Harley Earl
by Patrick J. Kiger
The Detroit News once characterized Harley Earl as "the father of the dream car." As General Motors’ design chief from 1927 to 1958, "Misterl," as his employees called him, became perhaps the most influential automotive stylist ever, a man whose team of designers created the streamlined, aerodynamic modernism of the 1948 Cadillac, the 1953 Corvette and other classic American vehicles. He introduced, among other things, the tail fin and panoramic curved windshield. Detroit’s best-known designer also was a savvy businessman with a fine-tuned intuition for consumers’ wants and needs, and during his career General Motors sold some 35 million cars based on designs he had supervised. But Earl, who came up with the idea of building concept cars (experimental vehicles that showcased stylistic and technological innovations), also qualified as a futuristic visionary. Some of Earl’s signature vehicles — most notably, the 1958 Firebird III concept car — look like something out of science fiction, and include gadgetry that, a half-century later, still seems far-out. Here are a few of his masterpieces.
