{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "Studio Chicane", "home_page_url": "https://studiochicane.com/", "feed_url": "https://studiochicane.com/feed.json", "description": "A motoring journal.", "language": "en-US", "items": [ { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/after-no-longer-available/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/after-no-longer-available/", "title": "After ‘No Longer Available’", "content_text": "A shape is not a specification “No longer available” can sound final, as if a part has simply passed from the shelf into folklore. Two manufacturer accounts show a more demanding afterlife. The difficult work is not only making an object that resembles the original. It is…", "summary": "Making an obsolete part again is not a printing trick. The hard part is proving the new one deserves to go on the car.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Objects", "Porsche 959", "BMW 328", "remanufacturing", "spare parts", "validation", "preservation" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/alfa-8c-the-occasion/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/alfa-8c-the-occasion/", "title": "The Occasion", "content_text": "The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione does not need a spreadsheet to announce itself. The shield sits deep between paired horizontal intakes; a long bonnet runs to a compressed cabin; broad rear haunches complete the form rather than interrupt it. The car has drama, but it does not…", "summary": "The production 8C’s visual confidence sits over a real transaxle system: a front V8, torque tube, rear gearbox, differential and hydraulic actuator.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Objects", "Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione", "Wolfgang Egger", "Centro Stile", "carbon-fibre body panels", "transaxle gearbox", "engine design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/bmw-z8-the-parts-promise/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/bmw-z8-the-parts-promise/", "title": "The Parts Promise", "content_text": "A bonnet-release lever is an excellent antidote to an auction catalogue. It has no glamorous provenance. It has to operate a cable, in a cramped footwell, when somebody needs to reach the engine bay. BMW Group Classic lists one for the Z8—part number 51 23 8234535—beside a…", "summary": "BMW’s fifty-year Z8 parts undertaking becomes tangible in a bonnet-release lever, a steering wheel, and an aluminium spaceframe built unlike an ordinary body shell.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "BMW Z8", "parts availability", "BMW Group Classic", "neon lighting", "repairability", "BMW", "preservation" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/carrera-s-the-price-of-participation/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/carrera-s-the-price-of-participation/", "title": "The Price of Participation", "content_text": "The manual Carrera S is back in North America, but Porsche has not put a clutch pedal on an otherwise unchanged car and called it a day. The 2027 Carrera S MT Package is a complete specification. It is rear-wheel drive only, takes the six-speed manual used by the Carrera T, and…", "summary": "The North American Carrera S manual returns as a complete technical brief: rear-axle steering, lowered PASM, centre-lock wheels and a six-speed shared with the Carrera T.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Ideas", "Porsche 911", "Porsche 992", "manual transmission", "MT Package", "enthusiast access", "Porsche", "manual transmissions" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/e36-m3-the-american-argument/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/e36-m3-the-american-argument/", "title": "The American Argument", "content_text": "The North American E36 M3 is often introduced by subtraction. Start with a European M3, remove whatever an argument needs removing, and call the result a compromise. That approach has the useful property of being quick. It also makes a muddle of years, body styles, engines,…", "summary": "Nearly half of BMW's US E36 M3 sedans left the factory with an automatic. That is an interesting car—and audience—to take seriously.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "BMW M3", "BMW E36", "BMW S52", "US market specification", "sports saloon", "BMW", "engine design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/e39-540i-six-speed-on-its-own-terms/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/e39-540i-six-speed-on-its-own-terms/", "title": "The E39 540i Six-Speed, on Its Own Terms", "content_text": "More than a gear lever The manual E39 540i is often introduced by what it was not: not the M5, not the automatic, not the cheap way into either. BMW’s MY2001 US paperwork suggests a more useful starting point. The six-speed sedan was a specific factory configuration, in which…", "summary": "A V8, a Getrag six-speed and standard sport suspension: BMW's 2001 US equipment sheets make a more interesting introduction than “not an M5.”", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "BMW E39 540i", "BMW 5 Series", "manual transmission", "V8 engine", "sport suspension", "BMW", "manual transmissions" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/g550-the-last-of-a-shape/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/g550-the-last-of-a-shape/", "title": "The Shape, the Specification", "content_text": "A G-Class can look so familiar that its specification disappears behind its outline. Upright glass, square body panels and an exposed rear spare invite instant conclusions about what it is. The 2016 US G550 deserves the slower reading. Mercedes-Benz USA paired a 4.0-litre…", "summary": "The US-market 2016 G550 paired a 4.0-litre biturbo V8 with rigid axles, a two-speed transfer case and three locking differentials. Its old silhouette hides a very specific mechanical brief.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "Mercedes-Benz G550", "G-Class", "2016 G-Class brochure", "biturbo V8", "four-wheel drive", "engine design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/keep-the-radio-fix-the-listening/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/keep-the-radio-fix-the-listening/", "title": "Keep the Radio. Fix the Listening.", "content_text": "The dashboard is already a design An old dashboard is not an empty rectangle waiting to be upgraded. Its switches, sightlines, trim grain, illumination, and the reach from wheel to radio are already a piece of industrial design. This is why the usual retrofit argument—old…", "summary": "Modern listening and navigation belong in the conversation. So does the dashboard you liked before you decided to update it.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Ideas", "Porsche Classic Communication Management", "PCCM", "PCCM Plus", "interior design", "retrofit systems", "Porsche", "preservation" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/porsche-997-gt2-the-particular-one/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/porsche-997-gt2-the-particular-one/", "title": "The Particular One", "content_text": "The 997 GT2 arrived in 2007 with a technical argument already written into its specification. Porsche described a Turbo-based 3.6-litre engine, twin turbochargers using variable turbine geometry, 390 kW and 680 Nm. The output went to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual…", "summary": "The 997 GT2’s Turbo-derived 3.6, VTG turbos, rear drive and six-speed manual form a more interesting sentence than an unofficial generation label.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "Porsche 911 GT2", "Porsche 997", "variable turbine geometry", "rear-wheel drive", "manual transmission", "Porsche", "engine design", "manual transmissions" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/porsche-flat-six-families/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/porsche-flat-six-families/", "title": "After Mezger", "content_text": "A useful name, used carefully A family name can make Porsche history sound tidier than it is. “Mezger” is useful precisely because Porsche has used it in its own historical account: the company identifies the 2013 911 GT3 as the first GT3 no longer based on the legendary Mezger…", "summary": "Porsche’s GT3 history identifies the 2013 model as the break from a Mezger-based engine. Its 2017 GT3 technical account shows that a family break did not end Motorsport’s habit of carrying particular engineering ideas forward.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "Porsche 911", "Porsche GT3", "flat-six engines", "Hans Mezger", "dry-sump lubrication", "engine lineage", "Porsche", "engine design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-brochure-promised-a-life/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-brochure-promised-a-life/", "title": "The Brochure Promised a Life", "content_text": "A 2016 Mercedes-Benz USA G-Class brochure offers two incompatible-looking rooms for the same nameplate. On pages 3–4, a deep green G sits in a near-monochrome rocky landscape under a grey sky. A gold horizontal strip crosses the spread; a large italic serif promise rests low on…", "summary": "Two 2016 G-Class brochure spreads put the nameplate between a dark landscape and a city-lit cabin, then ask the reader to want both.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Ideas", "Mercedes-Benz G-Class", "automotive brochures", "visual culture", "aspiration", "design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-name-on-the-engine/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-name-on-the-engine/", "title": "The Name on the Engine", "content_text": "What a plaque records A name on an engine plaque invites a very easy story: one person, one motor, a workshop untouched by modern industry. It is an attractive story because the plaque makes industrial work legible in one glance. But Mercedes-AMG’s current description of…", "summary": "At Affalterbach, a hand-signed AMG plaque records a maker's defined assembly practice—one that uses digital quality processes without becoming less human.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Objects", "Mercedes-AMG", "Affalterbach", "One Man, One Engine", "engine assembly", "Industry 4.0", "engine design" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/tire-is-part-of-restoration/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/tire-is-part-of-restoration/", "title": "The Tire Is Part of the Restoration", "content_text": "The part that meets the road A tire can make a restoration look finished before it is mechanically finished. A period sidewall has persuasive power: the typography, shoulder shape, and tread can return a car to the visual tense in which it first appeared. But that is only the…", "summary": "A period-looking tire and a tire approved for a particular car are not interchangeable ideas. Porsche’s 2016 classic-tire programme shows how much work sits between an attractive sidewall and a manufacturer’s model-specific approval.", "authors": [ { "name": "Studio Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Objects", "classic-car tires", "Porsche Classic", "Pirelli", "Michelin Classic", "restoration", "tire approval", "preservation" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-last-great-adventure-before-the/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-last-great-adventure-before-the/", "title": "The Last Great Adventure Before the World Stopped", "content_text": "The world, as I knew it, changed somewhere over the Atlantic. It started as just another trip. A well-planned itinerary of snow-dusted roads, volcanic landscapes, and the eerie glow of the aurora borealis. I left Los Angeles excited, my carry-on packed with wool sweaters and an…", "summary": "A Story of Empty Roads, Endless Skies, and the Solitude of a Pandemic", "authors": [ { "name": "Dr. Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Roads", "roads", "travel" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-s54-the-last-of-the-great-bavarian/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-s54-the-last-of-the-great-bavarian/", "title": "The S54: The Last of the Great Bavarian Hearts", "content_text": "I Refuse to Buy a New Car With a Screen. There. I said it. I’ve sat in enough dealerships watching salesmen swipe and tap like they’re giving me a PowerPoint presentation. I’ve seen enough glossy brochures explaining the all-new intuitive interface! like I’ve somehow forgotten…", "summary": "Throttle Bodies Over Touchscreens: The S54 and a Lost Era of Driving", "authors": [ { "name": "Dr. Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "bmw", "engine-lineage" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/option-code-cxx/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/option-code-cxx/", "title": "Option Code: CXX", "content_text": "The Art of the Special Place Some cars are fast. Some cars are rare. And some cars feel like they were made just for you. Not because they have your name on the dashboard or some arbitrary ‘1 of 250’ plaque screwed into the center console—but because every touch, every detail,…", "summary": "Ordering a Porsche Through Sonderwunsch: A Love Letter to the Perfect Cockpit", "authors": [ { "name": "Dr. Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "ownership", "craftsmanship" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-mercedes-amg-g65-a-v12-relic/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/the-mercedes-amg-g65-a-v12-relic/", "title": "The Mercedes-AMG G65: A V12 Relic of Excess, and Why I’m Buying One", "content_text": "The Allure of the Unnecessary There are rational purchases. There are even emotional purchases. And then there’s the Mercedes-AMG G65—a purchase that defies all logic, reason, and common sense. This isn’t a car. It’s an act of defiance, a rolling contradiction, a 6,000-pound…", "summary": "When nothing makes sense, sometimes excess is the only answer.", "authors": [ { "name": "Dr. Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Garage", "mercedes-benz", "engine-lineage" ] }, { "id": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/welcome-to-studio-chicane-the-last/", "url": "https://studiochicane.com/journal/welcome-to-studio-chicane-the-last/", "title": "Welcome to Studio Chicane: The Last Refuge for Those Who Still Care", "content_text": "What is Studio Chicane? There was a time when machines had souls. When a car wasn’t just a means of getting from one place to another, but a trusted companion. When a well-made watch wasn’t just jewelry, but a talisman—a testament to engineering, patience, and the kind of…", "summary": "Where the machines still matter, the roads still call, and craftsmanship still means something.", "authors": [ { "name": "Dr. Chicane" } ], "tags": [ "Ideas", "ownership", "craftsmanship" ] } ] }