As he grew up, Earl was rightly placed as the son of a wagon builder in Los Angeles, who had gravitated to building coachbuilt cars. By this time, the shop was building custom bodies for Hollywood movie stars, including Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Tom Mix. – Hemmings Daily Click here. The other Detroit automakers had to hustle to compete with GM. The 1956 show was the last of its kind though dream cars continued to be made, including the ultimate for many– the Firebird III, a bubble topped car powered by a gas turbine engine. See more ideas about concept cars, cool cars, classic cars. The Corvette was his idea pure and simple. Tantalizingly, Temple occasionally has a picture of a show car that anticipated a later auto industry development by decades such as the L’Universelle van this at least a couple decades before Lee Iacocca pushed the minivan through to production at Chrysler. He felt America needed its own sports car and he convinced GM to develop its own, inexpensive two-seater. Influenced by the English and European sports cars being raced on road racing circuits after World War II, Earl decided that General Motors needed to make a sports car. Design work on "Project Opel" began as a secret project. [7] These ideas are largely taken for granted today, but were unusual at the time. Such books have to be written now while there are still retirees who can tell the good stories to biographers. “GM Stylist Harley Earl Dies.” Detroit Free Press, 11 April 1969, p. 3. “Harley Earl, Of Car Factor in Los Angeles Home Again.” “Los Angeles Sunday Times, 15 May 1927, p. 9. "Overall, Earl's life and work are fascinating, and definitely worth reading about. This car was classified as "damaged" in the 2018 wildfire in... Hey Alan, Just bougt your old RS conv. Harley Jefferson Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was an American automotive designer and business executive. General Motors cars never intended for production, but rather to highlight the extremes of technology and design that the company was able to achieve. In sum, this is a satisfying story of how, because of one man, Detroit car styling became important in America. I have been into cars since I was old enough to remember. He was the initial designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president, the first top executive ever appointed in design of a major corporation in American history. (The News Wheel 2016-06-10)"A satisfying story!" He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of modern transportation design. Bibliography. David Temple tells this story right, starting right out from the beginning when Earl was a California kid playing in the mud. Bayley, Stephen. (J.W.) Few men are lucky enough to be able to share their passion for cars with the woman they love. Harley Earl was born in Hollywood, California. Still Mitchell was an outsize personality, an excellent understudy for Harley Earl…, THE REVIEWER: Wallace Wyss is the author of the Incredible Barn Finds series, available from Enthusiast Books Hudson WI (715)381 8755, Your email address will not be published. Fortunately, my wife, Katriana, is also a gear head and many of our activities revolve around the cars. Earl’s idea would come into play for the 1948 Cadillac, the first all-new postwar design for GM’s flagship luxury brand. Harley Earl was used in a brief advertising campaign for Buick, particularly during its reconstruction period between 2001 and 2002. His final project was overseeing the design of 1960–62 models. The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild contest was promoted by GM Design genius Harley Earl as a way to seek out young talented car designers. In 1939, the Styling Division, under Earl's instruction, styled and built the Buick Y-Job, the motor industry's first concept car. An interesting sidelight in this book  is how Earl and other GM big wigs would appropriate dream cars as their personal cars or have their personal cars modified for themselves or families (like the SR2 Corvette built for Earl’s son, to entice him out of a Ferrari). [1][2], Earl began studies at Stanford University, but left prematurely to work with, and learn from, his father at Earl Automotive Works. Harley Earl, generally considered the father of American automotive design, was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1893. This was just when Hollywood started and Earl left college to join his father, building one off cars for movie stars. Feb 15, 2020 - Harley Earl Designs. This is a 1963 Corvette Convertible GM Styling car that was made specifically for Mr. Earl under the direction of Bill Mitchell. A fedora was often used as an Earl icon in these advertisements[6] despite photos of Earl wearing a hat being quite uncommon. If there was one man who set the pattern for American car design, it was Harley Earl. At 6-foot, 3-inches tall, Harley Earl was an imposing figure, but his true stature lies in his towering talent for automotive design and styling. [4][5], In 1937, the Art and Color Section was renamed the Styling Section. Many luxury-car manufacturers, including GM, did not make bodies at all, opting instead to ship chassis assemblies to a coachbuilder of the buyer's choice. I grew up and lived in Iowa for a good portion of my life before moving to Southern California. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Harley Earl was born in Hollywood, California on November 22, 1893. Design The Steve Jobs of Car Design: How Harley Earl Transformed the Car Business Harley Earl put form on equal footing with function, and in … Harley Earl : biography November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969 [[Buick Y-Job, the first concept car]]Harley J. Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was the initial designated head of Design at General Motors, later becoming Vice President, the first top executive ever appointed in Design of a major corporation in American history. In 1942, during World War II, Earl established a camouflage research and training division at General Motors, one consequence of which was a 22-page document called Camouflage Manual for General Motors Camouflage. The book has many pictures of drawings of concept cars, that are revealing; you can see how the show car evolved, what it could have been. See more ideas about cars trucks, classic cars, vintage cars. Harley Earl authorized the Frank Hershey design for the 1948 Cadillac, which incorporated the first automotive tailfin. Fisher, whose automotive career began with coachbuilder Fisher Body, was impressed with Earl's designs and methods, including the use of modeling clay to develop the forms of his designs. He was influenced after World War II watching Jaguars and MG’s run road-racing courses like Watkins Glen. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as automotive design techniques. Eventually, senior Earl took building horse carriages one step further, and began designing custom bodies, parts, and accessories for automobiles. [4] Volume manufacturers built bodies designed by engineers, guided only by functionality and cost. [14], Harley Earl suffered a stroke and died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 10, 1969. Mr. Earl used this car primarily at his Palm Beach home and also used it when he was Grand Marshall at the 1964 Daytona 500. We have a small collection that includes at least one car from each of the Big Three. Harleys Earl’s story qualifies as a bona fide American family saga. His distinctive designs defined the 1950s finned cars and set American automotive design on the path it has followed into the modern era. And, as the more expensive cars of that time were usually sold as chassis, drive-train, fenders, radiator, and cowling to be given a body by a specialized coachbuilding firm, it was the first car of that sort that was designed body and all by a profe… At 6-foot, 3-inches tall, Harley Earl was an imposing figure, but his true stature lies in his towering talent for automotive design and styling. Temple also gives credit to other designers, and to engineers like Charlie Cheyne and Ed Cole. "Harley Earlites" This historical article is a real watershed for contemporary readers, exposing some long forgotten winning expressions from the birth of the modern auto world; such as, Mr. Earl, the corporation's key "man of the future." Earl's first assignment was creating a new car for one of Sloan's tiers, a luxury car priced below Cadillac. Detroit Free Press staff. The styling of the 1948 Cadillac would prove far more predictive of 1950s trends and secured GM's place at the cutting edge of automotive design. Prior to the establishment of the Art and Color Section, American automobile manufacturers did not assign any great importance to the appearance of automobile bodies. The result was the La Salle Series 303 of 1927, the very first American automobile of any kind whose entire outward appearance was owed to a designer rather than a mechanical or production engineer. Katrina prefers all original cars while I like to modify them so we have a few of each. Produced under Shop Order 10323, the Harley Earl Corvette, a 1963 convertible, was gifted to Earl by GM Design, who delivered it to the driveway of his home in Palm Beach, Florida. It includes a Best of Show winner, a survivor, a driver with lots of patina and several others. (Check out our other web site at www.TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com site) As long as it has four wheels and an engine I get excited. For more information on GM’s exciting images, contact the GM Photo Store at gmphotostore.com. The Buick Y-job starts out the coverage of the dream cars and even today you have to admit it looks somewhat modern. He hustled back to the studio and GM started doing tailfins too. "[4] The extremely low and long American cars of the 1960s and 1970s show the extent to which Earl influenced an entire industry and culture. [11] Inspiration for the fins came from the Lockheed P-38 Lightning,[1][4][12] but it extended beyond the war, during the age when space rockets captured the popular imagination in the 1950s and 1960s. Your email address will not be published. Book Description. At the same time, Earl was careful to not depart too radically from the previous year's styling to maintain a semblance of continuity. "Michigan's 100 Greatest Artists & Entertainers of the 20th Century", "The World's First Concept Car: 1938 Buick Y-Job", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harley_Earl&oldid=1000142475, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Gartman, David (1994), “Harley Earl and the Art and Color Section: The Birth of Styling at General Motors,” Design Issues vol. The first car Earl designed was the 1927 La Salle, a smaller companion car to the Cadillac. Harley Jefferson Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was an American automotive designer and business executive. [9] A decade before, two former World War I camouflage artists, Harold Ledyard Towle (a U.S. Army camoufleur) and McClelland Barclay (who created the Fisher Body ads, and contributed to U.S. Navy camouflage during both World Wars) had worked as designers at General Motors. With the advent of the automobile he founded Earl Automobile Works in 1908 and began making customized parts and accessories for cars. He is remembered as the first styling chief in the United States automobile industry, the originator of clay modeling of automotive designs, the wraparound windshield, the hardtop sedan, factory two-tone paint, and tailfins. The success of the LaSalle convinced General Motors president Alfred P. Sloan to create the Art and Color Section of General Motors, and to name Earl as its first director.[2][4]. Earl also avoided extreme or radical styling choices that would become dated quickly and alienate conservative-minded customers. Henry, Bill. He was 75 years old.[1]. He first offered the project to Chevrolet general manager Ed Cole. Harley Earl behind the wheel of the 1951 Buick LeSabre show car (GM Archives) During the 1950s, one of the American automotive companies that led the way in automotive styling was General Motors. “Harley Earl and the Dream Machine.” 1983. Harley J. Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was first Vice President of Design at General Motors. You can see more about that part of our lives at http://www.LegendaryFarms.com. As a titan of American auto design, the cars he helped create are still celebrated today. That was when Americans weren’t exposed to many European cars, and hadn’t seen Japanese cars. Legendary car designer Harley J. Earl led a charmed life. Harley Earl, the larger than life, first head of styling for a major automobile manufacturer gave the world the joy of excess in color, chrome and steel. As Temple tells it,  toward the end, it was Chuck Jordan, a later VP in charge of styling, who led GM into doing tailfins after peeking through a fence at Chrysler and seeing their tailfinned cars. [4][6] Sloan eventually promoted Earl to vice president, making him, to Sloan's knowledge, the first styling person to be a VP at a large corporation. Young men from 11 to 20 years old were challenged to build 1/12 scale car models of their own design. After being shown to the public, the Y-job became Earl's daily driver. You need to set the Username and the UserID. This decision would prove a wise one as bathtub styling, a concept rooted in late 1930s-early 1940s design trends, quickly became dated. In a way the book chronicles a time of innocence when the American public  could be seduced by chrome , two tone paint schemes and tailfins…. Earl used the car as a personal driver for two years and drove it as the parade car at … 1969 Ford Talladega Benny Parsons Tribute Going to Mecum Auctions, 1970 Chevelle SS Convertible Project Car Assessment, Holman Moody 1964 Galaxie; Part 4 Conclusion, Alan Jackson’s Private Car Collection, Take a Tour, 1987 Dale Earnhardt Wrangler Aero Coupe Street Car. The style caught on throughout Detroit and eventually led to competition between Harley Earl and his counterpart at Chrysler, Virgil Exner, over the size and complexity of tailfins, culminating with those on the 1959 Cadillac models. Harley Earl's special Corvette sold at Mecum auctions Spring Classic Auction for $980,500 (including buyers premium) in May 2010. Temple also discusses Harley Earl’s personal cars, such as the F-88 prototype he had shipped to Florida to his vacation home (even after he retired he was getting dream cars shipped to him for personal use) Interesting to me is the way GM dream cars were loaned to VIPs such as Gen. Eisenhower driving the LeSabre in Europe and Mamie Van Doren, a shapely show biz lady, being able to buy a Cadillac LeMans prototype (by the way that was one car left out to the book –the two Seater LeMans– of which four were made-. One of his concept car designs, the turbine-powered Firebird I, is reproduced in miniature on the Harley J. Earl Trophy, which goes to the winner of the season-opening Daytona 500 NASCAR race. The Cars of Harley Earl is a great purchase for classic car enthusiasts or a gift for those who enjoy automobile history." Ivory Roadster Especially For Bay City Show.” [3][4], Fisher commissioned Earl to design the 1927 LaSalle for Cadillac's companion marque. After the early 1930s, Earl seldom drew sketches or did design work himself, usually functioning as an overlord who supervised GM stylists, although he would retain ultimate authority over the styling department until his retirement.[4]. Earl's Buick Y-Job was the first concept car. Temple analyzes the good points and bad points of the traveling road  show known as Motoramas but concludes they had to be phased out because designing the special cars for Motorama took time away from production cars. Automotive Pioneers Harley Earl by Jim Donnelly, Hemmings Classic Car Dec 2013. He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of modern transportation design. As a titan of American auto design, the cars he helped create
are still celebrated today. This car is known throughout the Corvette world as the Harley Earl Car. Cars of Futures Past – GM Firebird Concepts. As head of the newly formed Art and Color Section in 1927, he was initially referred to as one of the "pretty picture boys", and his design studio as being the "Beauty Parlor". (Legendary Collector Cars 2016-06-01)Gold Medal Winner & Best-Of Books Winner (2016 IAMC Award Winner 2017-08-18) Earl thrived there, and this book is about all his “dream cars” and how he really transformed the image of GM’s various divisions with his dream cars and his traveling Motorama shows to showcase the cars. Harley Earl was the only car designer name they knew. It was as if GM discovered gold but didn’t realize it! Click here. He said in 1954, "My primary purpose for twenty-eight years has been to lengthen and lower the American automobile, at times in reality and always at least in appearance. The executives at General Motors at the time, including engineers, division heads, and sales executives, viewed Earl's conceptual ideas as flamboyant and unfounded. Among Earl's apprentices was English designer David Jones, who worked at its British division at Vauxhall Motors and served in the camouflage section of the Royal Engineers during World War II.[10]. Read more here. He started "Project Opel", which eventually became the Chevrolet Corvette, and he authorized the introduction of the tailfin to automotive styling. Harley Earl takes the wheel in his Buick Y-Job concept car, created in 1938. Temple spends a little more time on the LaSalle cars, a brand that was supposed to be a second tier alternative to Cadillac than I would have liked, because those don’t fit the “dream car” image you buy the book for, but he quickly makes up for that in the rest of the book with plenty on the dream cars. Fisher met Earl at Lee's dealership and observed him at work. After 20+ years we now live outside Nashville Tennessee. The flowing line sweeping from the front fenders to the rear gave the car a muscular look. (In the original drawings, the rear fenders tapered down to echo the curve of the trunk lid, following pre-war fashions.) The car is so modern that it would not look out of place in the next Star Wars movie! A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as automotive designtechnique… 2, pages 3–26, This page was last edited on 13 January 2021, at 20:05. [1] His father, J. W. Earl, began work as a coachbuilder in 1889. [1][2], Earl Automotive Works was bought by Cadillac dealer Don Lee, who kept Harley Earl as director of its custom body shop. I don't have a brand loyalty although I do prefer American Muscle especially the 1969/1970 NASCAR Aero Cars. The Earl automotive story didn’t begin with Harley, but rather with his father, Jacob W. In conclusion, Harley Earl and the talented General Motors designers developed great design ideas that will always be a part of our automotive history. A Stanford dropout, Earl was famously discovered by a Cadillac executive while working with his … 10, no. but since their two terms at GM coincided,  it might repeat many of the same show cars in this book. His car quite resembled the Hispano-Suizathat various Hollywood celebrities and American nouveaux riches were buying at the time, a fashion that Cadillac executives resented. Harley Earl was the only car designer name they knew. Many of the new 1948-49 cars such as Hudson, Nash, and Lincoln adopted fastback or "bathtub" styling. [citation needed], In a December 1999 special section in the Detroit Free Press, Earl was ranked the third most significant Michigan artist of the 20th century, behind Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. Harley Earl is the father of the Corvette. The book is priced at $39.95 (no doubt lower on Amazon.com) and I think considering the many color pictures, and excellent paper,  it is worth it. There’s a  human side to the book as well,  a glimpse at the  personality clashes behind the scenes. Camaro. Oct 20, 2012 - Explore inthepocket's board "Harley Earl", followed by 182 people on Pinterest. The designer was Harley Earl, a man who would change the way automobiles were designed forever. I was wonderi... John, thank you for your comment. He was succeeded as vice-president with responsibility for the Design and Styling Department by Bill Mitchell, under whose leadership GM design became less ornamental. Although Earl considered this for Cadillac, he ultimately decided against it and went for a more sweeping aircraft-inspired look. Among its now-standard features: a power convertible roof, power doors and windows, and retractable headlights. Earl retired in 1958 upon reaching the then-mandatory retirement age of 65. Cole accepted the project without hesitation, and the car was offered to the public in 1953 as the Chevrolet Corvette.[13]. THE REVIEWER: Wallace Wyss is the author of the Incredible Barn Finds series, available from Enthusiast Books Hudson WI. [3], Lawrence P. Fisher, general manager of the Cadillac division, was visiting Cadillac dealers and distributors around the country, including Lee. Actor John Diehl, portraying Earl (or his ghost) was used to symbolize the importance of design in Buick's cars, or as the advertisements put it, the "Spirit of American Style". Bill Mitchell, the man who was handpicked by Earl as his second in command and eventually succeeded him, is given some attention in this book, and I think if there’s a later edition, I’d even like to read more about how much Mitchell aped Earl’s style, in clothing, his own personally-owned modified cars, etc. “Alumni of Auto Row.” Los Angeles Times, 30 March 1930, p. 5. Over his 50-year career, he created as well as collaborated on the most innovative, bold, technologically advanced cars made by General Motors. A famous quote from a GM official back then was: “What’s good for General Motors is good for the world” and that was the world Americans knew back then. The senior Earl eventually changed his practice from horse-drawn vehicles to custom bodies and customized parts and accessories for automobiles, founding Earl Automobile Works in 1908. In the late 1920s, Earl's design talent caught the eye of General Motors Chairman Alfred Sloan, who offered him a position directing the styling of all GM car lines. Harley Earl and Sloan implemented "Dynamic Obsolescence" (essentially synonymous with planned obsolescence) and the "Annual Model Change", tying model identity to a specific year, to further position design as a driver for the company's product success.
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