The Designer: Electric Dreams, Santa Ana
Philippe de Lespinay once made his living as a professional slot car driver--he was paid for his skill in manipulating the electronic controls of the speedy model cars during races staged at slot tracks around the country.
He spent several years as chief of research and design for Cox Toy Co., the Santa Ana-based maker of gasoline-powered model airplanes and electric racing cars, and for 15 years had his own business importing and distributing custom automobile wheels and auto racing clothing and helmets. Now de Lespinay has hung out a new shingle as a free-lance design consultant and antique toy dealer.
It was in his capacity as a designer that he joined with MCM Group, which retained the 51-year-old Newport Beach resident to design and build the body panels--or skin--of its new off-road motorcycle.
De Lespinay turned out to be even more valuable, plumbing his more than 20 years of experience in the Southland’s performance automotive subculture to hook MCM up with the metal stylist who fabricated the panels and the exhaust specialist who engineered the new bike’s exhaust system.
After designing the panels for MCM’s dirt bike--a racing version that cannot be legally driven on U.S. public streets--de Lespinay has turned his talents to shaping a more civilized look for the street version MCM hopes to have ready for production by 1997.
