Tuesday, 24 April 2007
Bad Machine (components)
Sunday, 22 April 2007
I've got a Silver Machine.
1. 1/100 scale diecast model Ford Capri MkI photographed/manipulated and drawn over in fotoshoppe/printed onto a4 sheets cut and sellotaped together and affixed to board (primed with white acrylic) formerly used as base for model scrapyard.
2. Same process but smaller print taped to small box canvas
3. Silver Capri 2.0 S for sale in Kingstanding (not far away from where my MkII Ford Escort seized up one morning on the way to work!)
Sunday, 15 April 2007
Friday, 13 April 2007
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Pick Up Culture
Fuzztone with Chevy C-10 Lichfield 2005
I love these utilitarian vehicles.
An American Icon exemplifying an honest work ethic and the image of good ol'boys partying on the weekend with an endless supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Metallica cranked up high on the stereo.
An America of the imagination I suppose. Influenced by movies and dreams of escape. Endless blacktop stretching to the horizon, Motels, Diners & Truckstops. Strange when I consider that most of the film influences that spring to mind come from work that edges towards darkness: Blue Velvet, Duel, Vanishing Point etc.
Phot Credit Eve Arnold The Misfits. Marilyn Monroe on the set of "The Misfits" Colour photograph1960
So a workhorse vehicle, faithful loadlugger, criss crossing the prairies and rolling into town. Also a symbol of freedom perhaps, taking the place of the horse as the farm hands mount of choice.
tbc
Opel Fruitless
Arrival
Trois Citroens (Why I like driving in France)
Source: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6
Here are a few useful facts. There are over 24m cars on the road and the UK now has one car for every 2.1 people. While over 71% of households have at least one car, 22% have two or more cars. With UK sales reaching around 2.5m in 2002 it seems that more people than ever are buying cars.
Indeed, it has been calculated that if all the new cars bought last year were parked together, they would reach a distance equivalent to London to Edinburgh and cover 27 lanes of motorway.
Although cars are generally an easy and convenient way of getting around, the roads are becoming more and more congested. Road speeds in central London before the congestion charge was introduced were as low as they were 100 years ago: about 16kmh (10mph).
Source: http://education.guardian.co.uk/primaryresources/story/0,,916132,00.html
UK land area (Km2) = 242,900
(Includes the four constituent countries, excludes the three Crown dependencies (768 km²), the 13 British overseas territories (17,027 km²) and the British Antarctic Territory (1,395,000 km²), (1,655,695 km² if including overseas and disputed territories)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area
With an estimated population of 64 million people, France is the 23rd most populous country in the world. France's largest cities are Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Nice, Toulouse and Nantes.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France#Demographics
France Land Area (Km2) = 551,500
Includes Metropolitan France only; the entire French Republic (excluding Adélie Land) covers 674,843 km².
France Car Ownership: 29 160 000 cars(Ministère de l'Equipement, des Transports, de l'Aménagement duterritoire, du Tourisme et de la Mer,http://www.equipement.gouv.fr/statistiques/chiffres/transpor/transpor.htm#10,as of 31 Dec 2002)
So we can see that the UK population is similar (give or take 4m!) to that of France with almost twice the land mass. This information plus the fact that the French construction industry knows how to build bloody roads is the reason why I like driving in France!