Monster Beats Solo HD vs. Bowers & Wilkins P5

I am a huge fan of my Monster Beats Solo HD by Dr. Dre. You might have noticed that already. I love the design, the colors, the thick cables and—of course—the phat sound. Although the quality is really crappy (I had to fix my headband and ear pads with (double-sided) duct tape), I never thought I would ditch 'em. Till that moment Bowers & Wilkins asked me if I would like to give their P5 headphones a shot.

To be honest: The conservative design of the P5 is not my cup of tea. Maybe I am not old enough for Bowers & Wilkins' restrained and classical design. But the quality of their luxury materials is unbelievably high. Ok, as I pull off the cables of my Monster Beats minimum three times a day (when the cable gets caught by door handles, for example), I will see how often I can do that with the P5.

Bowers & Wilkins gave me a pair of their headphones to play with them on my flight to Detroit. So I had enough time to compare them with my Monster Beats. The sound of the P5 is incredible. Once you get "used" to it. To explain it with an example: You probably know what it is like when you switch between snapping photos in a camera program mode and shooting raws. At that moment you shoot your first raws, your images looks pale, kinda washed out and somehow boring. But they are looking natural. No hotted up eye candy.

In comparison with switching your camera settings it is the same when you compare Monster Beats with Bowers & Wilkins P5. At the first moment the P5 may sound too soft. But it will not take long and you will not miss the typical "American" sound of Monster Beats any longer. But you will love the pure sound of Bowers & Wilkins. 

Will I send them back to Bowers & Wilkins? No siree. I will case-mod 'em!

NAIAS 2012: Detroit Out Of Focus

I just had to borrow thess beautiful photos from Dylan Culhane my travelling companion Kai Petermann just posted on his brand-new site "For Love And Glory". They are just gorgeous. Please make sure you do not only pay Dylan Culhane a visit, but also Kai's main site stilsucht.de. Kai is by far one of the best truffle pigs I know out there, and if you want to know what is hot and fresh – just follow him. In this regard, Kai, you make me blush. Thanks for your opening "For Love And Glory"-article!

While Kai has been in Detroit with Ford, I was invited by Mercedes-Benz – as a guest of their tradtional New Year's Reception and to be present at the unveiling of their new generation Mercedes-Benz SL. As soon as my Aperture has navigated me through my pictures, I will post some details. 

Needless to say the SL is a beauty, isn't it?

Continental Extreme: Chromjuwelen En Route Travelogue

You may still remember our last Chromjuwelen En Route tour called "Continental Extreme". And if you do so, you probably wonder what happened to us and our self-attempt with the 1964 Imperial Crown. And why you have never heard any time later about that project. Here is the simple answer: It took us donkey's years to sight our material. And to understand what happened. In Los Angeles, in Las Vegas, in Dubai.

3000 photos and several hard drives filled with video material later we get a breath of an idea: WE HAD A BLAST! We just published our (German) travelogue, including a selection of 332 photos ("Los Angeles, Las Vegas (SEMA 2011)", "Dubai (Dubai Motor Show)"). So is time to get lost. Our Chromjuwelen En Route Road Movie will follow in January. 

At this point we would like to thank once again some guys for their help:

• Klaus Rasch (race-dezert.com): Thanks for helping us buying and overhauling the Mopar! And thanks for feeling like home every time we are in LA.

• Mike Musto (mrangryinc.com, ridelust.com): Dude. This has been the fourth time (!) I was trying to ride your #§%#* Winged Warrior. And I failed again. It must be jinxed. But you know what? I will keep on trying. Hell Yeah.

• Frederik Faidhi (select-nano.ae): If you will ever be in Deutschland ... can you help us polishing our Imperial Crown? Just kidding. Thanks for your open sesame!

• Phil McGovern (crankandpiston.com): Damn. We have to come back. And not only for the reason we have to do this dune thing with you guys.

Mates – we take a bow.

Mission: Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol, BMW Munich

"Mission: Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol (Phantom Protkoll)" just had it's European premiere in Munich, at the BMW Welt. Accompanied by Tom Cruise aka Ethan Hunt, Paula Patton, und Simon Pegg I had the privilege to enjoy massive explosions, fabulous car chases and tons of sci-fi gadgets.

Usually we meet a lot of brand officials at events like these – but it seemed BMW, our host, followed the movie motto "Ghost Protocol" at that evening. Well – if anybody @BMW reads this: Thank you for the invitation!

Chromjuwelen Brand Ambassadorship extended by Continental

Holy cow! Our Chromjuwelen Brand Ambassadorship just has been extended for another year by Continental. If you don't fear a German article, follow this link.

We could not be prouder. That's awesome!

Chromjuwelen En Route: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dubai

The most stupid mistake you ever can make? Buy a typical "needs some TLC" and "runs and drives" car and hope it will take you from A to B. Ha – we just did that. Deliberately. In our case A is Los Angeles, B stands for Las Vegas. And the car is a 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown. Mopar or no car.

We are in preparation for take-off. Our mission is to shoot another Chromjuwelen Road Movie. Destinations: Los Angeles (October 31 till November 2), Las Vegas (SEMA Show; November 3-6), Dubai (Dubai Motor Show; November 7-12). Motto: Continental Extreme.

If you are interested how far the Imp' will take us – or if wanna join us – just hook up on our Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter. Btw, we are still looking for car culture stories in Dubai (underground, drift, off-road). Unfortunately our contact to Dubai is broken down. If you have got a tip, just shoot us an email!

Continental and Chromjuwelen at the IBM Social Business JamCamp

I just had the honor of being one of the keynote speakers at the IBM Sociel Business JamCamp. Yep — IBM. My job: presenting our Continental Brand Ambassadorship, which we hold since over a year. And explaining how we use "Social Media". 

It was very interesting. We are used to present our work to potential partners, but this was our first time we showcased our work in a completely differnt "social" context. Just in case you are interested — here are my (German) slides.

Oh, btw, thanks for the picture, Nicole!

Mercedes-Benz: COMAND Online Apps

A few weeks ago Mercedes-Benz invited my wife — who works as a contributing editor for an UK based lifestyle magazine for over ten years now — to Palo Alto. For those who aren't familiar with all the interwebs tech talk: Palo Alto is kind of the epicenter of all the Silicon Valley high-technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Tesla Motors, Facebook and Google. When Mercedes-Benz founded the Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. in 1994, the headquarter in Palo Alto was the first Research & Development Center of an automotive company in Silicon Valley.

Mercedes-Benz invited selected media people to provide insight into their latest tweaks of their multimedia System "COMAND Online". Only a few months after the launch of the new multimedia generation, Mercedes-Benz is extending the range of integrated apps: new apps for Facebook, for Google Streetview and Google Panoramio will be available for COMAND Online from this autumn. Additional apps which have already been introduced are Google Local Search and Weather and the facility for downloading a route which has previously been configured on a PC using Google Maps and transmitted to the car.

Over a dozen additional apps are planned in the medium term. These are currently under development, in some instances in collaboration with innovative start-ups such as the US talk radio operator Stitcher, the Twitter short message service and the popular music providers Pandora in the USA or Aupeo in Germany, for example. The new apps will be usable by all customers who drive a Mercedes-Benz with COMAND Online and will be provided by Mercedes-Benz via the so called Daimler Backend Server — so customers can update their COMAND Online without going to a Mercedes-Benz dealer. An overview specifying the telephones on which the COMAND Online apps can be used is available at the website www.mercedes-benz.com/connect.

For sure, I am not the target group — as I use all those apps already on my mobile phone. But for everyone else, who is not such a nerd as I am, this is just a perfect way to get hands on the mobile internet.

Err ... wait a second ... can I jailbreak it?

Mercedes-Benz & Friends, Berlin Tempelhof

Prior to their huge "Mercedes-Benz & Friends" event in Berlin Tempelhof we had the privilege of discussing with Mercedes-Benz what it takes to be a "cool" (Young Classics) brand. The meeting took place in a small circle in their stunning Berlin Gallery. As we usually travel long distancies in our 1970 Mercedes-Benz W 109 we might be a little prejudiced regarding that question ...

Just hit one of the images above to visit our "Mercedes-Benz & Friends" gallery.

Mercedes-Benz Brand Workshop

A couple of days ago, we were invited by Mercedes-Benz for a "brand workshop". We had a fabulous guided tour through the stunning Mercedes-Benz Museum, visited the design department and test drove a lot of cars. Just follow this link for more pictures.

The first car we tested — voluntarily — was the Smart Electric Drive. We had a lot of discussions regarding this car recently, so it was a good opportunity to form our own opinion. Um ... well ... interesting. But to be honest: most fun we had with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. I think we can't hide our origin. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is a wonderful beast.

Need for Speed Euro Spokesmodel Search

I am proud to announce Electronic Arts (EA) teamed up with Chromjuwelen.com in search of the "2012 Need for Speed Spokesmodel". Our job is to help EA/NFS finding the right two ladies for the "German language sprachraum" (D-A-CH). Tuff!

What a NFS girl should be like? Well – this is how our colleagues from Speedhunters.com summarize it best: "boundless energy, an outgoing personality, a sexy, edgy style fused with a passion for cars and gaming."

A little more (borrowed from Speedhunters as well):

The winners will act as Need for Speed ambassadors at events throughout 2012 including representing Need for Speed products at high profile gaming events across Europe and our Team Need for Speed racing team in the prestigious FIA GT3 European Championship and Drift program.

Model searches and competitions are being conducted in five territories: France, Germany, Norway, Russia and the United Kingdom. Two finalists will be selected from each territory with the final two winners from the European Spokesmodel Search Competition being announced in November in conjunction with the release of Need for Speed The Run. All contestants must be 18+.

Two winners will be announced in November and awarded a contract worth EUR 10.000,- each.

As UK, France, Norway and Russia have very charming ladies as well, it won't be a piece of cake. So help us and spread the word!

Techno Classica Essen 2011

1972 General Tire International Harvester Scout II

Needs some tlc. Opel Rekord Limousine

1955 Flajole Forerunner

"I cruised the Reeperbahn" - Peter "Monsti" Theobold (Fusseltuning)

1928 Opel Raketen-Motorrad

Mercedes: Bertha's Benz (Motorwagen)

Bitter SC

Quote: "If the raver's dream is the Loveparade, the petrol head's dream is the Techno Classica."

Word. We just have brought our 1972 General Tire International Harveseter Scout II to the booth of our colleagues from Street Magazine and took some pictures. Hit one of the images above to see them all. 

General Tire Ad

Wow. It still works. We just found out we are still able to work for dead tree media. Although we hang on the interwebs 24/7.

This is our latest ad we did for General Tire Germany. The ad—photo taken by Dirk "Pixeleye" Behlau during our trip to the General Tire Mint 400 2010—will be published in the german Street Magazine. It promotes our 1972 General Tire International Harvester Scout II as well, which we will bring to the Baja 300 Powerdays. Meet us there!

New York Times: Chromjuwelen Interview

It's happening. We are getting famous. Tamara Warren just published an article for the New York Times about American Muscles in Germany: "In Germany, a Growing Flirtation With Classic American Muscle". 

Tamara, it has been a pleasure working with you! And we are glad we could bring you together with some members of our Chromjuwelen family: Helge Thomsen, Oliver Kaps and Dirk Behlau.

Oh, here is an easteregg: Hit the image to watch some wacky Chromjuwelen Mopar Muscle videos from 2006 ...

Chromjuwelen Road Movie: 44 minutes and 44 seconds

Ever since we are doing Chromjuwelen.com, we are dreaming of "Chromjuwelen Road Movies". To capture outtakes, "behind the scene" material and shaky cell phone videos. Here it is—our first movie. Enjoy!

Please check out Chromjuwelen.com for more details.

Chromjuwelen En Route: Continental Tire Challenge, Rolex 24 at Daytona

"Fascinting Daytona Beach"

"Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge: Lyonel Kent"

"Rolex 24 at Daytona: (Patrick) Dempsey Racing"

Finally—our Grand-Am/Daytona Beach videos which we shot in the course of our Brand Ambassadorship for Continental are ready. Sorry fellas—German only. Props to Dean Malay (Producer), Jan Wigger (Camera) and Christian Tomes (Editing).

Appearance in alphabetical order:

• Greg Cates (Team Manager), Dempsey Racing

• Patrick Dempsey (Team Principal, Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing

• Charles Espenlaub (Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing

• Joe Foster (Team Principal, Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing

• Andy Green (Andy Green is the current holder of the World Land speed record, and the first person to break the sound barrier on land)

• Lyonel and Danielle Kent (Driver Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge)

• Buz McKim, NASCAR Hall of Fame

• Tom Long (Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing

• Matthias Schönberg, Continental Tire The Americas

• C. J. Wilson, Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers

Make sure you visit Chromjuwelen.com for the full article and photo galleries!

Sneak Preview: NASCAR Hall of Fame

On our way to the Continental Tire Challenge and Rolex 24 at Daytona (GRAND-AM) we stopped at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte to meet Buz McKim. Buz gives us a brief overview on the NASCAR history. For a "NASCAR Hall of Fame"-gallery hit on of the images above. Or just use this link. 

This is a sneak preview—we will publish a full coverage of our latest trip soon. 

Guy Kawasaki: Enchantment

Tenshun—this is offtopic. Sorry for the interruption. It hasn't to do either with cars, nor with Motorkultur. But it has do with media. And this is at least our other passion.

A few weeks ago Guy Kawasaki sent me his latest book: Enchantment. If you are into (internet) media, you'll probably know Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and best known for his marketing campaigns in the early days of Apple. We got in contact over Guy's Alltop.com, where we contribute our Chromjuwelen articles.

I am just reading Enchantment, and I think it's a must read for everyone who tries to set up so called "Social Media" campaigns. Btw, I think in the meantime everyone is sick of hearing the expression "Social Media", but unfortunately it describes this Twitter-Facebook-Tumblr community clutter best (for the moment). Especially in Germany. Where still a lot people try to sell "Social Media" concepts to agencies and companies.

Guy is noted for "having brought the concept of evangelism" (Wikipedia). And this is exactly, where are lot of modern campaigns lack. In an automotive industry, where not uncommonly ideas are driven by the (private) interests of marketing decision makers and don't reflect customer needs or product visions.

To keep it short, here's a movie.

Michael Furman: Chromjuwelen

Finally. Our first "Chromjuwelen" entitled book. Michael Furman: "Chromjuwelen - Die schönsten Autos 1946-1960".

264 pages, 180 photos, Delius Klasing Verlag, EUR 49,90. Get it!

Take-Off: Rolex 24 at Daytona 2011

Our plane leaves in a couple of hours. We will pop in at our partners from Continental in Charlotte, whip round the NASCAR Hall of Fame and finally visit the legendary Rolex 24 at Daytona. Here are some more details ...