KENJI EKUAN, VMAX DESIGNER

Kenji Ekuan, industrial designer, and head of GK Design Group

As a child, he wandered the streets of his native Hiroshima just after the nuclear devastation, and spoke of hearing the voices of 'mangled streetcars, bicycles and other objects', lamenting they could no longer be used.  After his father died from radiation poisoning, Kenji Ekuan became a monk, but changed course to become the most celebrated industrial designer in Japan. He graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1955, and set up his own design business in 1957. Regarding 'futuristic' design, Ekuan stated, "When we think of the future of design, we might imagine a world where robots are everywhere, but that's not it.  The ultimate design is little different from the natural world."

Perhaps the GK Design Group's most famous design for Yamaha; the VMax

Ekuan's GK Design Group went on to work with Yamaha, and the VMax is one of Ekuan's most famous motorcycle designs. Far more famous is his ubiquitous red-capped Kikkoman soy sauce bottle of 1961, which was inspired by watching his mother struggle with transferring a large bottle of soy sauce into a smaller container for the table.  The GK group also designed Japan's Bullet Train, corporate logos, and musical equipment.  Kenji Ekuan was awarded the 'Golden Compass' award in Italy for his lifetime of brilliant design.  Ekuan was born on Sep.11th 1929 in Tokyo, and died yesterday.

Ubiquitous: no higher accolade for a man's work

According to Yamaha, GK Design Group was responsible for nearly all of their motorcycle designs until very recently. In 1989, a separate division within GK Design Group was formed specially to deal with vehicle design, GK Dynamics, which also contracted with Toyota.  It wasn't until 2014(!) that Yamaha formed an in-house design team, headed by Akihiro 'Dezi' Nagaya.

The GK Dynamics design for the Bullet Train

I've been familiar with the unorthodox design philosophy of GK Dynamics since 1989, when they published 'Man-Machine-Soul-Energy: the Spirit of Yamaha Motorcycle Design'...which I've always referred to as the 'Yamaha Sex Tract', as it is the first published motorcycle design document which explores the erotic and sometimes explicitly sexual nature of our relationship of "the second most intimate machine" (my quote - the first most intimate is, of course, the vibrator).

I recommend reading the book if you're a student of design, or would like to explore how differently the Japanese designers in Kenji Ekuan's firm thought about and discussed their work - it's a fascinating glimpse into a wide-open mind and industrial design philosophy, and I doubt any such discussion was ever held at Harley-Davidson or BMW!  And I reckon few industrial designers working for major corporations have publicly acknowledged the debt of modern design to DADAist artist Marcel Duchamp.  It's remarkable stuff.

Atsushi Ishiyama, author of the remarkable 'Man-Machine-Soul-Energy: Spirit of Yamaha Motorcycle Design'

Here's a sample from the book, written by current GK Dynamics President Atsushi Ishiyama:

"When I first came into contact with the motorcycle as an object to be designed, my first impression was that it is extremely sexy, even considered in terms of pure shape, the single cylinder engine is truly phallic...the part where the engine connects to the frame is thick, giving it the very shape of a sex symbol.  The muffler also has the unique glow of metal, making it look just like internal organs.  The tank has a richly feminine curve, and the metal frame bites tightly into the engine like a whip.  I am certain the the designers did not have this aspect in mind, but it is quite a shock to anybody who suddenly comes into contact with it for the first time.  The mechanical parts of the engine, the suspension...as well as all other structural parts give the impression of a sexual analogy.  The first time I saw one, I felt like I had come into contact with a very abnormal world.

Marcel Duchamps' 'Nude Descending a Staircase No.2'

I feel that such works as 'Nude Descending a Staircase' and 'The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors' by the father of modern art Marcel Duchamp were the first artistic expressions of eroticism through mechanism....Duchamp's fresh approach is seen in his use of mechanism as his means of expression.  The motorcycle is also created upon the basis of a thoroughgoing desire to create a loveable artifical life through a mechanical assembly of the mechanism of human sensitivities."

Marcel Duchamps' 'The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even'

No matter your taste regarding the VMax or other Yamaha products, designers Ekuan and Ishiyama have created design for the ages, and have long been an inspiration of mine.

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SHOOTING THE 'ARROW'

The front half of the streamlining of the Indian 'Arrow' in 1937 at Bonneville

While Burt Munro's 'world's fastest Indian' is the most famous record-breaker to use Springfield iron as its base, it certainly wasn't the only Indian used in land speed record attempts.  Let's not forget that the first-ever certified absolute motorcycle world speed record was set by Gene Walker on his 994cc Indian, at Daytona Beach in 1920.  While he 'only' recorded a 2-way average of 104.21mph (167.56kph), this was faster than anyone else had done under the watchful eyes of a neutral (ish) sanctioning body - the FIM - who still oversee international records.  Glenn Curtiss was timed one-way back in 1906 at over 136mph on the same stretch of beach, but it was an unsanctioned record, and not repeated in a return run.  

In 1936, Oakland Indian dealer Hap Alzina supervised the construction of a streamliner shell for another attempt to take the absolute honors for Indian. Alzina had secured a rare factory 8-valve 1000cc  racing engine from 1924, one of a dozen built by Charles Franklin.  These engines were capable of 120+mph speeds, running on alcohol, and it is supposed Alzina's engine was used to set the American speed record in 1926, with Johnny Seymour blistering along at 132mph. It seemed to Alzina that a bit of streamlining, as clad other world record machines (BMW, DKW, and Brough Superior specifically by 1936), could send the Indian name ot the top, especially as Joe Petrali had recently taken the American record on his modified 'Knucklehead' at 136.183mph - on a streamlined machine which had its body removed after it was found to be unstable.  The last-generation 8-Valve  engine was at least as fast as any unsupercharged motor then in existence, so in theory they had a chance.

The aircraft techniques used to build the streamliner included lightweight balsa wood 'stringers' and plywood bulkheads, all very light - uneccesarily so.

Knowing streamlining was  tricky business, Alzina hired an aircraft engineer (William 'Bill' Myers) to draw up and construct the very plane-ish body, which was constructed of balsa wood strips over plywood bulkheads, covered in canvas, and sealed with 'dope', just like a biplane.  A chassis was constructed around the engine from a variety of Indian racing parts, with 1920 forks, a recent frame, and an older rear section, all of which was very light, as per their usual racing practice.  The tank was from a '101' Scout, and the naked machine looked surprisingly coherent for a cobbled-up special.

To economize on the timekeeping expenses, three machines were taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats for record-breaking: a Sport Scout, a Chief which had been stripped down to Class C rules, and Alzina's 'Arrow'.  All 3 machines were in fact heavily 'breathed on' for the records, and the Scout became the fastest 750cc in the USA at 115.226mph, while the Chief managed an impressive 120.747mph, both Class C American records.

At Bonneville in 1937, with diminutive rider Fred Ludlow, who just fit into the shell

Fred Ludlow piloted the 'Arrow' in tests, and the ultra-light weight and racing chassis geometry of the bike did the attempt no favors.  That the streamline shell was untested, and also very light, was also bad news, and while the bike was very fast indeed, it proved unstable above 145mph, weaving and tank-slapping until it was blown off course, and realizing the shell was unsuitable, the attempt was scrapped.  It's easy in hindsight to diagnose the flaws of their machine, but Alzina was a private dealer with a little factory help, and not a well-funded, factory-backed racing effort.  It was clear the project needed a lot more work, but he'd spent a bundle on the machine already, and ultimately decided to shelve the project and concentrate on Class C racing, hillclimbs, and selling motorcycles.

The Indian 'Arrow', with streamlining, at the Harrah's collection in the 1980s.

The 'Arrow' languished in Hap Alzina's back room for decades, and it was eventually purchased by the Harrah's collection in the 1970s.  It certainly exists today, and photographs show a compelling motorcycle, almost a 'resto-mod' with those early loop-spring forks, and one which every Indian fan wishes they owned!

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BLUE BIKE UPDATE

I'll fill in more details later, but when I visited the preview and auction of the Bonhams Petersen Museum sale, I had a feeling that canny buyers would be walking away with bargains, as quite a few bikes present were for sale with 'no reserve', and the hall was not full.

I also wanted to downgrade my estimate on the Blue Bike to $320,000 - which is below low estimate. I haven't heard the high bid yet, as I didn't stay for the auction (other business!), and I've only just arrived home, so will post the last bid when I speak with spectators. I do see that it failed to sell... so my notes on 'just who will be bidding?' have proved prescient at least. I note that two other Vincent twins in the auction failed to sell... either their reserves were too high, or given the current climate, the Vincent bubble has just hit the ceiling. I watched this happen in 1990, when Vincent values were approaching the $80k mark for real Black Shadows, then dropped way back down to $30k by '92. If I wanted to buy a Vincent twin, I would wait a few months. If I wanted to sell a Vincent, I'd wait a few years!

Someone walked away with a restored '58 Harley Panhead for $9,600 - which is half price by any reckoning. A shocking number of the bikes and cars simply failed to sell.

One bike which did sell was this '49 Triumph Tiger 100, which I had imported from Australia in 2001, and sold for $9500 that year, with a sidecar. The Tiger solo, 7 years later, sold for $10,530.

Fred Lange's beautiful Indian 8-valve replica sold for $64,350, which is more than the 'Art of the Motorcycle' 8-valve which was also in the sale ($57,330). The catalog wasn't clear that the Guggenheim bike had cylinder heads from Fred's shop! But of course, any prospective buyer would have done their due diligence before bidding.

The knock-on effect of all this? I would assume the Rollie Free Bike will not come up for auction this year, as has been rumored. Also, given the dramatic rise of the dollar this week, foreign buyers were priced out of the high estimates... perhaps they should have used £s in the catalog! When you're talking a 20% rise in the dollar since the catalog was published, at a $400,000 price tag, that's a lot of money tacked on if you're paying in euros.
More analysis tomorrow...