Harley J. Earl - A Biography

Harley J. Earl (1893-1969)

Ž   Harley Earl was the first artistic director of a large car company, working for General Motors (GM) from 1927-1959. This was due to the popularity of his first big design, the 1928 La Salle Phaeton.

Ž   Before Earl, car companies designed their cars with engineers, based on function and cost, and didn’t care much for styling. If a car company wanted to sell a luxury car, they would build a chassis, and send it to a custom body shop to make the coach on top.

Ž   Harley Earl’s father, J.W., owned such a custom shop, making unique, designer cars for movie stars in Hollywood. He taught his son, Harley, everything he knew. His job was basically, “to turn turkeys into eagles.”

Ž   Harley brought several innovations to car design:

1.     As the first head of the Art & Color Section, he designed all the coaches, so they could be completed in the factory, without sending chassis to custom shops.

2.     He opened an all-woman design team to create controversial new models and designs. When he retired, a lot of women designers lost their influence, and jobs.

3.     He used clay to build models for his designs.

4.     He designed the very first prototype car, the Buick Y-Job, for the sole purpose of watching and learning from viewers’ reactions.

Harley Earl driving the 1939 Buick Y Job

He would drive his prototypes to see how people reacted. “If you go by a school and the kids don't whistle… back to the drawing board.”

5.     He also developed the idea of dynamic obsolescence in car manufacture, by changing the style of a car model every year or two. This was the first time you could see if a car was new or old, and how old, just by the styling. The idea was, fashionable people would treat their cars like clothes, always wanting to show off the latest trend. It’s an idea that’s standard today.

6.     He also designed the first hardtop roof, wrap-around windshields, tail fins, and two-tone paint jobs.

7.     He also designed the first Chevy Corvette and the GM Firebird.

1953 Chevrolet Corvette

1953 GM Firebird 1

1959 GM Firebird 3

8.     Earl’s designs won popularity contests at every Detroit Auto Show for his entire career.

9.     When Earl left GM, it was the largest and most successful car maker in the world, earning 50% of the market, mostly due to his designs.

10.  Earl once said, "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."

11.  Earl died from a stroke at his home in Palm Beach Florida, age 75.

12.  In 1986, he was added into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

13.  His designs are still popular today. Many of his cars from the 1950’s sell for millions of dollars today at auction.

4.  Every year, NASCAR gives the Harley J. Earl Trophy to the winner of the season-opening Daytona 500 race. The trophy has his design for the first Firebird on top.

5.  According to the Detroit Free Press, he’s the third greatest artist who worked in Michigan, behind Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.