Harley Jarvis Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was an American automotive designer and business executive. 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. He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of transportation design. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as automotive design techniques. He subsequently introduced the " concept car " as both a tool for the design process and a clever marketing device.
29-621: Earl's Buick Y-Job was the first concept car. He started "Project Opel", which eventually became the Chevrolet Corvette , and he authorized the introduction of the tailfin to automotive styling. During World War II , he was an active contributor to the Allies' research and development program in advancing the effectiveness of camouflage . Harley Jarvis Earl was born in Hollywood, California . His father, J.W. Earl, began work as
58-444: A 12-volt electrical system (all American cars of 1951 were 6-volt), heated seats, electric headlights concealed behind the center oval "jet intake", front bumper Dagmars (made famous on 1951-8 Cadillacs), a water sensor to activate the power top, and electric lifting jacks integral to the chassis to aid tire changes. (This idea would be copied decades later by Formula One race teams.) The rear-mounted automatic transmission
87-622: A Buick Super chassis, indicated by the word "Super" located above the rear license plate. The car was driven for a number of years by Harley Earl, until he replaced it with a 1951 model car. Sometime after that, the car was restored at the Henry Ford Museum , until 1993 when it was returned to the GM Design Center. The "Y" in the name has two explanations: In 2001, Buick recreated the Y-Job with modern advancements called
116-528: 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 . 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. Among Earl's apprentices
145-500: A coachbuilder in 1889. 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. Earl began studies at Stanford University , but left prematurely to work with, and learn from, his father at Earl Automotive Works. By this time, the shop was building custom bodies for Hollywood movie stars, including Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Tom Mix . Earl Automotive Works
174-432: A new production model in 1959. The Le Sabre was the brainchild of General Motors Art Department head Harley Earl . The design was Earl's attempt to incorporate the look of modern jet fighter aircraft into automotive design. As jets replaced prop-driven aircraft in the late 1940s, they symbolized the very latest in design and engineering, and Earl had hoped to carry this concept into automobile design. The project
203-582: A common displacement of 215 cu in (3.5 L), this concept engine is not the same as the production "Oversquare" aluminum Buick 215 introduced in the GM Y-body compact cars in 1961. They have virtually no interchangeability in parts or design. In 1999 the Franklin Mint introduced a 1:24 scale die-cast reproduction on the 1951 Le Sabre. It became one of their best-selling automobile miniatures . A smaller scale Le Sabre also exists as
232-490: A more sweeping aircraft-inspired look. This decision would prove a wise one as bathtub styling, a concept rooted in late 1930s-early 1940s design trends, quickly became dated. 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. Inspiration for the fins came from the Lockheed P-38 Lightning , but it extended beyond
261-485: A semblance of continuity. This practice also ensured that used GM cars had the highest resale values of any American automotive make. Earl also avoided extreme or radical styling choices that would become dated quickly and alienate conservative-minded customers. These ideas are largely taken for granted today, but were unusual at the time. In 1939, the Styling Division, under Earl's instruction, styled and built
290-407: A sports car. Design work on "Project Opel" began as a secret project. He first offered the project to Chevrolet general manager Ed Cole . Cole accepted the project without hesitation, and the car was offered to the public in 1953 as the Chevrolet Corvette . Earl retired in 1958 upon reaching the then-mandatory retirement age of 65. His final project was overseeing the design of 1960–62 models. He
319-568: Is a 1951 concept car . Possibly the most important show car of the 1950s, it introduced aircraft-inspired design elements such as the wrap-around windshield and tail fins, which became common on automotive designs during the second half of the decade. The Le Sabre is owned by the GM Heritage Center, and still occasionally appears at car shows. This was GM's first use of the Le Sabre name, which would be later adopted by Buick for
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#1732794305854348-545: The Buick Blackhawk drawing extensively from the Y-Job. According to the GM Heritage Center, specifications for the 1938 model were: Engine: 320 c.i. Inline Eight Horsepower: 141 @ 3600rpm Transmission: 3 speed manual Steering: Bendix power steering unit Measurements: 208in in length and 74in in width Steering: Bendix power steering Other: Electronically controlled windows and convertible top General Motors Le Sabre The General Motors Le Sabre
377-559: The Buick Y-Job , the motor industry's first concept car . While many one-off custom automobiles had been made before, the Y-job was the first car built by a mass manufacturer for the sole purpose of determining the public's reaction to new design ideas. After being shown to the public, the Y-job became Earl's daily driver. It was succeeded by the 1951 General Motors Le Sabre concept car. In 1942, during World War II , Earl established
406-472: The "Art and Colour Section" was renamed the Styling Section. Sloan eventually promoted Earl to vice president, making him, to the best of Sloan's knowledge, the first styling person to be a VP at a large corporation. 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
435-430: The "Art and Colour Section", American automobile manufacturers did not assign any great importance to the appearance of automobile bodies. Volume manufacturers built bodies designed by engineers, guided only by functionality and cost. 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. The executives at General Motors at
464-664: The 1960s and 1970s show the extent to which Earl influenced an entire industry and culture. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1986. 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. Harley Earl was used in a brief advertising campaign for Buick , particularly during its reconstruction period between 2001 and 2002. Actor John Diehl , portraying Earl (or his ghost)
493-441: The period did), and was GM's first use of a rear-mounted transmission . As to the fins, Harley Earl wrote, “People ask, ‘isn’t your exaggerated design just for effect?’ The answer is definitely no. Typically, the twin fins on Le Sabre serve the functional purpose of carrying aircraft-type 20-gallon rubberized fuel cells.” In addition to its jet-inspired design, the 1951 Le Sabre featured numerous other advanced features, including
522-418: The styling department until his retirement in 1958. 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. At the same time, Earl was careful to not depart too radically from the previous year's styling to maintain
551-430: The time, including engineers, division heads, and sales executives, viewed Earl's conceptual ideas as flamboyant and unfounded. Earl struggled to legitimize his design approach against the tradition- and production-oriented executives. As head of the newly formed "Art and Colour Section" in 1927, he was initially referred to as one of the "pretty picture boys", and his design studio as being the "Beauty Parlor". In 1937,
580-553: The war, during the age when space rockets captured the popular imagination in the 1950s and 1960s. 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. 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
609-583: Was 75 years old. 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 . 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 extremely low and long American cars of
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#1732794305854638-622: 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. Harley Earl authorized the Frank Hershey design for the 1948 Cadillac, which incorporated the first automotive tailfin. Many of the new 1948-49 cars such as Hudson, Nash, and Lincoln adopted fastback or ponton "bathtub" styling. Although Earl considered this for Cadillac, he ultimately decided against it and went for
667-402: Was a follow-up to Earl's famous 1938 Buick Y-Job . Like all his projects, it was built to be roadworthy, and became Earl's personal automobile for two years after finishing its tour of the auto show circuit. With a body made of aluminium , magnesium , and fiberglass , it was powered by a supercharged aluminum V8 able to run on gasoline (petrol) or methanol (like Indy roadsters of
696-488: Was bought by Cadillac dealer Don Lee , who kept Harley Earl as director of its custom body shop. Lawrence P. Fisher, general manager of the Cadillac division who was one of the brothers who started Fisher Body , was visiting Cadillac dealers and distributors around the country, including Lee. Fisher met Earl at Lee's dealership and observed him at work. Fisher, whose automotive career began with coachbuilder Fisher Body ,
725-474: Was impressed with Earl's designs and methods, including the use of modeling clay to develop the forms of his designs. Fisher commissioned Earl to design the 1927 LaSalle for Cadillac's companion marque. The success of the LaSalle convinced General Motors president Alfred P. Sloan to create the “Art and Colour Section” of General Motors, and to name Earl as its first director. Prior to the establishment of
754-463: Was originally a Buick Dynaflow , but this was later changed to a GM Hydramatic . This early-development aluminum V8 was unique to the Le Sabre and the Buick XP300 concept cars. The concept 215ci V8 used a hemispherical combustion chamber design, similar to early Chrysler V8s of the 1950s era. It was a "Square" engine, with matching 3.3" bore and stroke dimensions. Although they shared
783-549: Was succeeded as vice-president with responsibility for the Design and Styling Department by Bill Mitchell , under whose leadership GM design became less ornamental. Before Earl retired, General Motors became the largest corporation in the world, and design was acknowledged as the leading sales factor within the automotive industry. Harley Earl suffered a stroke and died in West Palm Beach, Florida , on April 10, 1969. He
812-450: Was the auto industry's first concept car (a model intended to show new technology or designs but not be mass-produced for sale to consumers). Designed by Harley J. Earl , the car had power-operated hidden headlamps , a "gunsight" hood ornament , electric windows, wraparound bumpers , flush door handles, and prefigured styling cues used by Buick until the 1950s and the vertical waterfall grille design still used by Buick today. It used
841-581: Was used to symbolize the importance of design in Buick's cars, or as the advertisements put it, the "Spirit of American Style". A fedora was often used as an Earl icon in these advertisements. 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 . Buick Y-Job The Buick Y-Job , produced by Buick in 1938,
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