Dirk Pixeleye Behlau: Kool Fellas, Ltd.

Dirk Behlau, better known as "The Pixeleye", just released his third book: "Kool Fellas. Ltd.". Dirk is a member of our Chromjuwelen family since the early days and we are proud to see that there are some more people out there who love his work as much as we do. It is too bad I haven't had the time to write the prologue so Dirk had to ask Jesse James ...

Get Kool Fellas, Ltd.!

SEMA Show 2010: Sneak Preview

Yes. We are still alive. We are back from our overseas trip and brought along a ton of material — SEMA Show 2010, Lucas Oil Off Road Race, OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, West Coast Customs (Los Angeles) — which wants to get chopped. Aside from that we visited the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for some oval track sports and dragracing and finally paid Rinkens a visit. 

I bet it will not get boring the next days. Stay tuned.

SEMA Show 2010. We will be there.

Soon we will be back on the road again—we will visit the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Also we will attend the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing. Yepp. We are hooked on desert racing.

Just shoot us an e-mail if you want to meet us!

Jo Fischer, Heliumcowboy

Jo Fischer, one of my favorite photographers, will present his work at my favorite gallery, Heliumcowboy Artspace.

Via Heliumcowboy Artspace: "We are happy to present Jo Fisher's project "Character" which is the first solo exhibition of the Berlin based photographer in Hamburg. Jo Fischer's photography can be considered as a medium of interpretation and expression, and not as a mere documentary record of visual facts.

Reminding on Richard Avedons "In the American West", Fischer's project "Character" may be understood as a platform of a disremembered society. The photographer himself becomes the mediator between marginal people and the masses, as he depicts people whose normality seems unreal to most of us.

Legend has it that Jo Fischer has decided to become a photographer by drawing lots. After a long and turbulent career in the music business he bought his first camera on e-bay in 2007. In a short period of time he became one of the much asked for commercial photographers up to date, and he assembled a striking body of work including straight-forward portraits which become timeless in black and white.

"Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch" is another running project by Jo Fischer, one which is known to a wider public. In only a few seconds he depicts his vis-à-vis bringing to view the unique character of the person he just met. 1000 people are invited to sit on his table: the housewife, the children from next door, the rock musician or the burlesque dancer. Altogether they reflect a combination of honesty and a zest of the wicked – a portrait of urban society.

"Character" is as well a hommage to the people: to the people living on the margine."

P.S.: I am still absolutely stoked about the portraits of B.J. Baldwin, Ken Block and Jesse James Jo Fischer did for us during the Baja 300 Powerdays ...

Never Mind the Motorkultur

When we went to Las Vegas earlier this year, we met Klaus Rasch. Klaus is the mastermind behind race-deZert.com und introduced us to the wide world of Desert Racing. In the meantime Klaus became a very good friend and we often share thoughts about the differences between "Motorkultur" in Germany and "Motor Culture" in the States. It is good to discuss those topics with somebody who understands how both cultures are working. 

Klaus just passed me some thoughts he hacked together on his iPad last night, after he just had survived the Oktoberfest. I think his thoughts are definitely worth to share, although they are truly some kind of alarmingly for us Germans. We invented Motorkultur, but act kinda philistine and passionless. Hmm, I think Germany is well known for its cultural background, but what happened to its wheeled culture? Is it too dirty? Embarrassing? Traumatized? It is time for a change. Life is too short for ugly cars.

Enough said. Let me hand over to Klaus.

There is no motor culture in Germany. Obviously a bolt and somewhat false statement but let me explain my thought process further.

I live in Southern California for the last 17 years but grew up in Germany. I'm currently spending the last three weeks in the old Vaterland and get reminded of one of the reasons I left this place nearly two decades ago. The automobile.

Gas costs 3-4 times more then currently in the US. Car registration is based on it environmental impact. The TÜV makes it impossible to keep an older car in operation. It appears that 98% of all cars on the streets are built within the last ten years. New exotic sports cars are rare on the streets. Speed limits are set unrealistically low at some places.

How is all this possible when after all Germany invented the car, they make without a doubt the best cars money can buy? Every major innovation in the automotive world can be traced back to right here. How can they come up with all this go-fast stuff but not have it embraced by it's citizens. Yes the Autobahn in principle has no speed limit and it's perfectly legal to open up going 250km/h in between all the 80km/h construction zones. Yes the roads are far smoother then many roads I have seen all over the planet but how come so many people drive such boring cars?

Kids don't tune their cars and meet every Friday in every city for a little show & tell street racing? There are no local drag strips or local stock car race tracks where you can race on a budget. Nobody lifts their trucks or lowers their sports car nor installs the latest in wheels, paints or decals their car in search of the latest craze. Cars are small 1.x liter 4 cylinder machines mixed up with the 3.0TDI station wagon in between. All bone stock, silver or black and look like they are fresh of the showroom floor. Boring.

I know that there is car culture. I read the German car blogs and magazines. Car culture is not dead it's just hidden, not out in the open. What I like to see is American muscle cars, fast Audi, BMW and Porsche products on the street all the time utilizing all gears, spinning wheels and making noise. Low riders scraping the pavement, Asian imports fast and furious style and Italian sports cars cruising the streets.

There is little public imagination in car culture but then those few that do express their love for the car in public do it well. A revolution is needed that makes me believe that "Fahrvergnügen" is truly a German word.

We have seen the paradise: Contidrom

The German "Youngtimer" Rallye Creme21 brought us today to the test track Contidrom (Continental). We have to come back. Under all circumstances.

Hit one of the images to see more pictures.

Hamburger Stadtpark-Revival: Pictures

After our first coming out in Winsen, the traditional "Stadtpark-Rennen" was the next date on our "GT Scout"-tour. If you ever wanted to know what Maserati, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen paint our town red, you should visit the Hamburg Stadtpark-Revival. For more classic car beauties visit our gallery. 

Roadrunner's Paradise & Race 61: Photo Sneak Preview

Do I really need to say I want that Mercedes Benz Adenauer 300 Hot Rod? What a bad*ss built — it'll be gorgeous once it's finished!

Just click on one of the images above to start a Flickr slideshow. A full "Roadrunner's Paradise & Race 61" article will follow asap.

General Tire Mint 400: Motor Maniacs Hardcopy

Yep. Sometimes we still write and work on dead trees. Thanks for uploading the images to Flickr, Mr. Pixeleye! Just in case you missed it: Here are some more "General Tire Mint 400"-articles/galleries. And some videos. Enjoy.

Get yourself a copy of Motor Maniacs!

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"

Farewell, Facebook

I am not sure when it exactly happened first. But there has been a certain moment when Facebook started to annoy me. Too much information, too much things I don't wanna even know and too much digital bullsh*t—like Farmville, Mafia Wars and stupid quizzes. At that point I realized Facebook is a big, fat time wasting machine.

Facebook is—compared to travelling, for example—like package holiday. So if Center Parcs or the Aida turns you on, go ahead. I won't. Or, to draw another comparison: Facebook is like a huge shopping mall. But—put your hand on your heart—have you ever found the really inspiring shops in a mall? Nope. Also, Facebook isn't a tool or service like Gmail, Flickr or Twitter which helps me getting my things done.

I am blogging since five years. And if you—just in case—like what I do, read my blogs or hook up on my Twitter. Maybe you want to tell me I am a dumb*ss—simply use the comment function below my articles. It works exactly the same as you probably know it from Facebook. Ok, you want to shoot me a message? Easy. Send me an old-school email. You'll find the address on my contact page. And apart from that, there are tons of other ways where you can get in touch with me. This one is really wicked: what about joining up in real life?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm out. I act as my own guinea pig and deactivate my personal Facebook account. I am interested in how it feels not being a member of the biggest community you can find nowadays. So if it feels ok (like deleting my XING account two years ago), maybe I'll never bring it back ... 

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!