Bastante interesante...
'I AM A COACHBUILDER'
In a tradition which predates the internal combustion engine by several hundred years, a 'coachbuilder' was delivered a wheeled chassis without a body, and worked his artistry for the pleasure of a few customers who appreciated, and could afford, a completely bespoke conveyance, or an expression of the particular artistic vision of that builder. When motorized 'coaches' arrived, some of the same carriage builders worked their magic on the chassis of a Cadillac or Rolls Royce, making an already fine automobile just that bit more special.
In an important sense, the coachbuilt auto was an expression of respect for the original design of the car, a paradoxical situation, but the resultant vehicle was never known simply as a 'Saoutchik' or 'Ghia' or 'Fleetwood', it was always a Delahaye with Saoutchik body, or an Alfa Romeo Ghia, or a Cadillac Fleetwood. The coachbuilder seemed to find another possibility for a respected design, perhaps one too flambouyant for general consumption, or simply too expensive for all but a very special customer.
That Shinya Kimura prefers to call himself a Coachbuilder rather than a 'customizer' speaks to his profound love of motorcycles and appreciation for production bikes. The breadth of his interests are evident in the variety of makes which pass through his workshop, Chabott Engineering. Excelsior, Ducati, Triumph, Indian, Harley Davidson, Honda, MV Agusta, Kawasaki, Suzuki, have all been 'Shinyized' in his inimitable style.
His working process is accretive and completely hands-on; Shinya makes no drawings, preferring to embrace a bike with distinctive lumps of aluminum, steel, brass, iron. A sculptor of motorcycles. While he has an 'English wheel', the usual tool for hand-forming smooth metal body panels, it's only used "twice a year, as I prefer to use a mallet to shape metal." As a result the tanks, seats, fairings, and beaten parts are clearly handmade, artisanal, with character on the surface - ripples, dings, asymmetries, tiny voids - exactly the sort of 'mistakes' a journeyman panel expert would avoid, but which on Shinya's machines are evidence of the maker's hand; a signature, a fingerprint.
Para leer mas y ver mas (muy buenas) fotos --> http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-am-coachbuilder.html
