Crystal & Diamond-Encrusted Cooper Tires For 60th Anniversary Of Formula 3 Racing.

The press release:
Cooper Tire celebrated the diamond anniversary of Formula 3 racing in Britain by creating a set of jewel-encrusted tyres.



The tyres were made by London jeweller, Freddie Keeble at FK Diamonds, using both diamonds for the 60th anniversary, and Swarovski crystals.



The tyres were unveiled at Silverstone during the launch of the 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series, where they were bolted on to the race car of Carlin driver, Rupert Svendsen–Cook.




The 2011 season is also the 30th consecutive year that Cooper Tire and its associate brand, Avon Tyres, have acted as sole supplier to the prestigious championship. In the last 60 years, the list of former British F3 competitors to progress to Grand Prix racing include such luminaries as Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Jenson Button, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, Nelson Piquet, Johnny Herbert, Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello to name but a few.

Julian Baldwin, Managing Director of Cooper Tire Europe, said, “The Cooper and Avon brands have been involved in Formula 3 for half of the entire existence of the series in Britain. The diamond anniversary is huge landmark for Formula 3 and we are proud to continue our long-standing relationship with one of the most important single-seater championships in the world.”



Keeble, owner of FK Diamonds, said, “The process of setting the diamonds was certainly a little different from what we are used to doing.”



In order to set the crystals and diamonds, Keeble cut the Cooper logo out of metal and then set the stones within that to ensure they would be secure. The individual lettering was then attached to the tyre with a strong adhesive.


via autoblog

The tires go very nicely with these diamond encrusted racing helmets!

26 More Gold-Plated Items For Those Whose Disposable Income Exceeds Taste.

It's time for another round up of grotesquely gold items. It's been while since I blogged about the 22ct gold dog crate and the world's most expensive gold bicycle and I know you are aware of the glut of gold-plated laptops, game and mobile phones -- if you aren't, check my Diamond & Gold tech, mobile phone and gadget links here.


above: Beretta's limited edition gold plated sub machine gun

But the gilding doesn't stop there. From guns to guitars, kitchen appliances to baby carriages, here's a round up of more unusual real gold-plated (and in one case, solid gold) items by various individual or companies.

Gold-plated Beretta PM12 S limited edition Sub machine gun:



The million dollar GoldCaster Guitar, with diamonds:




Gold For The Kitchen:
Gold-Plated BBQ by BeefEater:


The Angel Gold-Plated Juicer from Easy Health:

24kt gold plated Jura-Capresso IMPRESSA F9 Limited Edition :


Gold For the Bathroom:
Gold plated tubs by Gold Noble of Korea:

Gold plated Regio Toilet by Inax:

Vitraform's gold sink:

22ct plated gold Trolley from Skypak:


Big Gold Cars:
Gold-plated Enzo Ferrari:

Gold-plated Audi R8:

Gold-plated Porsche 911:


Gold-plated Mercedes 63AMG:


Mini Gold Cars:
Miniature 18k Gold Lambo by Ultima:

Stuart Hughes' miniature Bugatti Veyron made of gold with diamond headlamp:



Miscellaneous Gold Items:
Gold Noble of Korea sells these 24k Gold-plated flash drives and pencils:


Limited edition 24k Gold Python Skin Fendi Handbag:

Minox LX Gold Limited Edition 8x11 mm Film Spy Camera (24k Gold Plated)

Minox MDC Gold Limited Edition 35mm film Camera (24k Gold Plated)

Minox DC1011 Carat 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (24k Gold Plated with 10 2mm Diamonds)

Gold-plated Silver Cross carriage by pram restorers Graham Richardson and Alison Murfet, who made this for Harrod's.

24kt plated Gold Dumbells. Made especially for Nancy Sinatra, they are available for purchase from 1st Dibs:


Darth Maul Limited edition Gold-plated light saber:


The 22ct gold plated dog crate and gold bicycle I mentioned earlier:


If you never saw it, check out my post on gold versions of many other items, too.

World's Most Expensive Sound System. $1.84 Million Gold & Gem Bang & Olufsen Beosound

above: the front and back view of the 24ct and diamond Beosound 9000 and Beolab 6000 speakers

Stuart Hughes just can't seem to stop making obscenely expensive versions of high tech items and gadgets, his latest being the world's most expensive custom music system and remote. He has manufactured a Bang & Olufsen Beosound system out of solid 24k gold, and studded it with diamonds and gems.



Designed in Liverpool U.K. by Stuart Hughes, the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 24ct gold & Diamond Edition is the world’s most expensive and Bespoke Music center. Priced at £1.2 million, ($1,842,900.00 USD) the B&O Gold Beosound System took a whole 7 months to manufacture.

The Beosound's whole body including the speakers have been reformed using 32 kilograms of solid 24ct gold. The outer screen guard area has a handmade solid gold veneer which houses 70 brilliant round cut 0.75 flawless diamonds which sit amidst surrounding gemstones of aventurine & topaz. A limited edition of only 5 units will be made.



Of course it wouldn't be complete without his gold and diamond Bang & Olufsen Serenata Mobile phone (I originally listed this as a remote and was embarrassingly corrected by a reader).



The Bang & Olufsen Serenata, exclusively in diamonds and solid gold. The diamonds are mounted on their own solid gold bezel sitting perfectly over the main scroll mechanism.



Diamonds used total 16.25ct in the form of VVS1 quality, F color. The main facia and rear release are reformed to precision using a circa of 140 grams of solid 24ct gold. This handset is of a limited edition only of 10 to be created.

Serenata Priced at £44,995 ($57,184.00 USD)

Both the gold and diamond Bang & Olufsen Beosound System and the Serenata mobile are available exclusively from www.stuarthughes.com