#Vanlife. Heroes and Villains
The appeal of Van Life is now something everyone understands. Freedom. Adventure. Self-determination. All these things are encoded deeply into how we see ourselves – and an entire industry has arisen to cater for every kind of wagon-type desire. But in the last few weeks and months of Lockdown, devotees of the #vanlife ethos have been up against it. We explore how and why we got here.
How Does it Feel to Drive?
Ferrari x Katarina Kyvalova, Queen B, Mouton and more –
It’s a rare break in the weather in East London in the middle of February. Becky Evans (aka Queen B) is taking me for a cruise around her adoptive manor in her new F80 BMW M3. “This is my ends, I love it here,”, she tells me as kids rocking hoodies do the double take as they cross the Bethnal Green Road, spying Becky, all butterfly lashes and raven locks, at the helm of her bright yellow beemer, that turbocharged six humming a bass note along the curb.
Banger Rallies
The Banger Rally. For those of you still uninitiated, it’s essentially a stag do on wheels. But women are welcome, and drinking isn’t. At least for the driver. The basic premise is to obtain some kind of at-first-inappropriate vehicle for a small budget and attempt to cover massive distances for no real reason. Typically in […]
The Rules
We’ve come together to set out some guidelines – The Rules – that drivers really need to stick to. They aren’t official nor legally-binding, they have nothing to do with our bosses nor parent company and (let’s be honest) they aren’t to be taken too seriously – but take them all on board and revise […]
Cars that take you places
For every car that’s been made there will be a story, or two, to tell. From rolling off the production line to the fifth or sixth owner collecting the keys for the very first time. For decades, cars have been our main and most trusted companion when it comes to exploration and adventure.
Okay, sometimes trusted.
Most owners will have fond memories of a certain trip or experience that was made ever more memorable because of the car they were in. It didn’t need to be the most expensive car in the world, or the most luxurious or even one that’s particularly popular. For whatever reason it added something to the family holiday or long road trip that has stayed with you ever since.
Giovanni Gastel and Alfa Romeo
Journalists and ‘influencers’ from the nebulous world of social media bunched around a car, with all but the ‘selfie’ brigade focusing their attention on it, isn’t a rarity. What is less common is the sight of renowned photographer, Giovanni Gastel, directing the scenario. You see, it’s not real. It’s all part of a photoshoot to […]
Volvo 240: bulletproof brick of the suburbs
Before it became a maker of cool premium cars and SUVs with ‘Thor’s Hammer’ headlights, Swedish flag bonnet tags and crystal gear levers, Volvo produced a number of now-cult machines. The angular 240 is one, and alongside the 480 ES, it exudes modern classic cool. Arriving in 1974, the 240 is arguably the car most […]
We are Family: Car Ads from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s
As long as cars have filled the highways and byways, drivers have been bombarded with advertisements selling the virtues of our four-wheeled friends. The 1920s, 1930s and 1940s pushed cars advertised by women in cloche hats and fur-lined coats. Post World War II, the 1950s continued the previous decades’ creative optimism and glamour. Stylised illustrations […]
2017 Highlights
As 2017 comes to a close, we celebrate our most exciting, engaging and fun year to date. A year that saw incredible highs with a visit to the largest collection of MX-5s in the world, spending time with alt-fuel cars including the Toyota Mirai, a Porsche 911 converted to electricity and the world’s first Tesla […]
Hip to be square – 70 years of the Citroën H Van
Ubiquitously hip. That’s the best way to describe Citroën’s retro light commercial in 2017, a mammoth seven decades since it first appeared on French roads. A capable workhorse after the end of World War II, it wasn’t meant to be a cool commercial at all. But now, like its equally omnipresent Volkswagen Type 2 rival, […]