07/06/2023
On the heels of the McQueen show, this tidbit captured at McQueen's garage in 1967 was pretty interesting! Dad got to see the two McLarens just after the Grand Prix at McQueen's fabricator's garage, Ek Thur...
Capturing another angle - the strangely too often overlooked designer's voice. Recently Cliff Hall was recognized for all sorts of good reasons, but let's not overlook the man who actually did the sketches, AKA the DESIGNer, or who took the articulated/spoken ideas by Hall, envisioned what it could look like in his own mind, then effectively did sketches to show others what was in the minds eye of Stewart Reed upon discussing Cliff Hall's idea for the Corwin.
Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Museum which recently did an exhibit on this topic, told the LA Times; “This car did predate the Pontiac Fiero and the Fiat X 1/9, two small, popular mid-engine cars (with engines between the axles) that gained international reputations..."
Here is the audio file of the account by designer Stewart Reed of seeing the McQueen's garage, the McLarens and the connection to Cliff Hall for whom he sketched the Corwin.
Audio Transcript - May 10, 2023 - Stewart Reed recalls sketching the design for Cliff Hall's idea for a Corwin car.
(Stewart Reed's daughter Christine explains; 'as is often the case, I get a sense that Dad's about to share something others would enjoy hearing after he begins, so the recording starts a bit late. Christine’s note to self; as is so often the case, an investor needs to SEE SOMETHING inspiring/credible, sketches/drawings by a trained designer... Mr. Corwin doled out moneys on faith/inspiration from Dad’s sketches, Leslie Kendall did Cliff Hall/Corwin exhibit at Petersen… FIND sketches! CH was a well known society photographer/networker in LA, Cliff Hall, for whom Dad did sketches back in 60s). Typically pay and/or credit is anticipated by designers/photographers...but design credit in particular is something that the heart of man usually seems wont to take over whole ownership of creativity - a frequently observed dynamic I'm still researching today.
Transcript; regarding Cliff Hall, says Stewart; he 'Kinda ran it for him…' McQueen’s garage/storage?
Stewart regarding visit to Cliff Hall; Steve’s fabricator Ek was across the street from storage? Turkish guy named Ek Thur was Steve McQueen’s fabricator. Go meet Ek and he’ll show you Steve’s cars across the street. Doug and I finished the research we needed to do and went across hte street. We went in and introduced ourselves to Ek and he said sure, come on in. There it was; the Thomas Crown Affair Manx, and some other stuff, the motorcycles, in 1967 - Doug and I asked if he got out to the Grand Prix over the weekend? He said - in fact the McLaren that won the race are right here next door, want to see them? WOW, yes! We were like - gollleee - look at that!
Don; Let’s get over to Camilo’s…
Dad; I’d forgotten all about that until you mentioned the Thomas Crown Manx!
Christine; good stuff, I’ll look it up, I guess it’ll be on the Petersen, Corwin…
Stewart; Cliff hall was in the music community and had this idea for a little car, kind of a sporty urban 3wheel, MacMinn introduced us, I recently found some sketches, his benefactor was Louis Corwin, that’s the reason fo the name Corwin Coach, wealthy guy with an office on Wilshire Blvd, he was the US importer of Panasonic, in the 60s, getting it started. And I remember one day going with Cliff over there, he was like, “c’mon I need to take you with me,” so I was kind of like Cliff’s talent yunno, and I got some sketches and, Cliff’s like, Mr. Corwin this is what we’re working on, we’ve got the chassis going and this and that,” Louis Corwin- he’s a big guy - and he’s looking over the sketches going ‘oh wow’ and Cliff says Mr Corwin I need some more money, and Louis Corwin says, “well how much do you need?” If I could get like a 1000 bucks and he reaches into his pocket - “ok keep it going” - ok, thank you Mr. Corwin…
Getting things done - Don, Because of your sketches - Christine
It’s just like - the thing is in the vault at the Petersen, Cliff Hall died recently and they had and they had a thing with him, and I told Leslie Kendall - that thing downstairs, I was part fo the original thing on that…. And when they finally had the whole Cliff Hall, Corwin thing on that, he forgot… I wasn’t part of it. It’s just like…laughing, I’ll find the sketches - Stewart…
