Awesome Retro

This 1967 Oscar-nominated animated short by Les Drew and Kaj Pindal envisions a day when Martians look down on Earth, and surmise that our planet is not occupied by humans, but by cars and other machines. Maybe they should have bought a better telescope.

During this week’s episode of SNL, we were reminded of this amazing, captivating, and enigmatic performance of the late David Bowie, along with Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias, back in the heyday of NBC’s late night show. After that, watch him on The Tonight Show.

Modern hammer drills get their name because they provide short, sharp, hammering action to help make quick work of difficult materials like rock. This crazy antique contraption uses actual hammers to smack a drill bit into a boulder, achieving a similar result, albeit more slowly.

The Retro Freak console plays cartridges from 11 classic systems. Best of all, it lets you rip games from cartridges to a connected SD card. It works with USB controllers and has a controller adapter for classic gamepads. English menus available. More on Technabob.

A hilariously campy video from General Motors’ 1956 Motorama exhibit that looked forward to the distant future (1976) and the autonomous, gas turbine powered vehicles we were supposed to have by then. The song is awesome, as is the drink dispenser glovebox.

This teensy retro-style “hi-fi” system is styled after the bookshelf stereo systems of the 1970s. Pop the lid off to see the glowing “tubes” inside. This Bluetooth system offers two 3W speakers, and a class D amp. The speakers measure just 3″ tall, and the receiver is 4″ wide.

Ferris Bueller gets remade as a video game from his own era, capturing the antics of Ferris, Cameron, Sloane, and Abe Froman as they head out for a pixelated adventure across Chicagoland. On second thought, we think these graphics are too good for 1986.

If you thought that scratching tracks on turntables was old school, check out this 1991 footage of Latvian DJ Modris “Mr. Tape” Skaistkalns mixing tracks using a pair of tape decks as his medium. So when is reel-to-reel going to become a hipster trend?

A 1967 Camper with its original paint, hubcaps and a few interior parts, but improved with modern amenities such as USB charging ports, a Bluetooth stereo system and air conditioning. It runs on a 195 hp Jetta engine with Vanagon transmission.

(Gore) Claymation animator Lee Hardcastle goes back to the big ’80s with the music video for Gunship’s synthwave track which shares its name with the nightclub in The Terminator, while the video is packed with characters from classic films of the era.

Play poker, go fish, spades or your favorite game with these official Gremlins playing cards, illustrated by Nat Iwata for Albino Dragon. Just keep them away from the sun, never get them wet, and never ever deal them after midnight.

Modder Matt Gruskin took one of those 1980’s Fisher Price cassette players and transformed it into a Bluetooth speaker for his iPhone. With the help of his mechanical and electronic knowhow, the buttons and volume know even work.

Combining ’60s retro style with modern tech, Electrohome’s clear- and bright-sounding Archer turntable folds into a suitcase for easy transit. It’s got built-in speakers, and USB and AUX inputs. Plus, it won’t break the bank.

Back in the ’60s kids could still play with toy guns without worry about being shot by the police or being told they would become sociopathic killers. And the Johnny Seven OMA (One Man Army) was quite possibly the greatest toy gun of all time.

“I’d rather play outside… or maybe do homework more than this!” The Fine Bros. dust off another relic of the past, the primitive LCD handheld games from the 1990s. That Jurassic Park game proves that movie games have always sucked.

In 1933, architect Buckminster Fuller wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry with the Dymaxion car – designed to be fast, aerodynamic and could seat 11 passengers. An accident killed the Dymaxion, but this replica is impressive.

Bobby Burns revamps the trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and replaces our superfoes with their cartoony predecessors – with Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, and Adam West as The not-so-Dark Knight.

Jo “SquirrelMonkey” Luitjen takes a hilarious look at what dating app Tinder would have been like had it existed back in the 1980s. We’re not sure if that one dude was named Mason or Manson, but either way he’s creeptacular.

Developer Kingpenguin created this insane retro-style game which manages to seamlessly incorporate elements of Pac-Man, Pong, and Space Invaders all on the same playfield. Available for Windows, Mac or Linux.

We can make hyperlapse videos with our phones these days. Pacer, the first known hyperlapse film was captured one frame at a time on 16mm film by Guy Roland in 1995, and only screened once before the negative was destroyed.

We finally ditched our old VHS deck about five years ago, but if the modern TV shows and movies that Stan’s VHS has made up actually existed back in the day, our VCR would have gotten way more use. Be kind, rewind.

Long before we had phones that could shoot time-lapse videos, Disney used good old film to document the construction of its California theme park, and recently shared this classic footage in celebration of its upcoming 60th anniversary.

YouTuber Amazing LP spent over 100 hours carefully superimposing himself into the NEO GEO classic The King of Fighters ’97, turning himself into a real-world opponent for the game’s virtual fighters. We want a Kinect game like this.