‘Serious film buffs’ often dismiss the admittedly ponderous and indulgent 1968 film from Jack Cardiff that was based on Mandiargues’s quasi surrealistic novel as a slightly ridiculous joke.

But if you dig the aesthetic of the last couple of years of the sixties, you’re interested in the idea of girls on motorbikes being slightly unnerving and subversive, then you really should take the time to hunt it down on your local bit torrent.

The clip below gives a good flavour of the feel of the film. The bike riding scenes are ludicrous but still somehow kinda cool. The Harley is almost comical and otherworldy in thc context of the French countryside. Marianne Faithful looks pretty and seductive and vaguely sinister in her skintight leather one-piece in combo with the futuristic open face lid.

But, you can’t help but notice the similarities with other films like Easy Rider and countless schlockish bikesploitation movies that equate motorcycles with freedom, rebellion and sexuality. It’s cool to witness an European take on the theme, and the main character’s interior monologues are amusing – and her encounters with randy gendarmes laugh-out loud hilarious.

Australia’s image, even deep here in the heart of the 21st century isn’t really compatible with artful postmodernism. Nor is the motorbike itself particularly associated (in the UK at least) with the tendency to fetishise the object.

Our biking tradition is fundamentally stained happily and perhaps eternally with the greasy rag. Free born Brits love bikes and dig the aesthetic of two wheeled speed – but the reflection tends to begin and end with the practicalities of saddling up and riding hard.

Contrast our died-in-the-wool mentality with the way of approaching bike culture as typified by our antipodean friends at Deus bikes in Sydney.

Part design studio, bike workshop, part café (the type that serves lattes rather than fried brekkies), Deus is a self-conscious temple of all things bikey. They will sell you a classic bike and accompanying paraphernalia, and will design and build with you your very own bespoke mutant, from Café clones like the one pictured above) to Steve McQueen-ish Desert racers and back again.

The whole idea is the brainchild of a trio of Aussie creative ruffians, one of which helped create the iconoclastic, explosively successful and delightfully subversive surf/street brand Mambo.

Whatever English biker purists might think of it, these guys have tapped beautifully into an increasingly popular creed of international classic bike enthusiast who appreciates the beauty of motorcycle culture design and engineering at a whole other level.

Placing the retail Deus experience in a beautifully designed space will generally helpfully migrate your passion for the classic side of motorcycling to the realms of high culture.

Power to their leather-patched elbows. And make mine a mocaccino.

S130 NISSAN FAIRLADY Z

We stumbled across these catalogue images of the T-topped S130 Fairlady Z this morning and it occurred to us that with the evolution of our aesthetic and the return to cool of all things vaguely ‘eighties’, it might be time to reassess how much we dig.

You don’t see this US designation much this side of the pond – and even if you did, their cooler cousins in the first gen cars have much more kudos.

But check out that period interior, check out the t-bar auto shift that mirrors the targa top. We think it might be time to invest!

ALFA ROMEO

When manufacturers try to create the glories of their past, the results are often surprising.

The Jaguar F-type is, for example, not quite destined to be the enduring classic of automotive history as is the E-Type it reflects – but it is an amazing car in its own right. When Citroen relaunched the DS range of compacts a few years ago we sneered immediately. But the latest generation is a little goddess in its own right, we think.

One of the most successful of these nostalgic recreations came in 2010 when Alfa Romeo unveiled their TZ3 – to commemorate a hundred years of the Alfa Romeo brand – and evocative of their Tubulare Zagato series of sports cars.

The nitty gritty of the spaceframe and other lightweight tech.

As the name suggests, the TZ were made out of lightweight materials, including a tubular space frame, and its body was designed and built by our favourite craftsmen at Carrozzeria Zagato. With punchy six cylinder engines and weighing in at only 650 KG, these were produced in both Stradale and Corsa versions between 1963 and 67 – with the TZ2 versions coming with an even lighter fibreglass body.

To celebrate Alfa’s 100 years, Zagato designed a one-off car that was first presented and won the 2010 edition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy.

This unique car, based on the 8C Competizione, was made for German collector Martin Kapp and is not intended for sale or for competitions.

The car weighs 850 kg (1,874 lb) thanks to its carbon fiber frame and hand beaten aluminium body and has 420 hp (313 kW) dry sump V8 4.2 litre engine. The car has a 6-speed sequential gearbox, it reaches a top speed of over 300 km/h (186 mph) and it can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.5 seconds.

Almost breadvanish, but in race trim no wagon

Zagato designed a one-off car that was unveiled and in the 2010 edition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy. It weighs just 850kg, thanks to its carbon fiber frame and hand beaten aluminium body and has 420 hp (313 kW) dry sump V8 4.2 litre engine and is good for 180 MPH and a blistering pullaway of 3.5 seconds – a year later Zagato unveiled a TZ3 Stradale version of the car, which was based on the Dodge Viper ACR-X. It is powered by the Viper’s 8.4 litre 640 hp V10.

We think this is a rare occasion when the modern version outstrips the classic in its pure carnal appeal – though the tubular details of the original will never be beaten by CAD assisted pixels.

The evolution is smooth and fluidBut the tubular details of the original TZ1 are impossible to beatThe nitty gritty of the spaceframe and other lightweight tech.
Conceals a supremely attractive bodyAlmost breadvanish, but in race trim no wagonAnd these Zag lines are some of the prettiest they’ve ever penned…

2014 DTM JDM Machines SuperGT

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. (Nismo) today unveiled the new-for-2014 rules’ compliant GT500-class spec. SUPER GT machine, the “Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500”.
From 2014, cars in the GT500 class of SUPER GT will be developed based on the same new technical regulations (except for engine-related regulations) as the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), ensuring that the battle among SUPER GT machinery will be intensified.