodensee 2010

Just a few shots taken with my cell phone. Tuning World Bodensee = a lot of very clean Veedubs. I like.

Check this article from my autobild.de-colleague Andreas Rogotzki for better pictures.

1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe. Mad Max movie correct.

Yes, you're right. It's a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe. And yes, it'll gonna be Mad Max movie correct, when it'll hit the road. Ladies and Gentleman, it's my great pleasure to introduce the magician behind this awesome project: Helge Thomsen! And—btw—it's a movie correct "Jim Goose" Kawasaki Z1000 as well. Of course.

(Just click one of the images above to see more details.)

Leningrad Cowboys Go Mexico

I am green with envy. 2009 Mr. Pixeleye went to Mexico and accompanied the Leningrad Cowboys when they raced the legendary La Carrera Panamericana. Slideshow!

"La cucaracha, la cucaracha,

Ya no puede caminar;

Porque no tiene, porque le falta

Marihuana pa' fumar"

LeSupra Deluxe

Some images I have just stolen from Jo Fischer. They show the friggin' unbelievable "Cremer" (metal god and welding wizard), and Oliver Kaps (Style Deluxe) working on my Poncho. If you are interested in what they are really doing - beside trying to look authentic and greasy - check this out. It's stunning!

Sneak Preview: Bernie Dexter by Carlos Kellá

Carlos Kellá just sent me some pictures of his shooting with Bernie Dexter at Style Deluxe. Sweet cars!

Make sure you order one of his upcoming calenders.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Just finished my General Tire Mint 400 coverage for autobild.de - including three videos. Yeah!

Race Dezert Baja Bug

When we visited the General Tire Mint 400 some weeks ago, our friend Klaus (race-dezert.com) told us about his new desert racer from Deutschland which he just was building: A Volkswagen Käfer.

These days he will race the NORRA 2010 Mexican 1000 Rally. Mud in your eye, Klaus!

Operation Desert Storm

We just published our "General Tire Mint 400" report. Including videos and tons of pictures. Get ready for some dirt sports!

La Despedida: Two Stroke Insanity

What a trip! Carlos Pinto intends to travel from Hamburg, Germany, to Braga, Portugal - in a two stroke Piaggio Ape TM 703. His tour will start July, 3rd. Join his masochistic self-discovering journey here or here. Bon Yoyage, Carlos!

Cameron Steele. Somersault.

I had to steal this stunning picture from Klaus Rasch. Damn, I missed Cameron Steele doing this trick. But this is what his trophy truck looked liked after he did this maneuver.

Sneak Preview: General Tire Mint 400 (Showreal)

My colleagues from autobild.tv just accomplished the first video from our mind blowing trip to Las Vegas. Enjoy!

Stay tuned, more will come ...

Sneak Preview: My Pontiac gets some minor modification

That's exactly why I love working with Oliver Kaps and Christian Cremer from Style Deluxe Hamburg so much: Do you recognize, what he did to my rear bumper? Yep, he welded it on! And do you see bondo anywhere? Nope - 'cause he is working with lead.

Wow, that's awesome ...

Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch

I'll just steal some words from my friend Jörg Heikhaus, who describes it best: 

[...] You’d think it’s much bigger. The dinner table. The one that Jo Fischer carries around with him, taking photos of 1000 people sitting at it. Two lovers with a bottle of red and tiny plates fit around it. It’s really that small.

Roughly three years ago, Jo Fischer picked up a camera and started to work as a professional photographer. The story behind his decision to get his first camera is a story of its own, one that I am sure will be told many times very soon, because Jo is bound to be one of the most talked about young photo artists coming from Germany. [...]

Via Suzuki ("It's the small things that make a difference")