Harley J. Earl, founder of GM’s “Art & Colour” Section in 1927—a first in the auto world. By the 1950s, this brand new professional activity went on to entirely displace engineering and manufacturing as the dominant driver in the GM approach to auto making and marketing. Being a more scientific movement of “pre-engineering the car ahead of time,” it established a whole new math-based production method. Later on, this specialized business activity would become well known as Automobile Styling or Design. Today, every major automaker uses HJE’s essential rules and principals behind this profession to launch and create the necessary first-stage of mass-producing and manufacturing vehicles.

Over the thirty-two years (1926- 58) HJE carefully controlled this profession in Detroit, thousands of talented artists, designers and engineers trained and worked under him. Many stayed on, while others came in and then decided to leave—for whatever reasons. Invariably, these transient types took part of HJE’s seed-vision, or fractions of his knowledge, along to their next job. It traveled well.

Leading members surround Detroit's chief engineering designer Harley Earl.

Can you blame Harley Earl for never wanting to be stereotyped for only being an "artist" or an "engineer," when he knew he was so much more? Maybe standard auto execs today, especially in Detroit, should take a cue from this man's risk taking methodology that allowed him to sweep over legions of pigeonholed players who typically flock to safe executive positions inside large American corporations?