Phoenix 1973, a Kit-Camper Van Based on a VW Minibus That Was Once Featured in the Movie "Total Recall"

Campervans are rarely the most stylish vehicles around. That’s not a criticism – looking good just isn’t their primary concern. But there was one model that managed to be both stylish ­– in an angular, retro-futuristic kind of way – and functional. It was known as the Volkswagen Phoenix, and it was truly a thing of misguided, '70s-era beauty.

Originally discovered in the March 1978 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, the camper was later seen in the blockbuster movie Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Based on a VW minibus frame that’s had some serious protractoring done to it, the Phoenix converted into a 3.5 metre-wide tent for four, and had space for a sink, stove and an icebox.

It was designed as a do-it-yourself alteration. Provided you can get your hands on an old VW chassis, you can actually build your own today by ordering the plans from automotive DIY-er Robert Q. Riley.

(via Smith Journal)

Reunion: 30 Amazing Then and Now Street Portraits of Strangers Recreated 40 Years Later

Street photographer Chris Porsz spent hours walking around the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the U.K in the late 1970s and ’80s, taking candid shots of punks and policemen, siblings and sweethearts, traders and teenagers.

More than three decades later, Chris has reconstructed a handful of his favourite photos from his collection. He spent the last seven years tracking down the people in his pictures and persuading them to pose once again.

His hard work paid off and he has published his photos in a book named Reunions, which came out in November 2016.

“This book has been nearly 40 years in the making and I believe the project is totally unique. I don’t think anyone else has tracked down so many strangers and recreated photos in this way before,” said Chris.

1. Dog And Tina (1985 And 2015)

Punks Tina Tarr and her partner Dog were pictured near the Cathedral in Peterborough when Tina was 18. The couple left the city in the 1990s and went travelling. They have twins, but are no longer together. Tina now lives in Dorset and makes willow products and hosts weaving workshops. Dog does hedge laying and gardening and lives in South West Wales. “I remember the photo being taken, it was a brilliant time. I had various styles of punk hair for quite a few years,” said Tina. Dog added: “They were good times, I still had hair then.”


2. Five Boys Running (1987 And 2016)

Andy, who has been married for 21 years and has a daughter, said: “I remember playing the arcade game Phoenix, which involved birds hatching out of eggs.” Andy went into the Army after leaving school and drove trucks in the Transport Corps. He left in 1987 and has been working for the Royal Mail in Werrington, near Peterborough, ever since. Richard is now an electrician in Peterborough and is married with two boys. He said: “There were only about 70 of us in our school year and we were all really close. They were happy times.” Tony James works as a stone cutter and has two children; Aaron works at Ikea and is married with three boys. Devinder moved to Yorkshire in 1986 and is married with two boys and works for the Housing Association. They've organised a school reunion and plan to keep in touch.


3. Metal Mickey (1980 And 2016)

Steve Osborn was known as Metal Mickey in the 1980s as he broke both his legs several times in a series of motor biking accidents and had plates and bolts put in them. He said: “I even carried on riding my bike with my leg in a cast!.” Steve, who now uses walking sticks to get around, lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire and is married. He had four children, but his son died in 2012. Steve plays the guitar with different bands and has raised more than £20,000 for the National Association of Bikers with a Disability.


4. Jewellery Assistant (1990 And 2015)

Vicki Gracey (nee Frost) worked as a sales assistant at a jewellery store in Queensgate Shopping Centre for two years. Vicki has since had jobs behind bars, in retail, hairdressing and restaurants and currently deals with tenancy sustainability. She still lives in the city and is married with two children. “I'm a people person and I've always had jobs which involve working with the public,” she said.


5. Pink Mohican (1985 And 2016)

Punk Badger Farcue can still remember winning the Pizza Eating Competition in Cathedral Square. The contest was organized by Stefan Malajny, who ran the Papa Luigi pizza restaurant. Stefan said: “I remember Badger managed to eat his pizza in about two minutes, which was very fast.” Badger was 20 at the time of the contest and worked as a laborer, building dry stone walls. He said: “My friends encouraged me to enter and we had to try and eat a 12-inch cheese and tomato pizza as quickly as possible. I won and got a round of applause and front page of the local paper.” Badger, who has five children, moved to Somerset in 1991 and now tarmacs roads.

See more»

Aerial View Over Edinburgh circa 1920, One of the Best Aerial Photographs Ever Taken

Taking photos from great heights is all the rage these days. Which makes sense, given how easy it now is to get your hands on a camera-equipped drone, or commandeer a satellite. But after seeing this photo of Edinburgh, taken by Alfred Buckham around 1920, we’re not sure there’s much need to keep snapping. Put your lens caps on, pilots: the most majestic aerial photo was taken nearly a century ago!

Alfred G. Buckham, Aerial View over Edinburgh, c. 1920, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

From the earliest days of manned flight, photographers sought to capture the strange and unfamiliar beauty of the view from above. Whether it was from balloons, airships or later, fixed-wing aircraft, enterprising pioneers overcame formida­ble technical obstacles to create striking new images of the world below. It was, however, through warfare in the twentieth century that aerial photography came to prominence. Alfred Buckham’s remarkable body of work in the air had its origins in a brief, eventful career with the Royal Navy in the last phase of the First World War, but he was also able to develop a highly personal approach that combined his skills in documentary reconnaissance with an artist’s feeling for mood and atmosphere.

Born in London, Buckham’s first ambition was to become a painter but after seeing an exhibition of work by J.M.W. Turner at the National Gallery he apparently destroyed all his own work. He turned instead to photography and in 1917 was enlisted into the photographic division of the Royal Navy. He was stationed first at Turnhouse near Edinburgh and was later transferred to the Grand Fleet based at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth. On his missions he took two cameras, one for his technical photography for the Navy and the other for personal use. Flying over Scotland he took numerous photographs of cloud formations, hilly landscapes and views of towns, often seeking out extremes of weather to add drama to his subject matter.

“It is not easy to tumble out of an aeroplane, unless you really want to, and on considerably more than a thousand flights I have used a safety belt only once and then it was thrust upon me. I always stand up to make an exposure and, taking the precaution to tie my right leg to the seat, I am free to move about rapidly, and easily, in any desired direction; and loop the loop and indulge in other such delights, with perfect safety.” – Alfred Buckham

Buckham’s aerial view of Edinburgh has become one of the most popular photographs. The view is taken from the west, with the castle in the foreground and the buildings of the Old Town along the Royal Mile gradually fading into a bank of mist with the rocky silhouette of Arthur’s Seat just visible in the distance. Buckham was always keen to capture strong contrasts of light and dark, often combining the skies and landscapes from separate photographs to achieve a theatrical effect. As he does here, he some­times collaged or hand-painted the form of a tiny aircraft to enhance the vertiginous effect. Yet accuracy remained a concern; Buckham later professed a particular fond­ness for his view of Edinburgh, ‘because it presents, so nearly, the effect that I saw’.

In the early days of flight, aerial recon­naissance was a hazardous task. Buckham crashed nine times and in 1919 was discharged out of the Royal Navy as one hundred per cent disabled. However, he continued to practise aerial photography through the 1920s, and in 1931 he travelled to Central and South America to take photographs for an American magazine, a commission that resulted in a remarkable series of views of mountain ranges and snow-rimmed volcanoes. In his journals and in various magazine articles, Buckham conveyed a spirit of adventure and derring-do that is not for the faint-hearted or those with a fear of flying.

Alfred G. Buckham, Cloud Turrets, c. 1920, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Alfred G. Buckham, Flying Boat over Sea, c. 1920, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Alfred G. Buckham, R100, c. 1920, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Alfred G. Buckham, Volcano. Crater of Popocatetl c. 1930, courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

(via the National Galleries of Scotland)

34 Cool Snaps That Defined the 1970s Men's Fashion

The fashion breakthroughs that began for men in the late 1960s continued into the 1970s.

Starting in the mid-1960s, men's pants became more slim fitting. This was a huge departure from previous years. The changes kept on coming and by 1972 it was normal to see a man in low-rise bell bottoms and platform shoes. This outfit would have been heartily laughed at just ten years before.

Men's clothing got tighter and tighter. A large portion of the clothes from this era were made of polyester or a blend of cotton and polyester. Later in the decade, velour and terry cloth became a very popular choice of fabric for men's shirts.

These cool snaps will bring you back the 1970s to see how the men's fashion trend was like in this decade.

See more»

The Most Beautiful but Tragic Actress of Edwardian Era - Stunning Colorized Photos of Gabrielle Ray in the 1900s

Born 1883 as Gabrielle Elizabeth Clifford Cook in Cheadle, Stockport, England, English stage actress, dancer and singer Gabrielle Ray was considered one of the most beautiful actresses on the London stage and became one of the most photographed women in the world.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Ray had a good career in musical theatre. After an unsuccessful marriage, however, she never recovered the fame that she had enjoyed. She spent many of her later years in mental hospitals.

Ray died in 1973 at Holloway Sanatorium in Egham, Surrey, England, at the age of 90. A blue plaque has been erected on the site of her birth.

Take a look at these beautiful colorized photos to see the beauty of Gabrielle Ray in the 1900s.

See more»

Vintage Photos From the Scandinavian Airlines' Archive Show How Much Better Plane Food Was From the 1950s

Of the many things travelers dislike about flying, plane food is often high on the list. But in-flight dining hasn't always been bland.

These vintage photos from the collection of Scandinavian Airlines show passengers from the 1950s through to the 1980s enjoying gourmet meals such as caviar, lobster, and a whole leg of ham at 35,000-feet.

In the 1950s, passengers in sleeper cabins on a DC-6 aircraft were served an in-flight breakfast in bed.

In this photo, taken either in the 1950s or 1960s, a Scandinavian Airlines chef prepared lobster in the flight kitchen at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen. Yes, even lobster was on the menu.

Dinner trays looked very different in the 1960s, when they included real plates, a glass, and metal cutlery.

A woman traveling with her baby on board a flight in 1968 was offered baby food in jars, provided by the airline. That year, Scandinavian Airlines started a service for children.

Back in 1969, some passengers were served meals directly by an in-flight chef. Here, the chef is dishing up Smørrebrød, a type of Danish open sandwich (rye bread topped with meat or fish and cheese).

See more»

Early Color Portrait Photography From the 1910s

It's amazing how easy it is to picture the past in black and white. Even when we know of course it was as colorful as today, it's still striking to come across the shots that demonstrate this. Somehow color makes it feel so much nearer.

Autochromes, the main process of color photography for the first few decades of the 20th century, present color in a gentle, muted kind of way-- not unlike many painters in preceding centuries. It was not long before photographers used this look to full advantage, creating beautiful photographs deliberately evocative of paintings...

We've seen artistically arranged early color photographs; today, a selection of portraits of people from the 1910s in full color, from the collections of George Eastman House.

See more»