Zombie Cycles – They’re For Real| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
This was published in The Automobile two years ago, after they requested my thoughts on the Pebble Beach Concours. I was fairly disgusted by the event, and wrote an 'I don't care if they print it' article, but the editor (Jonathan Rishton) wrote that it was 'possibly the most honest thing they'll ever publish', which is pretty high praise. I think. Decide for yourself!| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
This essay was originally published in Classic Bike Guide, in their October 2014 edition.| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
Jeff Decker is as famous for being a strong character as much as for his art, which is a shame, as he’s a truly gifted sculptor. Watching Decker shape clay is a quick dictionary lesson in ‘talent’; little blobs of nothing magically cohere under his fingers, and suddenly a shirt is rippling in the wind, cheeks pressed against a skull, a Cyclone cam drive -right down to the nuts- is released from its prison of moistened dirt. From humble clay and wax, later cast in bronze, come a the head...| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
Adjectives and metaphors; more than any other bike builder today, people struggle with words to describe Shiny Kimura’s handiwork. Is this retro future? Sci-fi film props? Blade runner Manga? Ultimately, our need to explain means we’re looking hard at his bikes, which speaks volumes; a motorcycle emerging from Chabott Engineering in LA is an object of universal curiosity.| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
Growing up in the shadow of custom culture greatness might be a burden, but Cole Foster shows no resentment of famous father Pat, whose showcars and drag-racing career made him a hero of Hot Rod magazine. While Cole idolized his dad, when he started customizing his own cars and bikes, he had to teach himself how to manipulate sheetmetal, weld, and build engines, as he spent limited time in Dad’s shop, and laments nowadays that he’s not as good as he’d like to be at any of these skills, ...| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
Tang dynasty Chinese alchemists began heating and mixing minerals and metals in order to find, just like their Western counterparts, a method of synthesizing gold; they were looking not for wealth, but a method of extending life, and the secret to immortality, adhered to a belief that gold created from myriad elements had life-giving powers, enough to stop Death in its tracks. What they found in 850AD, among a lot of very toxic concoctions, was an explosive mix of sulfur, charcoal, and salt...| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
1794: Robespierre, the beheading heart of French revolutionary Terreur, stood interrupted on the floor of the Paris Commune on July 27, agape as young men clad in grandma’s drapes and pink silk knee-breeches called an end to the session. With them was Eros, her laughing head intact, corpulent and singing in the People’s Chamber…the death-party was over. These scandalous cousins of the recently-departed brashly entered the scene in death-on-sight garb, true fashion outlaws, and they look...| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK
WHAT IS A MAN?| THE VINTAGENT'S BLACK BOOK