We’ve all seen those motivational posters, a photo of some sort and words like “Excellence” or “Courage” underneath, they’re meant to get our juices flowing and doing great things. For me, though, these prints, done in the same style would work far better. With captions like “Black Shadow” or “Chief” they focus on the mechanical beauty of vintage motorcycle engines.

This Up-N-Smoke Engine Project is the work of Daniel Peirce, a commercial photographer who gave himself the assignment to document many of the finest engines and make prints of the photos. These really are nice shots. There may be a lot of engineering reasons for an engine to look the way it does but some engineers are just better than others at turning numbers into metal and this series focuses on the best examples, many of which were photographed at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.

Look at these engines and then think about a future of plastic covered, egg shaped electro hydrogen motorcycles. Makes you want to run out and buy a vintage bike while they’re still around, doesn’t it?

Check out Dan’s site at Trick Photography

Images copyright Daniel Peirce, Trick Photography 2001 ~ 2006

via Dealernews magazine