Who was Harley Earl?
Look at the automobiles you see every day. Have you ever wondered why they look the way they do? The answer to that is probably best answered by one name: Harley Earl. Harley Earl was the head of the Art and Colour Section (later the Style division) at General Motors from its inception in 1927 to 1959. During that period, his department was responsible for the development of nearly every significant element of automobile exterior design, from the uses of color to windshield shaping to fins and the use of chrome. Beyond that, the man developed many of the concepts of the modern automotive industry, from the use of trade shows to exhibit new product lines to the automotive press (resulting in essentially free advertising for auto makers) and the idea of concept cars, automobiles which are created not to actually reach production, but to instead demonstrate design ideas and concepts. In short, Harley Earl invented modern automobile design. Biography Harley Earl was born November 22, 1893
