From the April 2017 issue
Gordon Platto joined Ford more than 25 years ago and has worked as a designer on everything from minivans to the Mustang. Since 2011, he’s been the chief designer for the F-series and the Explorer. Away from the office, he turns his eye to vintage motorcycles, with a collection that currently includes the 1948 Indian and the 1931 Harley-Davidson pictured here, as well as a 1978 Kawasaki KZ650, and more.
C/D: You’ve certainly got the ends of the size spectrum covered.
GP: Trucks and motorcycles seem to go together. A lot of the people we get rotating through the studio either have a motorcycle when they come in or end up having one when they leave. Willie Davidson [the former head of design for Harley-Davidson] actually did an internship at Ford. He was always a hero of mine, and through the Ford/Harley alliance, we became good friends. We’ve ridden to Sturgis together. After he retired, one of the guys who used to work for me on trucks, Brad Richards, took over Willie’s position at Harley-Davidson.
C/D: What draws you specifically to older bikes?
GP: They’re a lot of fun because everything’s so mechanical. You can hear which gear you’re in. They [the Indian and the Harley] both have foot clutches on the left, but the shifters are on opposite sides. They both have the spark advance on the same side as the shifter, and the throttle on the opposite. They’re archaic, but it becomes second nature. You just gotta remember which one you’re on. And they’re six volts, so when it’s dark, it’s dark. It feels as if you’re running around with a candle.
I like the appearance, too. I like the fact that they look mechanical and things aren’t covered up. We did that on the Raptor. We pulled the bumpers up as high as we could to really expose the suspension. I like how, with the bikes, the way they go together is inherent in the way the design is executed. Understanding how stuff works and how it goes together helps me design better. To me, there’s inherent quality in the way things were put together in the past.
C/D: But a big part of that perception is heft, which is the antithesis of modern automotive design.
GP: Yes, but there are other ways to convey that mechanical feel. The Raptor’s paddle shifters are magnesium. Magnesium feels cold to the touch. It feels like quality, it feels different than plastic. It’s not going to flex like plastic does when you touch it. The better designers really understand how things go together and the mechanical nature of things versus someone who is just styling.
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Museum PiecesPlatto has thousands of pieces of motorcycle memorabilia in his home. The Harley-Davidson museum has even done a photo shoot with his collection because he has some items even it doesn’t have. |
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