You’ve seen Steampunk moving closer to mainstream. There’s steampunk fashions, housewares, computer mods, guns, guitars, books, games, tattoos, and even and steampunk iPhone apps. Steampunk themes are picking up steam and becoming increasingly popular. Some people drop buckets of money on car and home steampunk hacks. We aren’t talking about tiny tweaks like a little vehicle mod or a simple furniture fashion statement. Here are 15 high-dollar hacks to thoroughly steampunk-theme cars and homes.

Steampunk 1929 Mercedes Gazelle SSK Replica

(image credits: The Steampunk Workshop)

Expert DIY steampunk hacker Jake von Slatt, of The Steampunk Workshop, mechanically tinkers in amazing ways. He also dabbles with eBay’s “Buy It Now.” That is where he bought a 1929 Mercedes Gazelle SSK replica made by Classic Motor Carriages. Since then, he’s making slow but steady progress from dashboard, wiring, and lights, to a catalytic converter on an air-cooled VW motor.

What’s next? Jake von Slatt stated, “I’m getting ready to have the car painted in black lacquer. Once that’s done, the serious brass attack will begin. I’ll be fabricating a pair of acetylene headlights and some elegant brass coach lamps for either side of the windshield. The radiator will get a new, more curvaceous shape. I’m considering an ornate waterjet, cut brass, hotrod flame for the fenders. To finish it off, I plan a steampunk flux capacitor based on a reduced scale version of my Wimshurst machine (lower left) and perhaps an exhaust gas calliope.” (lower right)

Papa Legba

(image credits: Datamancer)

This is Datamancer‘s 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck. “It’s dirty, ragged, fast, and dangerous…just how I like ’em. I’ve named it Papa Legba, after the Voodoo loa.” You can see where it started and then how it looked once it was lowered and painted black. Although this is a work in progress, at night the headlights glow a wicked red as if a sign of what’s to come.

Il Tempo Gigante

(image credits: trackforum,caprino)

El Tempo Gigante is a full-scale replica of the racing car featured in the movie ‘Pinchcliffe Grand Prix.’ From the cranking handle to the exhaust pipe, this steampunked badboy measures about 22 feet long. It has two engines and weighs roughly around 6,000 pounds. It can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in about six seconds. Jointly these two engines will produce a boost guaranteed to register 5.3 on the Richter scale. It’s loaded with tons of special equipment, from radar to a blood bank.

Steampunk Professor X Chair

(image credits: Daniel Valdez “smeeon” Photosteam )

Steampunk Professor X Chair is what happened when designer Daniel Valdez modded a Permobil C300 Power wheelchair with a 1875 Eastlake Victorian platform rocking chair. This chair “smokes” like it’s steam-powered but the steampunk hack didn’t end there. Valdez added a digital amped sound system, an event triggered sound processor, and even a Vodka cranberry dispenser. This is intensely cool to see in action like in the video above.

Neverwas Haul

(image credits: findaproperty, Boilermonster, Dragonarium, mdubinko, Boilermonster, timoni)

Built 2006 for Burning Man, in a celebration of “an era that never was,” this a 3-story Victorian mansion on wheels is the Neverwas Haul. It was built with 75% recycled materials, on the base of a fifth wheel travel trailer, measuring 24 feet long by 24 feet high and 12 feet wide. This Jules Verne-style vehicle is filled with steampunk artifacts. It very possibly may be the best Burning Man “art car” ever constructed. Seize the opportunity if you ever get a chance to see it.

3 Nautilus Inspired Home Theaters

After Jules Verne’s 1869 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea met with Walt Disney’s 1954 film, steampunk fans cannot get enough Captain Nemo and his Nautilus. If you have serious money to burn for these high dollar hacks, then here are three Nautilus-themed home theaters:

Themed props enable the home owner to escape into a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea adventure. There’s an iris viewport like Captain Nemo used to for underwater viewing, an intercom box, navigation gauges, and Captain Nemo’s underwater rifle. The projector was designed to resemble the Magic Lantern. Ceiling beams were added to help give that Nautilus feel.

Crafted in Switzerland, this Nautilus Home Cinema and Collection is the home owner’s “cinema deep under the sea.” Again the iconic iris viewpoint is a main focal point, but it also can be slid open to reveal the projection screen. Themed to feel like riding inside the iron-clad submarine, the collections and furniture pay tribute to opulent Victorian steampunk glory.

(image credits: Home Theater Design , olly.ch,  HE Magazine)

Both luxurious and spacious, about 900 square feet, this Nautilus theme home theater is shaped like a football with narrow ends and a wide center. It was built over the home owner’s garage addition, so you up before you go under the sea. The owners consulted 10 custom integrators in the Fort Worth/Dallas area before hiring one to undertake this 18-month project.

Steampunk Submarine Room

(image credits: geeky-gadgets,stuff.co.nz)

Our look at high dollar steampunk hacks would be incomplete without this custom $100,000 Steampunk Submarine Room. The rusting interior of this shipwrecked submarine comes complete with “plutonium-leaking” torpedoes. It also features a working periscope, a 3 meter big-screen TV, a kicking sound system, leather recliners, and a full-sized bar.

Steampunk Themed Office Suite

(image credits: Wired,Three Rings Design)

To create games, people need to be able to think outside the box like at this San Francisco game company Three Rings Design. They hired Because We Can to turn their office into the Victorian submarine Nautilus without directly copying 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or League of Extraordinary Gentleman. The mission was a success to make their office an amazingly fun place to keep and to attract top talent. It seats 20, has a game room, an attacking octopus couch, a secret room hidden behind a bookcase, a pool table, and dozens of other steampunk and Victorian details. Oh yeah, they are now hiring if this is your idea of a dream place to work.

Burning Man Steampunked Tree House

(image credits: steampunk.tumblr,ecofriend,Wired,Design Boom)

Constructed from clockwork components, recycled wood and steel, the Steampunk Tree House debuted at the 2007 Burning Man. This tree house weighs 8 tons, is 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide. The Steampunk Tree House comes alive at night when steam lines pump and nine aluminum organ pipes play unusual sounds. Solar panels provide power for an incredible LED lightshow. It includes firefly lights in the branches, mood lighting in the house, and floodlighting to showcase the tree at night.

Victorian RV

(image credits: The Steampunk Workshop,The Steampunk Workshop

One of the great aspects of steampunk mods are that they are created from repurposed materials and refurbished into steampunk works of art. Master mechanical modder Jake von Slatt continues to astound people with his steampunk hacks. His Victorian-themed motorhome is absolutely awesome. It started as an ordinary retired school bus that he bought for about $2,000. He then gutted it and upscaled it into this Victorian RV. You should really watch the video and read more from the always helpful and mind-blowing von Slatt. He shows his awesome project from start to finish.

Architectural Steel Sculpture: Rusty Steampunk Home

(image credits: Robert Bruno)

In 1973, Robert Bruno began sketching his sculptural home with an organic plan. He found the right location, an anomaly at Ransom Canyon near Lubbock, Texas. The architectural sculptor began building his huge steel home in ’74, changing plans and taking down walls as artistic inspiration led him. He completed construction on his 110 ton house in 1994. He not only built this steampunk home entirely by himself, but if he needed a special tool for construction then he created it. He constructed a crane on top of the house, controlling it with a switch, to lower him into position for welding and bending steel. The walls are either welded 1/4 inch plate steel or original stained glass creations to optimize light.

Steampunked Home

(image credits: The Steampunk Workshop)

Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum in Sharon, Massachusetts, specialize in Modern Victorian home restoration. So they turned their Craftsman style Victorian, built in 1901, into a slice of steampunk heaven. Their steampunked office is on the third floor in what was once the servant’s quarters. Little steampunk touches can be found throughout this home like the toggle light switches, Victorian heater, and a World War II battleship telephone. The restored cast iron stove actually houses a high-end electric Miele halogen cooktop. They have a plasma TV over their mantle. Hidden away in the fireplace are the controls for their surround sound system. A ship’s binnacle houses the household file and media server. More steampunk artwork is next to the submarine-like door.

This Steampunk Home Could Be Yours…

(image credits: Mod Vic,Online Property Showcase)

If you had a little dreamy sigh or perhaps had to wipe away the drool for wanting a steampunk home of your own, then this one is for sale. The Rosenbaum’s ModVic business is to restore historic Victorian homes built from 1850 to 1910. This house is located in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. It has the original Victorian character and rich beauty. Yet even with all this opulent charm, it has completely new systems that make it a “new old home.” You can take a virtual tour of this fully furnished steampunked house. Buying it will set you back a little less than $900,000, but it’s another amazing steampunk mod and high-dollar hacked home.

Steampunk is the mating of technology and romance, breeding some of the most wickedly cool gadget’s and art you’ve ever seen. It’s cool and brass-clad sexy. With a post apocalyptic type of rebellion, Steampunk enthusiast mod almost everything you can imagine and then some. This amazing urban art movement was birthed on the Internet, so it’s no wonder hi-tech hardware hackers are romancing technology with a Victorian passion, yearning for the aesthetic realm of The Time That Never Happened; Steampunk – where the future meets the past. Here are some of the slickest mods, 26 sexy Steampunk art and hi-tech hacks.

Mouse, USB, RSS Feed

(image credits:ilovecandid,forum modding,geeky gadgets,Steampunk Workshop)

The top two are fully functional modded mice, each is a one of a kind shiny handcrafted brass wonder. The USB drive holds 2GB of storage, but if you take this slick stick to work and someone tries to walk off with it, the vintage look with copper and brass gears, pipes, and bolts will make whoever uses it stand out in a crowd. RSS feeds, are you addicted to them? At one historic time, people were addicted to news coming hot off the telegraph. The shiny yet vintage telegraph machine is reborn as an RSS feed gadget.

Monitor & Keyboard

(image credit:DataMancer)

The Datamancer is an expert in steampunk-style technology. He is a Master of Mod. The 22″ widescreen LCD frame is solid 1/4-inch brass that was sanded and polished to a high shine. The base is a modernized remake of brass and black marble. The keyboard is a mixture of Neo-Victorianism and brass hi-tech.

Steampunk Flat Panel

(image credits:Steampunk Workshop)

Jake von Slatt is another computer mod icon on the steampunk stage. This Steampunk Desktop has a base made to look like marble. His hardware hacks to this flat panel LCD include knobs, gold painted pieces and plenty of brass.  For more retro-tech goodness, he added a brass keyboard and kerosene lamp. Jake von Slatt operates the Steampunk Workshop where you can find step-by-step directions to turn your computer into Victorian style and the Age of Scientific Wonders.

Victorian All-in-One PC

(image credits:steampunk workshop)

In this mod, Jake von Slatt researched Victorian era stages and discovered they were approximately 4:3 aspect ratio – the 16:9 wide-screen ratio from the cinema. He coated the 24″ wide screen monitor base with black spray lacquer and topped the supports off with some pieces of a brass chandelier. Then he fashioned monitor curtains for the stage on the frame. Finally, he completed the Victorian All-in-One PC which has Kubuntu 7.10  (Gutsy Gibbon) installed and is fit for the office of Queen Victoria.

DataMancer’s Steampunk Laptop

The Datamancer reached out to millions over the Internet with this Victorian laptop mod. With this hack, he converted unknown masses to the aesthetic realm of Steampunk. This mod is so cool, yet it’s steamy hot. Who knows? The Datamancer’s next mod might be so hot that the heat wave will hit and crack your hard drive.

More Steampunk Computers

(image credits:portal23,Boston Globe,DataMancer)

More and more people crank out fabulous Steampunk fabrications. At top left, that computer was named Windows Vista 1907. Yet the top right computer is a blend of science fiction and industry in a piece called The ElectriClerk, fashioned from a 1988 Macintosh SE computer, a c.1923 Underwood typewriter, and a fresnel lens by Andrew H. Leman. The Victorian looking jewelry box is another laptop mod by Datamancer.

Cell Phone

(image credits:Slash Gear,Slash Gear,don pezzano,savas place)

Even cell phones have not escaped the aesthetic realm of Steampunk. These are made from recycled materials, vintage gears, old iron and other metals. The top two cells phones are from Russia with love. The workmanship on all four mobile phones make these modded gadgets a hot item. The bottom right phone was created from a Nokia, back when it was boring and not yet a symbol of grandiose invention.

Masks

(image credits:Tom Banwell)

The incredibly talented Tom Banwell dabbled in a variety of media, before his one of kind talents and interests combined the arts of history, costuming, mechanics, and fantasy. He admits to being wildly creative with his leatherwork. On the top left is Banwell’s Pachydermos mask, followed by Sentinel, Underground Explorer on the bottom left, and the Fire Master mask.

Electric Skull

(image credit:Donovan Design 2009)

Known for many Steampunk designs, Art Donovon created The Electric Skull for The Museum of Oxford Steampunk Art Exhibition. Donovan made this 27″ tall, comprised of solid brass, light, glass, and acrylic. The fact he is also handy with the craft of electric skills no doubt helped make this glowing skull gadget an extremely slick mod.

Gadgets & Robots

(image credits:brute force leather,Stephanie Halleux,Molly Friedrich)

The trio above were fashioned for The Museum of Oxford Steampunk Art Exhibition. The large leather robot was created by Stephanie Halleux, only one of her leather robot masterpieces. If you visit the exhibition, going on now at Oxford University, you can view Amanda Scrivener’s Lord Featherstone’s Clockwork Arm up close and personal. The bottom right is a creation from Molly “Porkshanks” Friedrich. She states, “I also lavish attention to detail and try to imbue each item with a narrative of some sort so that it feels more like an artifact from another place and time.”

Steampunk Art

(image credit: Kris Kuksi)

Kris Kuksi’s art speaks of a timelessness, of potentiality and motion attempting to reach on forever, and “yet pessimistically delayed; forced into the stillness of death and eternal sleep.” He themes his art to teach us “that although death may pursue us arbitrarily, we should never neglect to mourn the tremendous loss of individual potential.” This art is entitled, Caravan Assault Appearatus.

Steampunk Motorcycle

This is Tom Sepe’s Steampunk Motorcycle on BRINK TV. This electric motorcycle gives off steam like a piece of the past mixing with a moment of time from the future.

1896 Steam Motorcycle

Pete’s Garage presents “1896 Steam Motorcycle.”

If all this retro-futurism has left you yearning for more from the realm of Steampunk, check back next week for sexy as sin Steampunk artistic designs.