Rusty Kay, 60; Artist, Collector of Antique Motorcycles and Quirky Classic Cars
Rusty Kay, an award-winning graphics designer who was widely known for his extensive collection of vintage motorcycles and cars, has died. He was 60.
Kay, a Montecito, Calif., resident, died of cancer May 8 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, said his wife, Alice.
The founder of Rusty Kay and Associates, an internationally recognized design firm specializing in corporate identity programs and packaging, Kay closed his studio in Santa Monica nearly six years ago when he moved to Montecito. Semiretired since then, he continued to do consulting work out of his home.
“He just defined enthusiasm and creativity,” said Bruce Meyer, former chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, for which Kay designed the logo.
But as famed as he was for his graphic designs, Kay was known for his passion for vintage cars and motorcycles.
At his peak, he owned nearly 180 motorcycles and more than a dozen stylistically unique cars, most of which were housed in a hangar at Santa Monica Airport.
Others were on display at the now-defunct DC3 restaurant at the airport and at the Petersen museum.
That’s not to mention more than a dozen motorcycles Kay displayed throughout his offices -- on the reception-area floor and hanging from the walls and ceiling -- and the cars and motorcycles he stored in a nearby 1920s garage, which he renamed Rusty’s Ocean Park Motors.
Kay began selling his collection after moving to Montecito, but kept six favorite cars and two dozen motorcycles at his home, including a motorcycle in the sun room, one in the dining room and one in his upstairs office.
“I drew the line at the kitchen and the bedroom,” Alice Kay joked this week. “If they all ever came home to roost at the same time, we would have been in trouble.”
Kay’s collection, which dated back to an 1898 English Beeston three-wheeler, included other antiques such as a 1918 Harley-Davidson, a 1929 Indian Scout and a 1930 Scott Flying Squirrel.
Kay and his collection were featured in numerous publications over the years, including Classic Motorcycling magazine, which dubbed him “a motorcycle enthusiast extraordinaire.”
Kay, a onetime motocross and speedway racer, was known to ride one of his antique motorcycles to meetings with clients.
“They love it,” he said in a 1991 interview with Free 2 Wheel magazine. “If I drive a car to a meeting they are always disappointed.”
Or as he told The Times a decade earlier: “My collection appeals to the Walter Mitty in my clients.”
Kay was a member of the Checkered Flag 200, a support group whose members make substantial annual contributions to the Petersen museum.
“The first call I made was to Rusty,” said Meyer, founder of the Checkered Flag 200, who enlisted Kay to design the support group’s logo. Meyer said Kay defined car and motorcycle collecting.
“His collection was very personal to him, and he had a great sense of humor, as did his collection,” Meyer said.
“He picked cars that were just slightly out of the mainstream. They were rare cars, but they were cars with some design peculiarity or style that just made you look twice and then smile.
“Rusty would have colorful shirts on, the top down and a big smile, and drive these things. He was just very much a part of what makes the car hobby so great.”
When it came to cars, Kay once said, “I go for the oddballs.”
That included his late-1930s Chrysler Airflow, with its Art Deco look. Or his early 1950s Packard Caribbean, which resembled an upside-down bathtub. Or his 1932 Morgan, a three-wheeled car with a motorcycle engine, which he drove in the Palm Springs Grand Prix and the Monterey Historical Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
But motorcycles remained Kay’s biggest passion.
His interest began at the age of 15 when, while living with his family in Westwood, he rode a neighbor’s Solex, a French motor-powered bicycle.
He later added a restored Solex to his collection, which he began in the late 1960s when he borrowed $300 to buy a rusted, 1918 British James motorcycle from racer-stuntman Bud Ekins.
Kay and his wife made a handful of trips to Europe over the years to buy more old motorcycles, many of which Kay restored himself.
“They’re art -- art you can really get involved with by riding,” he told The Times in 1987. “I got into the old bikes because they’re simple, they’re classic.”
Born in New London, Conn., Kay grew up in Westwood and attended what is now Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood.
He attended the University of Oregon and, after receiving a degree from UCLA, graduated cum laude from the Art Center College of Design, which is now in Pasadena.
In addition to his wife of 33 years, Kay is survived by his brother, Robert.
Memorial donations may be made to the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, 300 W. Pueblo St., Santa Barbara, CA 93105.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at All Saints by the Sea, 83 Eucalyptus Lane, Santa Barbara.
