b500-5

ISSUE 5

KOENIGSEGG GEMERA

CONTENTS

4 10 22

4 8 10 16 20 22 24 28 34 36 39 42 44 46 49 54

AUCTION NEWS / Silverstone Auctions RICHARD GONÇALVES / ROCS Motorsports KOENIGSEGG GEMERA / Sasha Selipanov DAMON JONES / Engineered by Damon ART / Motive Culture Art BART KUYKENS / Photographer ARKONIK / Introducing ‘UJO’ OWNER / MK1 Jaguar ‘Hawthorn’ MAGNUS WALKER / Man with a beard B500X / Special Vehicle Project - 1 DESIGN / Amalgam Collection ETIENNE SALOMÉ / Designer & Artist FOR SALE / Classic Motor Hub STEFAN JOHANSSON / Racing Driver DESIGN / Squire Motorcycles WATCH / Richard Mille

A B500 Ltd Publication.

The rights of B500 Ltd to be identified as author(s), publisher(s) of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the copyright, designs & patents act 1988.

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The articles as published do not necessarily represent the views of the author or publisher.

Information provided is deemed to be accurate at the time of going to press.

The Publisher takes no responsibility for any inaccuracies which may appear within the publication either in original or updated format.

Updated and renewed edition. First published in October 2020.

Copyright: B500 Ltd 2025.

Website: www.b500.co

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AUCTION NEWS Silverstone Auctions / 1971 De Tomaso Pantera

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aving established himself as a serious automobile manufacturer with the Mangusta Coupé, Alejandro De Tomaso commissioned Lamborghini designer Gianpaolo Dallara to produce the chassis for his new mid-engined supercar, the Pantera.

Dallara opted for unitary construction for the steel chassis/body - abandoning the Mangusta’s backbone frame. Ford Motor Company was De Tomaso’s partner at the

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time of the Pantera’s introduction in 1971 and thus the Pantera, like the Mangusta, relied on Ford V8 power. Mated to a ZF all-synchro five-speed transaxle, the 351ci (5.8-litre) Cleveland engine varied in output depending on the destination market, and in European trim came with 330bhp on tap, enabling the Pantera to complete the 0 - 60mph sprint in a little over five seconds and touch 170mph flat out. Styled by Tom Tjaarda at Carrozzeria Ghia, the stunning Coupé body was in fact built by Vignale, both companies being part of De Tomaso’s empire in the early 1970s.

De Tomaso’s longstanding relationship with the Ford Motor Company led to an arrangement whereby the Pantera was distributed through select LincolnMercury dealerships in the USA. Exceptionally long-lived for a supercar, the Pantera was still around in the 1990s having undergone numerous evolutions and production of the world longestrunning supercar finally ceased in 1993.

The car presented here is a matching numbers 1971 Pantera, built in the latter part of that year, it was referred to as a

‘narrow body, flat-deck Pre-L model’ and it will be offered for sale with Silverstone Auctions in their final sale of 2020, on the weekend of the 13th and 14th November.

Fitted with the bullet-proof Cleveland ‘351 HO.’ V8 – enabling 170mph in 1971, the Pantera was truly a supercar.

The car was supplied new to Italy before being imported into the USA in 1972. It was delivered to the state of Oregon, where it was registered 557 FVR and spent its entire life there, where the current owner understands it was owned by a doctor who used to carry out his house calls in the car!

In the late 1990s, the owner sadly died, the car was dry stored and subsequently purchased in an estate sale for the current owner in 2012, before being shipped to the UK. It was fully inspected (found to be rust-free) and re-commissioned by AV Classic Cars Ltd. in Bedfordshire, which took just under 12 months to complete. All in all costing c£15,000, the work included all new brakes, suspension all renewed/ rebushed, a new Halls water pump, an upgraded thermostat, a larger (custommade) radiator with twin Kenlowe fans, a rebuild of the carburettor and clutch cylinder, bodywork stripped and repainted Signal Orange, window rubbers replaced and the bumperettes/trim all powdercoated in satin black. The car was also fully serviced and rolling road set up.

With their clean, sharp lines, and strong powertrains, the Pre-L Panteras are considered the most desirable of the series.

If you are looking for an early, original Pantera in great condition, you should give #02105 some serious consideration.

Interested bidders can view the car in person, via a pre-booked appointment, prior to the auction weekend. To reserve your viewing slot, contact the Silverstone Auctions team on 01926 691141, with viewings taking place at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. As the auction itself is closed, you can live stream and watch the sale, with bidding available on the phone, online or via commission.

Estimate: £65,000/£75,000

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Image courtesy: Kenny Lam

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RICHARD GONÇALVES ROCS Motorsports / Studio RG Art

Artist, designer and custom car builder, Rich operates ROCS Motorsports in New Jersey, a custom house founded in 1995 reimagining and personalising vintage Porsche cars. The same space houses Studio RG Art from where his paintings, sculptures and reimagined watches are generated.

You see, up until this point I had experienced some level of build creativity freedom but it was generally attached to a cool idea the client just couldn’t resist, color combos, interiors, etc. but within certain parameters. This however, while a collaboration, was a VERY different experience, it was more of a race inspired ART project, right up my alley too. I must admit I was a bit self-restrained at first but as discussions progressed and the build began, it became a very symbiotic process, a match made between an astute esoteric enthusiast who had already owned just about every car he liked and an obsessively imaginative yours truly. You could say it was a universal alignment and a match mediated by a vehicle which in this case was an actual vehicle, a restomod 911 unlike any other before seen.

from the race track in the late 60s and lovingly preserved in an airplane hangar for decades. Imagine a tribute to one of the world’s most gruelling races through Mexico and the pilots that dared it, an era when bravado was genuine. Imagine the meshing sounds of mechanical components unabated through sheet metal. Imagine the scents of raw materials, rubber, metal and leather, the sound of doors closing echoing a short metallic sound in a chamber built for speed. Imagine six 46mm throttles wide open around a high speed turn tamed by the modulating of the accelerator pedal.

Imagine wiping down unpretentious paint replete with battle scars and hand painted motifs, white knuckled hands grasping around the beautifully aged Italian leather.

Zip, zip, click-click, snick-snick, northern CA, backwoods twisty turns, no race car, fast like a race car, canyon carver, mom can drive, lots of character, East coast industrial, different. I’m busy, make it my car but your own that you would build for you but for me, you know what to do, it will be your calling card. These were essentially the initial set of instructions given by my (now brother from another mother) new client Anil Sethi.

As we searched for just the right donor Anil said, the right car will find us and it sure did, actually two cars found us to be more precise, a rust-free, no sunroof 1977 911 that came to us in baggies from good old LA and a monster of a race car which would land on our lap from the Midwest. The former would go on to live a prominent rebirth as the ROCS Panamericana while the later would donate its various organs to this life changing cause, but don’t feel sad about the race car, it has a happy ending too!

If ever there was a set of trouser soiling orders, well these were them!

What is the ROCS Panamericana then?

Well, imagine seeing a race car, retired

You’ve figured it out, the Panamericana is a time machine that will allow you to relish in the past but more importantly will also remind you to live in the now…

As for myself, the Panamericana allowed me to reach deep within and reaffirm that we each have a purpose in life and we need to listen and pay attention... the biggest things come from the simplest acts. For more on the Panamericana & YouTube video please visit www.ROCSAUTO.com Oh and for the race car? It now lives in Southern CA and being restored to its original racing glory as originally built in the early 1970s.

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et’s talk about the unknown for a minute, not the obscure kind that has you open mouthed pondering the night sky, we’ll leave that for another day. I’m talking a simpler kind of unknown, like a commissioned project with nearly zero direction! As you get to know me you will realize I love just this sort of “painful” existence, after all a proper challenge is always a daringly fun affair is it not?

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KOENIGSEGG GEMERA Exclusive b500 Q&A with Head of Design, Sasha Selipanov

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remember It was a warm sunny day in mid September and my phone pinged and it was Sasha Selipanov sending me a ‘What’s App’ message. “Hey Del did you get the photos”?

I did indeed, as well as the exclusive sketch for b500, and thank you.

I had been introduced to Sasha a few days earlier by Etienne (Salomé), who has worked with Sasha at Bugatti and more recently with a hand in the Gemera interior design, and suggested an intro for this issue of b500. In just over a year with Koenigsegg Sasha has already managed to carve his name in the history books, as Koenigsegg’s first official head of design (after CEO Christian Von Koenigsegg), and then straight out of the gate designing the Koenigsegg Gemera, a four-seater Mega-GT with a hybrid powertrain producing a total of 1270kW of power, unveiled at the cancelled 2020 Geneva motor show.

Not a bad start, but Sasha has had a pretty good design career already, before joining what he describes as his “dream job”. After graduating from the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena in 2005 Sasha was hired by the Volkswagen Group as an exterior designer and it was here among other cars he was involved in the design of the Lamborghini Huracán.

By 2014 Sasha was in Molsheim and head of exterior design at Bugatti, where he was responsible not least for the 2016 Chiron (2016), one of the fastest and most powerful production cars ever created. Making important steps towards his Swedish goal, he then joined Genesis, the newly founded premium subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, creating cars like the Genesis Essentia Concept (2018) and then in 2019 Sasha arrived at Koenigsegg.

Sasha, welcome to b500 and we appreciate you giving us the time to answer a few questions. b500: You have openly said that your dream job would be with Koenigsegg, so now you’ve arrived is it everything you had hoped for?

Yes, it really is! It’s what I had hoped for and much more. Koenigsegg is a car company unlike any other. There is so much passion and creativity here, its a fantastic work environment. b500: Obvious question. Whats the boss like?

In one word, exceptional. Christian’s story of creating a successful sports car company at such a young age is unprecedented. Having spent a bit of time working with him I now realise what a remarkable blend of talents and character traits it has taken to succeed. Christian is a phenomenal engineer, inventor,

problem solver, entrepreneur, motivator and leader. Christian’s knowledge is vast in scope but also very precise in detail, this makes his feedback logical and easy to relate to. On top of this, hardly a day goes by at work without him surprising everyone with his creativity and his completely out of the box thinking. It really is a killer combination of talents and skills, as I said, in one word: exceptional. b500: Why is it important for you to design hypercars?

There are two main reasons. Firstly, I see a hypercar as an ultimate expression of a car.

Performance, materials, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, safety, ergonomics… everything is on the very limit of technology and feasibility. This is what makes designing them so much fun. It feels like a more purified, essential design process because its unconstrained by regular car production limitations and only driven by science, technology and creativity.

Second reason is more personal.

I remember being absolutely blown away as a kid by a Ferrari F40 poster and this life altering event is one of the main reasons why I became a car designer.

I guess a big part of my motivation in designing hypercars is to pass along this passion to kids. Maybe in their iPad and iPhone filled lives some of them will see a car I worked on and have their life altered the way mine was…

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b500: Koenigsegg has always had a clear design, so how difficult was it for you to design a car that then might have to break that mould with your very first challenge.

Gemera is a car unlike any other with its 4 seat cabin, unprecedented drivetrain and packaging. However first and foremost it is a true Koenigsegg and therefore its design had to be instantly recognisable as such. We never set out to break the mould with the design of the Gemera: Christian and I worked closely together to ensure that the Gemera’s looks fit in the established brand DNA and into the lineage. There are of course design themes and engineering solutions that make this possible: wrap-around windshield and cockpit, Koenigsegg’s unique dihedral synchro-helix doors, surfacing inspired by the aquatic world and certainly the logic/innovation driven spirit which guides all the decisions during the design development.

Gemera’s goal is to be a technological marvel and a clean sheet design while at

the same time fitting into the Koenigsegg family seamlessly, like a missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. b500: Whats your favourite designed part on the Gemera and why?

I hate breaking up designs into “parts’.

For me it either works as a whole or it doesn’t! This includes not only the styling of the car but the entirety: engineering concept, packaging, performance, looks, ergonomics, usability, even sound! All these aspects need to be in perfect harmony for the product to make sense. This is precisely what we were striving for while working on the Gemera. b500: I appreciate you can’t give too much away, but can I loosely ask what else are you involved with and working on, inside and outside of Koenigsegg?

A good question actually! I’ll focus mainly on the “outside” because alongside working for Koenigsegg I am

also CEO and Chief Designer of RAW Design House, a design consultancy that offers works with external clients. We have existed for less than a year but have already had a few very exciting projects.

I believe that we have a unique set of talents at RAW and a design process unprecedented in its efficiency.

Koenigsegg Gemera is a proof of this: the design phase of that car was literally times shorter than anything tried before. We have eliminated a lot of waste by cutting out 2D from our design work entirely. Our designers including myself sketch directly in Alias creating 3D models that are only a single step away from A-Class. We are able to create 3D sketches at the same pace as is usual for a classical 2D output.

All the design decisions are done directly on the base of our 3D models. This makes the process very streamlined and lean: design refinement, engineering crosschecks, feasibility, prototyping, tooling they all benefit from the fact that a design exists in 3D far earlier in the process

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than what would have been the case with a traditional 2D-3D-Clay-Scan-3D. You can probably tell, I am very passionate about this approach. I believe this is the way forward and RAW Design House is here to share this workflow and its benefits with clients around the world.

Regarding whats in store at Koenigsegg, I just have to say that every time we brainstorm we end up with more ideas than can be realised in a single lifetime. The company has achieved so much already and has created truly amazing cars, and yet the level of creativity regarding future projects is just on another level. b500: Can you give us an insight to a typical day at ‘the office’?

A typical day at the office starts with an unforgettable experience of walking

through the production line and seeing a few amazing cars getting built! If lucky I’ll catch one of the cars leaving for the runway (our test track) in the morning, and this sets the mood for the rest of the day! RAW Design House has the ability to work from a remote location on external projects, but when we work for Koenigsegg we sit directly on the engineering floor and share space with the rest of the team. Christian’s office door is always open and we discuss all topics without any delay: no need to schedule CEO reviews weeks into the future as was the case in my previous workplaces. On some days there is an opportunity to go to the runway and see the cars in action, sometimes getting a ride and a couple of times even driving myself. Working at Koenigsegg is unlike any other car design experience I’ve had so far: I am finally much closer to the cars, and this is what I’ve always dreamed of.

b500: Last question has to be whimsical. If you could travel back in time, to any time and be involved with just one car design, what car would that be…

I am passionate about car history and I do a lot of reading up on the early days of the industry. Of course I’d love to have been a fly on the wall for all the big historic milestones like the 250 GTO, 330 P4, GT40 etc but to be fair they all turned out perfect without me.

Honestly, I am much more interested in what the future holds and how to make a contribution to that. I think I am in a great place for this, here at Koenigsegg and at RAW. b500: Many thanks Sasha, and I’m sure I speak for all b500 readers when I say we look forward to whatever comes next from you and the team at Koenigsegg.

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DAMON JONES Engineered by Damon

English-born, Damon Jones is an experienced manufacturing operations professional with a celebrated history of working successfully at a senior level for numerous prestigious brands in the automotive industry. Not your typical shirt wearing engineer, Damon wears his personality on his sleeve, quite literally! This tattooed, bearded Porsche enthusiast is mad for mid century architecture and when you meet him you’ll quickly realise how keen an eye for detail he has.

I

founded my company ‘Engineered by Damon’ (EBD) with the vision to support, grow, and develop companies utilising my expertise and experience which I have accumulated over the last twenty years working for some of the world’s leading companies in the automotive industry. I work with a range of companies from fresh new startups, to established companies by helping them to develop their individual strategies required to support and ramp up their vehicle production and in turn support their introduction of class leading and quality products to the marketplace in a timely manner. We are exploring the field of high quality, bespoke limited run projects in collaboration with other companies in our industry as well as our own stand-alone ventures.

L ‍ eading my own company has certainly removed any shackles and given me the freedom to finally explore my artistic flair and entrepreneurial side.

I look forward to using my space in b500 magazine to showcase projects I am working on. Whilst I wait for the embargos to be lifted on some of these ‘skunkwerks’ projects, I can talk about a personal passion project in this issue: I’m a hard man to please but ironically I’d like to introduce you to ‘pleaseyesplease’s’ Creative Director Lee Schulz. I originally reached out to Lee with a proposal to build a famous mid century home for me in Los Angeles...in Lego! A project that I quickly learnt is not an easy undertaking. Whilst that project comes to fruition behind closed doors via plenty of zoom design reviews, I’d like to share another Lego project Lee and I have been working on together in the meantime. Say hello to ‘Project Black Brick’ which Lee first introduced to me as the ‘Mr Jones version’ The project outline I gave Lee was pretty simple - please build me an all black Lego classic Porsche 911 which would look like something I’d build and drive personally in real life.

Behind this project is a deep love for the 911 silhouette. The design was prototyped and refined through several iterations to deliver a well-balanced and beautiful scale model take on a classic Porsche 911 perfect for display. ‘Project Black Brick’ is loaded with authentic scale details like

front amber indicator lenses and chrome detailed headlights (we even mixed a bespoke paint with one of our automotive paint suppliers), chrome centre filler cap, side mirrors, door handles, rear tail lights with chrome accents, rear engine intake grille and a dual exhaust. This model seats a mini-figure comfortably in a finished interior and includes black BBS style wheels with the perfect stance. This model is sure to bring big smiles to the faces of Porsche fans of all ages!

This model is set apart by the high level of refinement and attention to detail brought to the brick-based medium resulting in a unique collector’s piece you can build with your own hands. This is a bespoke build which utilises a handful of different suppliers and unique parts and for me has strong nuances to building a real car but on a much smaller scale, which I really enjoyed - The sourcing of vendors, regular project meetings, a prototype build, design changes, generation of process instructions and a build sequence.

We didn’t need a final road test of course but each individual part is inspected by the EBD Quality department prior to joining a kit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, building Lego kits is great training for manufacturing.

You’ll be pleased to know that ‘Project Black Brick’ will be available to purchase through the EBD website store at www.engineeredbydamon.com in the coming weeks.

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2003 Porsche Carrera GT £499,000 Available Now

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ADVERTORIAL

ART Motive Culture

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had a small epiphany while walking around looking at art the NEC Classic Motor Show in 2017. Having had a passion for graphically illustrated posters for years and also attending many shows where I saw reproductions or other artwork for sale, I decided to try and set a goal of launching my own brand and work at the show a year later.

During the year timeframe, I developed the brand name and identity; created 30 different print designs and built the website alongside social media channels.

I also outlined a small business plan and

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objective to give the brand direction and purpose – all of this whilst holding down a full-time career. Since then Motive Culture has become my primary business and I’ve tried to build up the brand organically; gaining true followers and supporters along the way.

After gaining a degree at Coventry University in graphic design over 20 years ago, I’ve been lucky enough to work with range of well-known brands.

From my early days as Art and Design Editor of Fast Ford Magazine, to designing BMW’s and Auto Trader’s websites in the mid-noughties, onto the digital side of Autocar, PistonHeads and

Classic & Sports Car later, plus a stint at Dyson and more recently as lead HMI designer for McLaren Automotive, working on the Elva. This experience has helped shape and inspire the Motive Culture brand, plus also making sure my art is recognisable and distinctive – that hopefully customers will want to hang on their wall.

I wanted a brand name that wasn’t limiting to cars. The name came about whilst reading a coffee table photography book from SpeedHunters. The book is full of photos of automotive culture from around the world and so I began playing with words for the brand name, with the

word ‘automotive’ revealing the word ‘Motive’, as a pro-active, passion-based word. ‘Culture’ is a definitive way of life and a bringing together of liked minded ideas and people. Pairing these words together creates a brand name with depth, allowing room to for it to grow and not just be limited to just cars.

Each illustration is created using Adobe Illustrator with a mix of Photoshop and takes a good few days to produce a single vehicle. Many of my off-theshelf prints have yellow headlamps for no other reason than I think they look cool. I wanted to add something different to my prints as there are lot of other vector-based artworks out there, so using the Motive Culture logo with stripes and a large roundel I was able to define a recognisable look. I also have a typographic based version too.

Customers who order Motive Culture prints are getting exclusive pieces because I don’t produce thousands of each design, generally between 25 and 50 of each on very high-quality paper stock and commissions are of course complete one offs. Ultimately, it’s about capturing a fellow enthusiast’s passion in a print.

The family team and I, either my father or brother working with me, have attended numerous shows over the past few years including the NEC Classic Motor Show, Historic Motorsport show Race Retro at Stoneleigh; various Bicester Heritage events and OilCooled at Boxengasse.

Shows are the best way to meet new customers, sell posters and establish new contacts. The Motive Culture brand has been seen in various car magazines too, from the well-respected Octane Magazine, to Modern Classics, Classic Ford and Fast Ford magazines. Print advertising is essential to not only support the magazines but also give credibility and strength to the brand.

a really nice quality to them. Most have been bought from France or from French art traders. I have a selection of 1970s Monaco Grand Prix prints in my studio, plus many others rolled up in tubes.

In addition to having a passion for artwork, I’m also equally enthusiastic about my own cars. I currently have a small collection of modern classics; for the past 21 years I’ve owned a modified classic Mini, I have a very early 1990 Mk1 Mazda MX-5 and a classic Subaru Impreza Turbo 2000 Estate, which is used to haul poster stock and equipment to shows. All three are great as they’re not big money, just cheap useable classics.

I’d like to expand Motive Culture to work in partnership with automotive brands, creating official artwork for manufacturers. I have great respect for companies such as Automobilist, who have really raised the game of automotive art. I don’t see them as competitors as they’re offering a different style; I love the fact there’s a lot of creative talent out there for enthusiasts to make their own mind up. I’m looking to expand my retail base too as I currently have posters for sale at The Classic Motor Hub in the Cotswolds, on the walls at Caffeine & Machine and online at Petrolicious, plus numerous other outlets.

Darren Curtis www.motiveculture.com

A number of automotive artists have been an inspiration for my work as I’ve been collecting vintage posters by Géo Ham for years. I favour the versions by Musée de L’automobiliste in Paris as these have

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BART KUYKENS Photographer

Belgium-born Bart Kuykens successfully navigated both the art world and commercial photography since the outset of his career. Following the global success of his automotive art books ‘A Flat6 love affair’, he has attracted the attention of world-class actors, musicians, and media personalities who have become subjects of his grainy, visually-rich and powerful black and white portraits.

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ear friends,

What a year so far!

2020 should have been the year where I would photograph mainly the East Coast of the United States, but due to COVID, I could not travel as much as I wanted.

Nevertheless, A FLAT6 LOVE AFFAIR - VOL 6 has been a fantastic experience.

From Miami to Atlanta, from Savannah to Los Angeles...I still had a great time in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Additionally, I photographed some people in Europe to get your favourite black and white Porsche book ready on time. Just like in previous years, I will take pre-orders and ship them on a first-in-first-served basis.

I’ll expect the book to be ready the first week of November, so the first batch should go out that very same week!

A FLAT6 LOVE AFFAIR - VOL 6 Featuring: Albert Vara, Andre Lotterer, Anna Carrera, Ari Epstein, Chuck Beck, David Gause, Derek Bell, Eric Clarke, Hurley Haywood, Jaime Montserrat, Jay Kay, Jennifer Nicole, Jim Goodlett, Kai Burkhard, Kevin Jeannette, Luka van Hoenacker, Marc Watson, Mark Pribanic, Mike Carrigan, Mike Geisert, Mike van Osta, Pablo Lorenzo, Patricio Cuello, Patrick Dempsey, Pierre-Philip Hauteclair, Ray Shaffer, Regis Matthieu, Suneal Nandigam, Sven Grossman, Tine De Schepper, TJ Russell, Yordi Garcia

Below is the forward from Alois Ruf from VOL 5.

I was first struck by the unique and distinctive sound experience of the 911 engine when the 901 prototype “Quickblau” passed my father and me on the autobahn. I was just a 14 year old chap that had just started his flat six love affair without knowing where this love story would take him. In this book Bart combines the expressiveness of black and white photography with the beautiful details of Nine elevens in a way that has never been done before. This collection of photographs doesn’t need much language, as Bart’s images speak for themselves: raw beauty of the classic 911 model and aficionados that have also been struck like me. It is the simplicity that capitalizes the wonderful work of art of Bart’s photography which perfectly aligns with the simplicity of the classic 911. This book allows anybody that isn’t car crazy yet to look through the lense of us petrol heads and will allow them to understand our love for the air cooled machines. Bart captures the essence of Porsche so beautifully that anyone who has not fallen in love will have his first flat six love affair by flipping through this book’s pages.

Chapeau Bart!

Alois Ruf

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THE ARKONIK WAY Introducing the UJO Defender

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rkonik have been around since 2006 quietly doing their thing and growing from a single defender 110 on the driveway of the founder, to now in 2020 having a 40,000 sq.ft unit which is buzzing with work. Mainly for a North American market, each Arkonik Defender is restored and reimagined to the required perfection of its new owner - and the

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complete attention of every member of the Arkonik crew who has a part in it prior to its departure from their HQ. Originally started as Land Rovers UK Ltd and operating from a 200 sq.ft unit the company grew rapidly, before its move to the larger premises just a few miles away back in 2010. Through these times the business was producing up to 50 Defenders a month for both the domestic and overseas markets.

A global downturn in 2012 meant UK and European sales had started to decline, but the USA market had increased swiftly and the business began to grow rapidly through this marketplace.

In 2016 Land Rovers UK Ltd changed its name to Arkonik Ltd and with increasing sales in the US, appointed a dedicated US representative for client handovers. 2017 was an important year and to celebrate 10 years in business and

Arkonik work very much on a collaborative approach. By carefully considering the intended use of each owner; whether that’s an urban commute, off-road/overland or somewhere in between, the Arkonik team can ensure each Defender is tailored perfectly to the needs of each owner, and has their thoughts and personality built in from the shared ideas each new owner passes along at the planning stages.

Along the way your new Arkonik Defender will pass through many different stages, from the original search for the perfect defender on your behalf, to the full strip down to its original frame which after many hours work will provide the firm foundation for the Arkonik team to begin building upon.

Each Defender takes part in a total and extensive rebuild with every component renewed to Arkonik’s ‘better then new’ delivery. There are three choices of power-plant: the four-cylinder 200Tdi turbo diesel, 300 Tdi turbo diesel and the 3.5-litre V8 petrol. These are very low-stressed engines, designed for a life of toil and minimum maintenance. Each engine is stripped to its last nut and bolt and every core component measured, pressure tested and machined back to original tolerances or replaced with new.

to celebrate designed a special Arkonik ‘DECADE’ Defender 110. 2018 brought another milestone with 200 Arkonik Defenders restored and reimagined for American and Canadian markets.

And now in 2020 Project UJO as featured was unveiled to the public at the start of the year - a RHD ‘restomod’ build with an LS3 6.2L engine and 6-speed automatic transmission inspired by the founders original 1984 110

CSW. Order books have once again opened for the UK domestic market, and a special vehicle operations (SVO) facility opened in South Carolina, for the fitment of SVO upgrades and client handovers.

One further option is now also available: the GM® LS3 6.2L V8 petrol used in Chevrolet’s legendary Corvette; a modern power‑plant producing an impressive 430HP and providing a nocompromise approach to modern-day drive and usability. Transmission is once again forensic when it comes to the strip down, with nothing retained other than outer casings and housings.

Clients can choose between Automatic Transmission ranging from an original 4-speed to a high-tech, 6-speed variant, depending on each engine specification.

So what’s next for Arkonik. Project Conduit (EV) - The next chapter in the Arkonik story is being written and is the biggest evolution of the brand to date.

The Electric Arkonik is underway!

As the iconic Defender begins to be rebuilt, so the shape starts to once again come back to life. Arkonik have invested heavily in custom tooling enabling them to create their own

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bulkheads. They assemble new body panels, meticulously aligning them to deliver a better than factory finish. Even brand new panels are not good enough for an Arkonik build! These are sanded back to bare metal, then meticulously prepared, primed, baked and inspected before the whole process is repeated for each and every coat.

When it becomes time for painting, Arkonik prepare and paint each panel separately; roof, doors, fenders, hood and side panels are all treated individually, ensuring that when the vehicle is reassembled it has perfect alignment.

Each vehicle will be coated with two or three coats of primer and one coat of etch primer before the chosen colour is applied. There’s an array of paint colours and finishes to choose from, including classic Coniston Green to striking Portofino Red. Virtually any colour a client can think of can be created and paired with a variety of effects including; mica, metallic and Raptor finishes.

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Remember, every Arkonik Defender is custom built, and so you can at every stage ‘make it your own’.

During assembly each vehicle is assembled in a methodical order allowing for numerous quality control checks and to minimise damage along the way and to guarantee reliability and safety, Arkonik electrical engineers create a complete, custom wiring loom from scratch, using only the very best components available.

The interior refit begins with tailored sound-proofing and carpeting throughout. Now the personality of the Defender begins to reveal itself. Freshly painted panels are reassembled with brand new rubber seals. New windows, tyres and wheels are then fitted. The interior panels, roof lining, instrument gauges, door hardware and dashboard all follow.

One further and unique aspect of each Arkonik Defender is that throughout the entire process, they will document

and photograph every build with regular updates uploaded to every customers’ personal online portal. Once completed, each newly built Arkonik Defender is taken on location for a professional photoshoot. The highresolution images are made available for the new owner to keep; the perfect way to share with family and friends before finally taking delivery of your new Arkonik Defender.

Testing is really important and has been refined to a 250-mile programme designed to iron out any minor bugs and is therefore perfectly adjusted prior to a final valet and the various certificates are passed and final delivery is then literally just around the corner…

Once each new Arkonik Defender is delivered, each owner is then assigned a representative to deal with any future questions and inquiries about upgrades or maintenance. Now its just down to the new owner to get out there and enjoy it!

+44 (0)1242 384092 : GLOUCESTERSHIRE, GL7 5NX : INFO@CLASSICMOTORHUB.COM

THE CLASSIC

MOTOR HUB

1953 ASTON MARTIN DB2 VANTAGE

● EARLY COMPETITION HISTORY ● IMPRESSIVE HISTORY FILE BACK TO NEW ● COSMETICALLY AND MECHANICALLY SUPERB ● THE PRE-EMINENT SPORTS CAR OF ITS DAY

@THECLASSICMOTORHUB

/THECLASSICMOTORHUB

OWNER Mk1 Jaguar Hawthorn / Andrew Badham

I

first met Andrew who owns this car on Instagram. I meet a lot of people on Instagram.

Some are across the other side of the world, and some like Andrew are just 45 minutes drive away from where I live.

And so it was a on an unusually warm and calm early autumn day that I invited Andrew to join me with his Mk1 Jaguar Hawthorn, for some lunch and a few photos of his car at Whatley Manor - the new home-from-home of b500.

After a few exchanges on ‘the gram’, Andrew agreed what a nice idea it would

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be and that he didn’t need much of an excuse to drive across country from his home in the North Cotswolds, to Whatley in the South.

I arrived earlier than the time I had suggested to Andrew, just so I could scope Whatley for parking spaces to photograph and check the light etc which was that beautiful September light we sometimes get in early autumn and the trees at Whatley were just starting to turn from green to orange.

Being a typical photographer I was watching the light as it changed minute by minute and decided to catch Andrew

as he pulled in through the open gates at the top of the drive and started the half mile drive towards the main house.

I stopped him like a police officer half way up the drive and introduced myself.

I then proceeded to ask if he minded if we start photographing and then had lunch, as the light, the light, the light!

(Like the often mad man I can be about ‘the light’). I don’t think its just me, but maybe it is?

And so after his 45 minute drive, a quick elbow bump ‘hello’ and I was asking Andrew to drive the car here, move it there, face it this way, turn it that way.

(Not much has changed since my fashion

shoot days), this way darling, that looks great, pout, chin up, chin down, eyes left…and Andrew very kindly obliged so I could photograph his prized classic literally in the best possible light.

Having used the light to my advantage I felt less pressured than if we had parked the car, gone in for lunch and then found it to be cloudy and dull, (which of course in England, it might of even been snowing such is the range of weather options often available to us in just one day). And so we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon on the terrace and chatted about the car Andrew had purchased just a few months ago at the start of the lockdown.

First off it was easy for me to see how much pride Andrew has in being the new custodian of this fabulous heritage classic Jaguar. He brought with him files and files of images and information and original books and stories about the car and its history.

The car is a 1959 Jaguar Mk1 supplied

by Henlys of London and with a rare factory sunroof and disc brakes. This particular car with the 3.4L engine, of which 17,405 were built, finishing in 1959. Since then it has had just four previous owners from new and has received a ten year restoration which finished in 2013.

Further work was later carried out by M&C Wilkinson adding a T5 gearbox, power lock diff, PAS, new and upgraded lights, a new fuel tank, a stainless exhaust and my favourite - a louvred bonnet.

The ‘Hawthorn’ is a tribute car, of which several have been built over the years in memory of World champion Mike Hawthorn who died in 1959 in his Mk1 Jaguar which was on loan to him from Jaguar at the time. Andrew’s left the factory in April 1959, just three months after the untimely death of Mike Hawthorn. Painted in classic British Racing Green and complete with Suede Green leather, the registration WXX

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890 is the original London plate as designated by Henlys.

This particular Mk1 has had a very good life and without doubt will continue to have in the hands of Andrew, which is wonderful to know as there are thought to be only around 200 in roadworthy condition of the 17,405 originally produced. WXX 890 spent the 1970’s in Hampshire and then Dorset and then in 1988 it joined a new custodian in Wiltshire, (and by coincidence the county we are in for this photo-editorial at Whatley Manor).

This particular Wiltshire based custodian owned the car for nineteen years, and

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it was this owner who was responsible for the decade long rebuild to such high standards. Now several years on and I can say the car remains exceptional in every respect. The as original Suede Green leather interior looks almost new with just a tiny hint of patina, which it deserves to have. The paintwork was gleaming in the wonderful light of the day, and the body coloured wire wheels really set the car off, as does Andrews addition of the louvred bonnet, making the car look almost menacing as if a true prowling cat!

Andrew confirms the car is an absolute delight to drive and on ‘days like these’ is an absolute must to take out on the roads

around the Cotswolds and really enjoy it as it was meant to be. A little bit fast and a little bit furious…and then a very stately arrival into Whatley. Andrew then had the enjoyable 45 minute drive home, with the factory fitted sliding steel sunroof open, what could be better - and we both enjoyed our afternoon and the delights of such a fabulous location to enjoy some good food and drinks and conversation about cars.

My sincere thanks to Andrew for meeting me at Whatley Manor with his MK1 Jaguar and my thanks to Whatley Manor for hosting b500, and my thanks to the weather…and that light!

THE FINEST MODELS IN THE WORLD

ONE-OFFS BESPOKE LIMITED EDITIONS AT LARGE SCALES 1:18 1:8 1:5 1:4 CARS YACHTS PLANES CLASSIC HISTORIC MODERN AmalgamCollection.com

enquiries@amalgam.com

MOSS AUTOMOTIVE Michael O’Sullivan

I

have been a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember and I have owned Alfa Romeo, Alpina, Audi, BMW, Caterham, Ferrari, Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Morris, Porsche, Rolls Royce and VW. However, having driven and owned many cars over the last 28 years, Porsche is my favourite and a 911 would be my choice, if I could only have one.

I met Jonathan Franklin when he was at Hexagon Classics and he sold me my first 911, a 1987 911 250,000th commemorative edition coupe. We continued to do business over the years and became friends. The relationship with Hexagon has continued after Jonathan left and I use them for servicing and repairs on mine and customers cars.

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My work background was in property and construction, in 2018 I sold my business and I had been storing some cars on a development site that I owned, an old truck tyre garage, for about four years.

Prior to that I had stored my own cars at various places when I was moving home or doing building work and I thought I could do it better than anybody else, I bought an empty warehouse that year and began creating the facility I have today, the first cars arrived at the new facility in April last year.

In 2018 at Salon Prive, there was a Masters tribute to the 70th anniversary of Porsche and my 1993 911 (964) 3.6 Turbo (one of 31 U.K cars) was on display. Jonathan was attending with a former Hexagon colleague, Gerry Liddon of Rare Car Finance, who I had also known, through

Jonathan, for some time. In May the following year Gerry had moved his office to Moss Automotive H.Q, Jonathan left Hexagon Classics later that year to start Jonathan Franklin Cars and he also made Moss Automotive his H.Q. My current cars are, 2017 Alpina D3 Biturbo 1968 Alfa Romeo Junior Spider 1968 Ferrari 330 GTC 1990 Porsche 911 (964) C2 I do quite a few track days during the year, European road trips and attend a lot of motoring events, the biannual le Mans Classic being my favourite.

T H E U LT I M AT E B E S P O K E STO R AG E FAC I L IT Y A N D

OFFICIAL CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE The most exceptional facility, for the most exceptional cars. Situated on the London, Hertfordshire border in a discreet, yet convenient location.

A bespoke, temperature, humidity and dust controlled, high security building. We take care of storage, transportation, detailing, finance and we are an official Customs Warehouse.

HMRC AP P ROV ED CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE T 020 3973 1520 E info@mossauto.co.uk W mossauto.co.uk

MAGNUS WALKER Man with a beard

Man with a Beard Builder, Collector, Driver Born in Sheffield -1967 Wrote a letter to Porsche as a 10 year old wanting to be a car Designer Lives in Los Angeles since 1987 Car Enthusiast

I

’ve owned a lot of cars. More than 80% of them were never advertised for sale. In these modern times, we all have the Internet, which shrinks the world down to the size of our smart phone and makes global car searching quite easy.

Occasionally though, a random conversation will lead to a car purchase.

This is how I found my second E-Type Jag—through a random stop and chat at our local coffee shop with my neighbor, buddy, and fellow car guy, Raj. We’ve all had these type of chats that all start off with, “What’s going on?”

I’m looking for an E-Type Jag, I said. Raj replied, “You should buy my Dad’s.”

Raj is the type of guy who is always wheeling and dealing, with cars coming and going quicker than the women in his life. As for his Dad’s E-Type Jag, the good news was, it was a running car located within five miles of where I lived.

The bad news was, it was a 1970, 2+2 automatic. To many the Series 2 straight-

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six 2+2 auto may just be the least desirable of the range. Naturally, I had to go look at it straight away. The close proximity was an added bonus.

Harry at SportsCars Classic. The fellow Brit and London native knows his way around a Jag. And after all, how bad could such a journey be in a 50-year-old car?

The car was clean, but it wasn’t love at first sight. And the lacklustre performance did not impress in the least.

Harry was impressed with the white E-Type and gave the car two thumbs up and that was good enough for me. It was at that moment I knew I would be buying the car. ‘Me baby H’, was also smitten with the white hunk of steel.

I didn’t bite that day, but I thought about it for the next few days. The Series 2 2+2 is a long car. The wheelbase is nine inches longer than my former ’67 Series 1 E-Type.

It differs also in a few subtle and not so subtle ways. Gone are the front glass covered headlights, replaced by open-faced sealed beam headlight units. The front windshield is raked further forward toward the front hood in an effort to improve air flow over the new higher contour of the roofline. The turn signals have been replaced below the bumpers – this is not an improvement in aesthetic design. The wheel lugs no longer have the knockoff spinner wings.

Inside, the toggle button switch gear has been replaced with rocker switches and perhaps the thing I miss the most, the push-start button. This always represented a James Bond race-car-like drama to the start procedure.

A few days later, Raj offered me the car for an extended amount of time.

It only seemed natural to me to take the car on a 100-mile shakedown test drive in 100-degree heat to go see local (ish) Jag guru

My return back along the 101 freeway through the valley, in triple digit heat was quite a journey. The automatic Jag takes a long time to get up to speed but cruises really nice between 70 and 90 miles per hour. My confidence was gaining with every minute and so too was the temperature gauge, which moved right up to the end of “normal” on the dial, which caused some mild anxiety but it never made it into the red.

Upon my return to DTLA, I made Raj what I considered to be a low-ball offer and quickly struck a deal which made me the owner of this long sleek 2+2.

The white Jag causes quite a stir as they are rare on the roads, even in car-jaded LA. I had forgotten how long the front bonnet is and how poor the turning radius is. With no power-assisted steering the car feels heavy to manoeuvre and park at low speeds but the steering lightens up once the car is moving. Acceleration is non existent as the three-speed auto box does the inline-six no

favors. The car feels under powered and the horsepower has to be well below 200hp.

But what the car lacks in performance it more than makes up for with bags of character and comfort. It soon became the go-to car with a healthy dose of new-car fever. Our newly adopted dog Willow, a German Shepherd rescue feels most comfortable in this car over all the others.

Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer, stateside. It’s usually a busy time to travel, hit the beach, catch some rays, and enjoy the last days of summer. With a triple-digit heat wave this can only add to the excitement. So to me it seemed the perfect time for another shake-down drive in the Jag. After all how bad could it be?

One of the things I didn’t like about the Jag was the original cracked skinny woodrimmed steering wheel. So the quick fix improvement was a Moto-Lito steering wheel and hub replacement. This was a relatively easy procedure, but it involved another 100-mile round-trip drive back to Harry’s. The thick-grip leather-wrapped steering wheel felt better in my hands but did little to improve the Jag’s understeering characteristics.

The second 100-mile trip on a 100-degree day was similar to the first until traffic came to a standstill. I had already left the heat of the valley, and the 101 and hopped on the 405 over the hill to the 10 freeway chasing cooler temperatures on the other side. (LA locals will know what I’m talking about here). Unfortunately the eastbound 10 freeway was slammed with traffic and it was only 3pm. After all it was Friday and the start of a three-day weekend. It was around this time that I started to sense a problem, so I moved over a few lanes on the freeway to the right shoulder closer to the exit ramps. And then it struck: The car hesitated and then almost stalled on me. Fortunately I was able to put the auto into Neutral, blip the throttle and keep the engine running as I shifted back into drive, took a deep breath and kept going.

A quarter mile down the road, it happened again. This time I was not as lucky as the car died instantly in traffic on the 10 Freeway. Of course this time the car didn’t restart. I hopped out and pushed the old girl across two lanes of bumper to bumper traffic. It’s amazing how no one even gave me room to push the car across those two hot lanes! Fortunately I was able to push it into a lay-by – unfortunately I was 200

yards past the Vermont exit. I tried several times to restart the car with no luck and no sound of the fuel pump humming.

This has happened to me before in my former E-Type Jag and often the car would start right up after things had cooled down, usually in 20-30 minutes. But not this time.

No matter how many times I tapped the fuel pump in vain. As always a cell phone and AAA card came into the picture and the call was finally made. Over two hours later, the flatbed tow-truck turned up.

All in all a total breakdown wait time of almost three hours in 100 degree heat on the side of the freeway. To add salt to the wound, with the pandemic I was unable to ride in the tow truck with the car. So Hannah and Sergio came to the rescue and drove me back home.

On a positive note one person stopped and offered to help: Corey, a car guy and young chef. Long story short, I almost made it back as I was within five miles of home. Naturally everybody who heard this story thought I was crazy to attempt such a feat in an unknown 50 year old E-Type Jag but as the saying goes, “Only Mad dogs and Englishmen!”

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SVP-1 An announcement from b500 founder Del Gregory.

I’ve recently launched B500X as a special projects studio and I am now excited to announce Special Vehicle Project - 1 which will begin in January 2021.

Automobile designer Etienne Salomé, most famous for his 12 years work with Bugatti, including several automotive designs and his favourite, the one-of-one ‘La Voiture Noire’ is also delighted to announce this as his latest project.

This unique collaboration has resulted in myself and Etienne working together towards this ‘World Exclusive’ announcement right here in b500 magazine.

The magazine I founded just 7 months ago!

SVP-1 will be an Etienne Salomé designed Defender, which will be built by Defender experts ARKONIK who are based in Somerset England and South Carolina United States.

A Defender 90 rebuilt from the ground up with a 3.9L V8 coupled to a five speed LT85 manual gearbox and designed very much within a ‘less is more’ philosophy. A true design statement.

This first project from Etienne Salomé, B500X & Arkonik will be built as a ‘one-of-one’ for one very lucky global customer.

Del Gregory for B500X: “Etienne Salomé is without question one of the most exciting French designers and artists of his generation. Who wouldn’t want the person responsible for some of the most amazing Bugatti supercars ever designed, to be the designer of the first B500X Project and for me there was only ever going to be one company to build it, and that’s Arkonik”.

Etienne Salomé: “Progress has never been to make things more complicated, this special vehicle project will represent the pure essence of the Defender!

I am very happy to be designing this incredible vehicle and partnering with Del at B500X and the amazing team at Arkonik.”

Tom Parry for Arkonik: “It’s a privilege to be offered this opportunity from B500X and to therefore be working alongside a designer as individual and special as Etienne. Arkonik has enjoyed designing and collaborating directly with its customers to hand-build and personalise Defenders for over a decade, so this special project, ‘SVP-1’, is something we cannot wait to get started on”.

b500

Billed as ‘The Ultimate Designer Defender’, SVP-1 begins in January 2021 and will be complete for its world exclusive debut before the end of the year.

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01280 840491 | sales@autops.co.uk Units 3, 5 & 8, Barrington Court, Buckingham Road Industrial Estate, Brackley, NN13 7LE SME Northamptonshire Business Awards Finalist

DESIGN Amalgam Flying High

A

The 1940 Mk 1a Supermarine Spitfire malgam is known worldwide for its large scale models of extreme and high end classic cars for collectors, but out of sight in their workshops thrives a busy world of one-off commissions and significant commercial contracts for the likes of Richard Mille and Foster & Partners. Some years ago in response to a request from Lord Norman Foster for the ultimate Spitfire model, Amalgam

sent a team to Coningsby with some of the most accurate digital scanning equipment in the world to capture the data necessary to recreate the Mk 1a aircraft flown by Geoffrey Wellum of 92 Squadron in September 1940.

In line with Lord Foster’s request, the first small edition of model is shown in ‘bare metal’ finish to reveal every detail of the refined engineering of this most beautiful aircraft. The Amalgam model is undoubtedly the most accurate and highly detailed model of the Spitfire ever produced. Every tiny detail

of the aircraft has been reproduced including the thousands of rivets. Like all Amalgam’s work this model is the result of a powerful combination of art and technology using original digital scanning, combined with high sculpting and finishing skills, to create a model indistinguishable from the real aircraft in photographs.

Bell X-15A-2 Following the attention the Spitfire drew from collectors, the company has more recently created an edition of just five

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models of the Bell X-15. Hypersonic research aircraft X-15A-2 is a famous and significant part of aviation history.

The fiery hell that the X-15 experienced each time it was flown up to nearly Mach 7, resulted in a beautiful and fascinatingly complex patina and it was this that the artists at Amalgam concentrated their efforts upon. The model is amazingly detailed and represents the staggering engineering of the rocket plane perfectly, but it’s the rendition of the scorched skin of the plane that takes this model into the stratosphere.

Part of the X-15 program, the X-15A-2 remains the official world record holder for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft, despite being set over half a century ago, in October 1967 by pilot William J. Knight. Knight flew at Mach 6.70 (4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h) or a staggering 2,021 m/s) at 102,100 feet (31,120 m).

The X-15’s purpose was to fly high and fast, testing the machine, subjecting

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pilots to conditions that future astronauts would face and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design, making it an important tool for developing spaceflight in the 1960s.

It made the first manned flights to the edges of space and was the world’s first piloted aircraft to reach hypersonic speeds, or more than five times the speed of sound.

Like other rocket planes, the X-15 was launched in mid-air from a B-52 “mothership” at about 45,000 feet. Once its powerful rocket ignited, the X-15 streaked upward to the limits of the atmosphere, then glided unpowered to land on a dry lakebed. Typical flights lasted about 10 minutes. The X-15 program was a joint U.S. Air Force/ Navy/NASA project involving twelve pilots. Together they flew a combined 199 flights between 1959 and 1968.

Eight of the twelve exceeded an altitude of 50 miles, thus qualifying them as astronauts. Ironically, one of the four who remained in the Earth’s atmosphere whilst piloting an X-15 later became the first man to walk on the moon,

Neil Armstrong. Only three X-15s were built for the program and two examples survive.

X-15A-2 is the second of the three X-15s, originally designated X-15 #2. On November 9 1962, X-15 #2 had to make a high-speed emergency landing after NASA research pilot Jack McKay discovered that his rocket engine was producing only 30 percent of its maximum thrust. As the aeroplane slid across the lakebed, the left skid collapsed, turning the aircraft sideways and flipping it onto its back. McKay suffered back injuries but was eventually able to resume X-15 pilot duties, making 22 more flights. The X-15 was severely damaged, sent back to North American Aviation and rebuilt into the X-15A-2.

During the rebuild, North American modified it for even greater speed, equipping it with a Reaction Motors XLR-99 engine capable of 50,000+ lbs. of thrust, adding the large orange and white propellant tanks and lengthening the fuselage about 18 inches.

X-15A-2 made 53 free flights in total, 31 of those as X-15 #2.

On 3 October 1967, with pilot William “Pete” Knight of the U.S. Air Force in control, X-15A-2 reached its maximum speed of 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h), setting the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft, which remains unbroken to this day. After the record flight, it was discovered that the aircraft received thermal structural damage and the covering was severely pitted and charred. Repair was considered too uneconomical and the aircraft was grounded. It was delivered to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in 1969, where it remains to this day.

This fine model is of the North American X-15A-2 at 1:20 scale, replicated exactly at the moment it landed after its record speed run of Mach 6.7 in October 1967. Designed and assembled completely from scratch in our Bristol Workshop, the use of technical drawings and archival imagery have allowed us to perfectly recreate every detail at scale. Individual panels and finishes were extrapolated from NASA’s technical drawings and images of the plane held at the USAF museum. 3D printing technology is used to produce the majority of the components, before our model makers use traditional machining and hand working techniques to create the most precise, accurate and faithfully detailed pieces. Multiple paint techniques and materials have been used to accurately replicate real life patination.

The X-15A-2 edition is limited to just five models Richard Mille Airbus A320 Capturing another superlative, Amalgam responded to a request from Richard Mille, bringing into his boutiques the essence of his extreme luxury and creativity with massive and deeply detailed models of the A320 created

by Richard Mille in partnership with Airbus. Every Richard Mille boutique displays one of these beautiful pieces.

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ETIENNE SALOMÉ Yacht & Supercar Designer / Artist

After working for 12 years on the design of Bugatti Automobiles, Berlin-based Etienne Salomé decided to create his own company: ‘Salome Yachts and Design’, He officially launched with his team the ‘Atlantic Project’ in September 2019 during the Monaco Yacht Show, a 12 meter sport tender, immediately recognisable on the water, a true head-turner.

He keeps one foot in the automotive industry as a consultant for various car manufacturers including the supercar/ hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg.

M

y favourite project at Bugatti has to be : ‘La Voiture Noire’, a one-of-one project, for one customer only, the real ‘auto-couture’, an exact translation of pure elegance on the road. This automobile is packing the 1500 PS from its W16 quad-turbo engine, the beauty and the beast!

With this engine Bugatti broke the speed record last year, for the first time over 300 mph... but where do you want to use this vehicle?

Apart from a race track there are not many places allowing this kind of performance...

One of the answers would be within the maritime world, the open sea!

Navigating on water allows a complete freedom with no restrictions, the only one that decides on the speed and direction is the captain, intoxicating freedom!

The automotive industry is in a constant search of additional safety, ending up having so many creation restrictions, like pedestrian impact, crash beams, airbags... all for a safer and better product... but then all

cars end up being a very similar design and much bigger in size!

In comparison, the yacht industry requires a few certifications but it feels like the 70’s in term of creation freedom!! Even though while walking through the harbour of Monaco, all yachts look similar and therefore difficult to recognise a specific brand of yacht and when they are all painted the same colour then its almost impossible to define the constructors.

Wally designed a trend with flatter surfaces, benefiting from technical evolution and making new design possible and which is now heavily copied by many manufacturers.

So what is the next step for the yachting industry?

Unique design, immediately recognisable and technology driven developments with a unique formula1 flow-through inspired hull allowing stability at high speed... The Atlantic project is my answer to these challenges.

Packing three mercury engines each delivering 370PS and able to carry up to 9 people with a top speed of 49 knots, a project filled with emotion!

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FOR SALE 1953 Aston Martin DB2 Vantage

T

hree prototype DB2s were tested and raced throughout 1949, and the new production model was announced

by Aston Martin in the Spring of 1950 timed to coincide with the New York Auto Show in April. Their meticulous preparation and testing paid off, the car was an instant success with press and public alike and 100 orders were taken at the show, and bearing in mind that only 15 DB1s had been sold throughout production.

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The DB2 was everything that its predecessor the DB1 was not…

The old four-cylinder 1970cc 90bhp engine of the earlier car was replaced by a brand new 105 bhp dual overhead cam 2,580cc, straight, six-cylinder engine designed by W.O. Bentley. The future of the company was thus secured with this exciting sports car.

With the increase in performance and an exciting new body style, the DB2 set the pace not only for Aston Martin but for all future British GT’s. with

Autocar saying “it is difficult to give too much praise to the handling and performance of the DB2 sports saloon” and very soon the competition successes were racking up: 5th and 6th at Le Mans and 1st in the 3.0 litre class and tied for first place on handicap in a race in which the only Jaguar to finish was 12th and all five Ferrari’s retired. The following year at Le Mans the DB2 placed 3rd and 5th overall, taking the 1st 2nd and 3rd places in the 3.0 litre class and in the Mille Miglia it was 1st in the over 2-litre Vetturi Veloci class.

The Aston Martin DB2 for sale at The Classic Motor Hub, LML /50/390, was delivered with the Kent registration number RKE 700 to its first owner Rodualdo Michalkiewicz in April of 1953 making it one of the very last production cars. The following year he entered the RAC International Rally of Great Britain as one of a three car Aston Martin Team, the Scottish International Rally and the RAC Prescott Rally.

The car was being regularly serviced

by Aston Martin and it is these period service records that detail the fitting of a more sporty 4.1:1 ratio rear axle replacing the standard 3.77: 1 unit to produce greater torque.

The following year the car was sold to AJS and Matchless Isle of Man T.T. rider William Scott and re-registered TPC 846. At some point during the next 15 years the car was allocated the current number TKR 51 and was bought through Brooklands Motors by H.R. Fortescue JP, still in its original moonbeam grey livery with red leather interior. Crossing the Atlantic in 1974 there followed a number of enthusiastic Canadian and American owners who continued to pamper the car and add to the fascinating 3-volume history file that accompanies the sale.

Mechanically and cosmetically this Aston Martin DB2 is superb throughout, with photographs and invoices contained in the files detailing its engine re-build with an Arrow precision billet racing crankshaft, Cosworth lip rear main seal and Alperform billet camshafts, a lightened flywheel and a ZF S5-18/3 5-speed gearbox which effectively gives the car a 20% overdrive in top and makes cruising the car much more comfortable (the original 4-speed gearbox accompanies the sale). A bare metal respray to Ecurie Ecosse Blue was carried out with new grey Burgundy hide interior, new wiring loom and 45 years of correspondence and maintenance records. An extremely versatile 50’s sports car that is eligible for the world’s greatest rallies and competition events providing a comfortable and reliable

entry with the rare benefit of period competition use and a history file that is rarely so comprehensive.

Road and Track stated of their December 1951 test in Phil Hills DB2 “Phil Hills Aston Martin is found to be one of the best handling and fastest cars ever

tested by the Road and track staff” and this was a non-vantage example!

This Aston Martin DB2 is available for sale and immediate inspection at The Classic Motor Hub. Words & photographs: The Classic Motor Hub

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STEFAN JOHANSSON Racing Driver / Artist / Watch Designer

Stefan Johansson is a Swedish racing driver who had a 10 year career in Formula 1 for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number of other categories.

He lives in Santa Monica, where he is nowadays an accomplished artist, designer entrepreneur and independent thinker.

The Adventures of My Ferrari Company Car

W

hen I negotiated my deal to drive for Ferrari back in the spring of 1985, it all came together at the last minute, replacing Rene Arnoux after the first Grand Prix of the season.

I met Marco Piccini at the Savoy in London on the Monday prior to the following Grand Prix, where he asked me if I would be available for the remainder of that season. Needless to say it didn’t take more than a second for me to say YES! He asked what I was looking for in terms of salary etc, and I gave him a number which was obviously way too low because he agreed immediately. We then went on to the smaller details which were also to include a company car for me to use while I was employed by them.

Finally my dream had become a reality, I was going to drive for Ferrari, and have

one of their cars to drive on the road as well. It was very easy to deal with Marco and he never even blinked when I asked for the car as a bonus, we never got into the details of what model, I just assumed it would be the 328 which was the popular model at the time, or maybe even the Testarossa!

The car was to be delivered at the San Marino GP in Imola on the Friday evening at the Molino Rosso Hotel which is where I was staying. This was a typical Italian Motor Hotel located right by the exit to the Imola Circuit, and very convenient for getting to the track in the morning.

I had a sponsor event to attend that evening and it was arranged for my car to be delivered at 6pm in order for me to be in Bologna by 7pm. I was waiting with excitement for the driver to show up with my car, and I didn’t want to be late to the event as it was only my second race with the team. The delivery driver was running very late and eventually showed up just before 7pm, so not only was I now worked up about the fact that I was going to be extremely late for the event, there were no mobile phones back then so I had no way of contacting anyone, but when my car which I had been dreaming about for the past couple of weeks finally turned up, it was a Fiat Ritmo…no expletive in any language on this planet would justify how I felt at that moment! A Fiat Ritmo!!

I still had to get to the event in Bologna in a big hurry, so I jumped in the car and started leaving the hotel. To their credit, at least it was a Turbo model and it had quite good power, I also discovered immediately that it was a front wheel drive car, as I got wheel spin right away as I hit the throttle in 1st gear. The ceramic tile covered garage floor was like driving on ice, incredibly slippery. So, of course I just keep going through the gears with full wheelspin in every gear until I reach 4th gear, by which time the wheels were probably doing 90mph, whereas the car was actually moving at probably 10mph or less! I turned the corner between the two buildings, still on full throttle with maximum wheelspin, and as I got halfway through the turn the surface switched from ceramic tiles to regular asphalt and suddenly the grip level went from zero to full grip in around 1/10th second, and the steering wheel just got ripped out of my hands and the car suddenly took off heading straight for one of the garage pillars! There was nothing left of the front of the car, lots of steam and fluids everywhere, the right front wheel was more or less on top of the engine and the pillar was smashed to pieces. I couldn’t find anything that would fit the description in the F1 drivers book of excuses, (which is thicker than the bible by the way), so there was a seriously embarrassed Ferrari driver trying to explain what had happened to my boss the following day! I almost made up for it in the race leading with one lap to go when the car ran out of fuel!

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Our latest division, Special Vehicle Operations

founding principle has remained constant; to create the most authentic, restored Land Rover Defenders in the world. Defenders that are as

(SVO) takes those same ingredients but adds additional spice, such as an LS3 engine and 6 speed automatic transmission. Culminating in a

influential and inspirational as our clients.

whole new level of performance and capability.

The ultimate tribute to this automotive icon. Find out more at arkonik.com/svo

Arkonik Ltd. is an independently owned and operated business and is not affiliated in any way with Jaguar Land Rover Limited.

DESIGN Squire Motorcycles Arrive in style & silence

Country Squire or City Squire?

T The Concept.

he design arose from a combination of idealism and practical necessity when Ronald Meijs noticed that urban mobility is increasingly becoming more problematic. We love cities for their human energy, the creativity, the business vibe and the squares and streets where people meet. But we loath them

for the poor air quality, the constant noise and the lack of personal space.

We drive in big, luxury, complex cars but get annoyed by the heavy traffic and parking problems. Ronald searched for a solution with the idea at the back of his mind that, more than anything else, mobility should be light and pleasurable.

From the very outset it was immediately clear that the vehicle should not produce any CO2 emissions. He wanted it to be simple, easy to use and fun to drive. He designed the Motorman and, in doing so, achieved the perfect balance between durability, functionality and design.

The Ride.

Riding may best be described as friendly and light. This achievement is due to the fact that the vehicle’s minimalistic design ensures that it is very light, weighing only 45kg.

You feel safe because it is always possible to place your feet on the ground.

The Motorman is stable enough to ride on country roads and is manoeuvrable in urban traffic. Electricity-powered riding is responsible for a new experience - it is after all Silent and beautiful. The Motorman’s maximum speed is 45 km/h (28mph) With a

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motorcycle with style in abundance, superb green credentials and a great, well engineered design.

Having located the local dealership he resisted the desire to buy one immediately and set about discussions with the dutch designer/manufacturer Meijs in Maastricht, Netherland’s and following a subsequent visit to the city he secured the Distributorship for Meijs Motorman in the UK - Squire Motorcycles was born.

Bike options: Designers Choice: Many years of design thinking and engineering finesse has created our elegant, silent, beautiful Squire Bike. We feel our black lacquered steel framework and tan leather seat provides a perfectly serviceable finish to a beautiful concept.

The tan leather wears superbly with age, developing a rich patina and the black lacquered steel buffs up to a brilliant natural sheen.

Classic: To add a little extra spice to your Squire Motorcycle the Classic enjoys some additions that make all the difference.

The sturdy brown nylon footrests come with black ringed ridges giving additional grip and sleek styling. Extra vintage quality is achieved with the use of brass detailing on the headlamp supports, seat suspension springs and spoke nuts.

fully charged battery it is possible to cover 50 km (35/40 miles). This is perfectly in line with what the Motorman is used for, being designed for shorter distances.

Research reveals that most of the trips that we take by car are even shorter than 20 km and recharging is made using a simple 3 pin charging cable and so anywhere where there is an ordinary power point.

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Squire Motorcycles Provenance: Dave Harris, proprietor of Squire Motorcycles, first fell in love with this machine in the summer of 2017 when he witnessed one silently sweep past in the afternoon sunshine in St Tropez! Dave was visiting the Cote d’Azur city on an antiques buying trip in search of fresh stock for his wacky, antiques business Stag and Squire and what should he find - an electric

Customised: An infinite choice of colour finish is available to make your Squire Motorcycle really special. This spectrum selection extends not only to the steel framework but also the mudguards and with a choice of tyre colour your bike can really zing! Add to this a practical storage solution in the form of a leather saddle bag and you’re good to go. To make the real difference you can badge up your machine with your very own brand - corporate or personal to create a uniqueness that is truly yours.

Contact Squire Motorcycles: squiremotorcycles.co.uk and on Instagram @squiremotorcycles

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A DOUBLE FIRST Steve Loughton

I

n the busy month of September I had the opportunity to drive the Jannarelly Design-1 on the roads around my home town in Surrey and the Ferrari Roma on the Millbrook Proving Grounds in Bedfordshire.

The Jannarelly is a 2 seater with a fixed windscreen and the option to go strictly open top (but with a ‘get you home’ cover in the event of rain) or, at extra cost, a hinged c/f hard top that you either have on the car or you leave at home. I drove it open and enjoyed a wind free drive and the ability to talk fairly normally with Alan Robb who had brought the car over.

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With the standard glass fibre body the total package weighs in at about 850 kgs and has a power output of 325bhp from its mid engined 3.5 litre V6 sourced from Nissan.

To maintain the ‘60’s feeling of carefree motoring there is no traction control or airbags and the 6 speed manual is standard although an auto is available. The instruments are analogue, but I wouldn’t have minded if they were a little larger for road use. Track would be different.

Make no mistake this is a gorgeous looking car in the best traditions of hard edged, purposeful sports cars designed to be nothing more than pleasurable driving machines.

With a few options the cost creeps up to the magic £100k area but with its decent luggage capacity, heater, a/c and very civilized interior it’s several leagues ahead of many other stripped-down lightweights.

So to the drive itself. Despite the fact that this example is the UK demonstrator that has been pedalled quite firmly around various tracks by some properly quick drivers as well as on magazine road tests and group comparisons it was a gem to drive as everybody seems to agree.

It runs smoothly at low speeds on crowded roads with loads of torque and a moderately loud exhaust. That all changes

on an empty road and the twisties where the gearbox and clutch are perfectly balanced with the unassisted steering and a much harder noise that adds to the very visceral and ‘connected’ drive. I found the ‘spring’ on the manual gears relatively hard but some of that could be because its LHD and therefore changing gear with my unaccustomed right hand.

Alan Robb, Head of UK Sales, has appointed Autofficina in Ewell for service and support. This is a huge bonus for Jannarelly and completes a serious package for consideration away from the more mainstream weekend car choices.

Would I buy one? You bet I would.

The Ferrari Roma is a very elegant, sophisticated fixed head GT with a hint of Aston Martin about it, not a welcome comment at launch although latterly agreed that wasn’t altogether a criticism. It sits between the Portofino and the F8 Tributo in the range and is designed to evoke the carefree ‘60’s (heard that before?) style of motoring. They even describe it as ‘La Nuova Dolce Vita.’

It has a 3.9 litre twin turbocharged V8 producing 620bhp mounted right up against the front bulkhead, which surely helps its

remarkable balance, along with all the expected electronic trickery. Unique for me is the 8 speed paddle gearbox (my Huracan P boasts ‘only’ 7 speeds) and a dual clutch system with lightning fast changes that make progress seamlessly fast.

The test was at the Millbrook Proving Grounds in Bedfordshire rather than the open road which has some advantages, not the least of which was managing 161mph on the one mile straight after a ‘launch control’ start. I can attest to the superb feel and stopping power from the standard carbon brakes. The Roma keeps its composure on all surfaces even the Millbrook Alpine Pass which has caught out better drivers than me, albeit they were probably driving faster.

The steering wheel has the now familiar Manettino switch but also includes Race mode which is a hint perhaps that Ferrari sees this model as something of a GT and a Supercar. The electronics also include a Wet setting as well as the ability to select ‘Bumpy Road’ which even in Race produces a beautifully smooth and nicely firm ride. It has lost the famous red start button though, replaced with a touch sensitive button, a small step backwards for me.

The interior is one of the best ever, including a complete electronic dash with a small additional panel on the passenger side so they can watch progress. I’m sure I’m not the only person who expected the large centre mounted iPad type screen that controls the infotainment to lift out – but it doesn’t.

One small thing I particularly liked is the slot for the electronic key which fits snugly out of the way. I loathe the keyless start fad because well, where are you supposed to put it when inside? Overall, this is a real statement from Ferrari about their upgraded electronics.

This is a properly fast, beautifully handling, quiet and comfortable car that ticks all the boxes of elegance, grace and speed.

Would I buy one? You bet I would.

These two cars could barely be further apart in execution and style quite apart from the fact that one is roughly double the cost of the other (after including a few options).

They both claim to evoke a long past age of freedom and simplicity and I think they both achieve their goal, but in very different ways.

Image using Ferrari online configurator © Ferrari 53

WATCH Richard Mille RM62-01 ‘Tourbillon Vibrating Alarm’ for Airbus

T

he RM 62-01 Tourbillon Vibrating Alarm for Airbus Corporate Jets is to date the most complicated Richard Mille watch. Within a limited volume equivalent to that of an RM 11-03, they had to find space for 816 components, 2 barrels, 7 hands, 11 displays and a tourbillon cage.

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A partnership made to measure If ever two worlds were destined to meet at the acme of innovation, those worlds are aviation and horology, both on a quest to master space and time.

For those of you who have already read the article on page 39 this issue, you will have already noted the mention of Airbus and an association with Richard Mille already, with the

Amalgam large scale Richard Mille Airbus A320 model.

Aeronautics has always held a special place as an inspiration for Richard Mille and the company’s vision of 21st century horology reveals close parallels with the former’s extreme conditions. The ability of watches to function in hostile conditions, to resist considerable forces and to withstand wear and tear has led

the business to test their innovations by subjecting them to a ‘torture chamber’ as built at their manufacture. Like aviation, which demands a safety margin of 120%-150%, Richard Mille want their watches to exceed all norms in terms of their functionality.

Airbus Corporate Jets exclusive private clients.

(ACJ)

for

Launched back in 2016, the collaboration between ACJ and Richard Mille had already born fruit in the form of the RM 50-02 Tourbillon ACJ. The technical

(Universal Time Coordinated), am/ pm indicator, function selector, powerreserve indicator. Vibrating alarm function with on/off activation indicator.

Skeletonised baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium.

The baseplate and the bridges are crafted of grade 5 titanium, a biocompatible, highly corrosion-resistant and remarkably rigid alloy, which enables the gear train to function effortlessly. The alloy is 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium. The use of grade 5 titanium combined with black PVD treatment lends the whole assembly great rigidity, as well as precise surface flatness.

This combination further increases the material’s mechanical properties, which explains its frequent use in the aerospace, aeronautics and automobile industries.

The skeletonised baseplate and the bridges have been subjected to intensive and complete validation tests to optimise their resistance capacities.

Vibrating alarm.

A new grand complication developed

by Richard Mille with Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi, this specialist alarm is the result of five years of research and development. Its principle rests the automatic trigger, at the programmed time, of a vibrating signal produced by the rotation of an oscillating weight.

Machined from a single piece of white gold, this weight is precisely calibrated to oscillate at 5,400 rpm.

The mission Airbus has always upheld the transporting of passengers through the air with a maximum of safety and comfort and has pushed the company’s technical specialists to the forefront of aeronautic design.

The name alone evokes unprecedented approaches to the design of aircraft built by the prestigious subsidiary

prowess exhibited by the mechanism inside this watch are a breathtaking illustration of both superlative engineering and shared values the two companies have in common.

Caliber RM62-01.

Manual winding tourbillon movement with hours, minutes, oversize date, UTC

Thanks to its dial and two hands, the alarm may be adjusted to the nearest minute of a full 24 hours, using the function selector situated at 3 o’clock.

An on/off indicator at 5 o’clock completes the mechanism.

The maximum duration of the vibration, which has a dedicated barrel, is 12 seconds. It can be recharged by pressing 12 times on the pusher at 8 o’clock.

The power reserve can be viewed on a scale situated at 7 o’clock.

Limited Edition of 30 pieces.

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Beautifully crafted, illustrated posters Private and corporate commissions available

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