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Got This Cool present from my Buddy Plant some years ago. The first Speed Mechanics Magazine

Volume 1, Issue 1, January 1953

Produced by Hobby Publications Inc. Silver Spring, Maryland but the editorial headquarters seem to be in New York those days.

It sure was a hot rodder's dictionary circa 1953. Just Check how many of the written terms you're still using at this time?

Some real cool writedowns where there for the more experienced hotrodder who liked to get his hands dirty...
Two Tech stories accomplished that goal in this issue:
1: A Fast Car Needs Better Shocks.
2: Push Button Doors.

This magazine also made an effort to welcome the starters of this hobby by stories like:
1: So You Want to Build a Hot Rod
2: A Speed Shop in Your Own Garage
3: Speed Mechanics Dictionary

Overall, always cool to find early days vintage magazines as this: Speed Mechanics Volume 1, January 1953 Issue. It contains a wealth of interesting information in just 34 pages.

Not sure how long the magazine lasted, but there have been issues listed online up to the mid-1960s.

Did you ever find or see a copy of this Mag?
Have you ever read Speed Mechanics?
If so... what was your impression of it?

If you are a follower of this blog you know I'm a big fan of Alexandra Lier and her Photography. This way I'm stoked about Alexandra's Third illustrated book coming out!

Her latest Artwork features curious and creative vehicles with stunning, cinematic photography.

MUTANT VEHICLES

The first book about the vehicles of Burning Man (USA)

Rocket Car by David Best. Basis is a 1977 Cadillac Sedan.

Black Rock City, Nevada, USA – Infinite expanses. A desert landscape. Dust, dryness, heat. In focus: vehicles from another world. Surreal, like a mirage. Captured in the focus of the camera lens in a silent moment. Lurking and unpredictable. Ready to erupt in an inferno of energy and creativity: Mutant Vehicles – driving artworks.

MUTANT VEHICLES – a fine art book to experience: visually powerful and interactive

Whoever takes in the images of Alexandra Lier in her third book is immersed in this world apart from conventional automobile, art or festival photography.

Lier lets the viewer escape into worlds reminiscent of the image aesthetics of David Lynch, with scenes like from Star Wars and vehicles like from Mad Max, while a breath of the intangibility of Helmut Newton photos wafts over the entire scenario.

"With MUTANT VEHICLES, I want to develop something that goes beyond the classic print medium: a fine art book with large format images on paper, interactively expanded with additional digital material that allows the reader to participate as fully as possible in this other world. Especially now, when the worldwide pandemic will accompany us for a while and we won't be able to experience any festivals and travel will be limited, I would like to pass on to the reader the spirit, the art and the feeling of Burning Man as complexly as possible and therefore cross medially. Interactive, in the spirit of the festival and the art there," says Lier.

Alexandra Lier

Portraits, interviews, films, travels to the USA – five years of work in one book MUTANT VEHICLES is Lier's personal tribute to the artists of the Burning Man Festival's driving artworks. She has been documenting the vehicles cruising around the festival and their creators since 2014.

"I love deserts, and I love whimsical vehicles.

The festival captivated me from the beginning, and I knew right away that the Mutant Vehicles would be my next project," Lier explains.

For several years, she flew to Burning Man and visited, interviewed and portrayed the artists in their stores. Due to the sheer abundance of images, films and conversations, the idea of combining print and digital was born. Because: "So many little stories emerged during the research and documentation that are difficult to tell in a book alone," says Lier.

And so the book is aimed at "burners" (note: that's the name of visitors to the Burning Man festival), mutant vehicles fans, art lovers, car maniacs, photo art lovers and anyone who loves whimsical worlds. The foreword is by David Best, who built the first Burning Man temple in 2000 and has created countless art projects around the world.

The Golden Mean by Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate is based on a 1966 VW Bug

Burning Man
the largest outdoor art exhibition in the world

The Burning Man Festival is a self-organized, week-long gathering since 1986 that brings together more than 60,000 people annually in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA, and it is the largest outdoor art exhibition in the world.

The festival is famous for its bold artworks, participatory performances and radicality of expression. The artworks are located in the middle of the desert.

To view them, one has to travel long distances. If you are lucky, you can explore this world on a driving artwork called a Mutant Vehicle.

The Schmoover by Gary Stefen is based on a 1998 Honda Accord.

MUTANT VEHICLES. Art on Wheels at Burning Man
128 Pages, 30 cm x 24 cm / 11’’ x 9,5’’, Hardcover, approx. 98 images, Speedseekers Production
ISBN: 978-3-00-068557-6
39,90 EUR.
Texts: David Best, Kevin Robert Thomson.
With digital links to video interviews, music and a festivalride