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How do you make a watch to reflect the spirit of F1? According to designer John Pszeniczny, it requires carbon fiber, Swarovski crystal, rubber and metal… oh, and 18 rubies. Although the required materials are an unusual combination, the F1/Carbon GMT Watch looks impressive indeed.

While it has regular features like a lap timer function and a stopwatch, it can also tell the time in every one of the 18 cities on the 2008 F1 circuit, although I’m not sure anyone would need that.

Either way, even if you had a cartload of money, you still couldn’t buy it, because it’s only a concept.

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This peculiar looking device is a car jack - an air jack to be precise. It inflates through a 15 ft. hose that connects to the tailpipe and channels the exhaust gases, and makes it easy to lift a car caught in mud or snow. It can also be used to lift cars for more mundane tasks like changing tires and installing tire chains with no effort from your part (except for the actual tire-changing, of course).

It’s available for $119.99 from Titan.

A photo of the Air Jack in action after the jump.
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How can you tell if the car you are trying to buy has been in a crash or not? Inspect the paint, for one… But what might look like an intact paintjob might not be one.

The Paint Thickness Tester can help you inspect a car by measuring the thickness of the paint. It works on both aluminium and steel and its three LEDs light up accordingly to indicate if the paint was touched up or not.

It’s easy to operate even for non-techies: just push a button, measure the paint in one area (for example the roof), press it against the area you want to check, then push another button. In seconds, you’ll know if your supposedly new car has in fact been in an accident or if the body has been filled, so you can renegotiate the price if it doesn’t seem fair.

At £9,99 (about $20) it’s probably not a bad idea idea to get one if you’re planning to buy an used car or a new car you’re unsure of. It can potentially save you much more.

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I know a lot of drivers who hate it if their passengers turn on the ceiling light. And, as a passenger, I’ve always been annoyed by the lack of light when I need it. Of course, the car could be equipped with a flashlight, but no one I know can remember to get one… And it’s difficult to use a lantern when you’re holding a map on your legs, trying to figure out where you are and how to get back to civilization.

The Seatbelt Light is east to forget in the car and comes real handy for passengers or the driver. The lights clip onto the seatbest and the 4 LEDs offer two levels of brightness. At $14.99 for a set of two, it’s an affordable gadget that can be useful at all times.

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There probably isn’t anyone who hasn’t discovered his or her car keys are missing exactly on that morning when they were late for work. And, even though said keys are usually very close by, they can’t speak so they remain buried under paperwork or clothes for a long while.

But even though keys can’t talk, they can now bark with the Fetch My Keys electronic key finder from SUCK UK. When you whistle, the dog keychain barks back, so you just have to follow the sound. You need to know how to whistle, however. And not have a big house, or you’ll have to whistle your way through all the rooms.

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Self-inflating tires might sound sci-fi, but Coda Development says they’re not.

The SIT system works by inflating tires as the car moves. It only has two components, a chamber inside the tire wall and a managing valve, and it functions on the principle of a peristaltic pump. A short explanation from the manufacturer:

The tube chamber is kept closed at its lowest point by the normal tire deformation caused by the weight of the vehicle.

As the tire turns against the road this closure moves along the tube chamber, forcing more air into the tire with each wheel revolution. Simultaneously, it pulls outside air back into the chamber from the other side.

The managing valve ensures that the pressure is optimal by alternately letting outside air in and circulating air between the tire and the tube chamber. The managing valve can be either electronic or purely mechanical. The tire pressure can be set during regular maintenance or even by the driver.

You can see an animation of the system here and a video of test results here.

The system is currently being previewed at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit, so we’ll probably hear more about it soon enough.

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When talking about cars we usually think about ways to make ourselves comfortable in them. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but when children appear their needs must take the first place, since they can’t speak up for themselves.

It makes sense then that the Cold Seat was designed by a mother. Traveling in summer is not that much of a nuisance to adults, since they sit in front, air conditioning blowing in their faces, but the heat can make a sensitive baby really uncomfortable. The Cold Seat is a device meant to cool the car seat prior to strapping the baby in it. It must be placed in the freezer the day before the trip, then left in the seat until it cools, so afterwards little Bobby or Mary can enjoy a nice cool ride.

You can get it for $49.95 on ColdSeat.com.

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Say you bought the car of your dreams, but you’ve still got a lot of money lying around and can’t find anything to spend it on. Say you love your car so much that you decide to bling it up as much as possible… What better way to do it than cover it in gold?

Goldstriker offers a wide range of 24 carat gold plated accesories, or you can use your own - just send them the car bit you want blinged or drive your car to their headquarters and they’ll make sure it leaves with a coating of gold in all the right places.

You can choose from badges, emblems, grilles, bumpers and interiors, but the prices are as high as you expect. They range from £34.95 for an Audi TT badge to a whooping £2,995 for a 19 inch Jaguar alloy wheel - all gold-plated, of course.

You’d better start saving now if you want to have the ultimate blinged up car. And maybe start looking for companies that can cover parts of your car in Swarovski crystals.

We have to face it, officially branded merchandise is very expensive. If you don’t mind that your new gadget is probably built on a boat carrying junk from China, you can (maybe) impress your friends with this F1 phone that mimics a red Ferrari (including the brand name and logo).

It has all the standard features, so you can play MP3 and video and browse the internet (WAP) and it offers a talk time of 120 - 200 minutes and 150 - 220 hours in standby.

It will set you back ₤96.38 (almost $200), but that’s still cheaper than any official Ferrari phone.

Two more photos after the jump.
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If you don’t know what to buy for your VW fan friend, you can skip all the modern licensed products this time and go for something old-fashioned and original.

Originally launched in the ‘70, the Soundwagon Portable Record Player has been reborn. This retro licensed VW van is actually a record player: if placed on a vinyl, it moves along at 33 1/3 speed and uses its speakers to render the music.

While it can be pretty impressive for people who weren’t around in the golden days of records, the downside is there isn’t a 45 RPM model and, of course, the sound isn’t nowhere near perfect.

Of course, it probably won’t ever be used to play records, but make sure the recipient at least has one 33 1/3 record to show it off to curious guests.

You can get it for $89 at Turntable Lab.

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