Although the Earl Automobile Works was bought out by Cadillac's largest West Coast distributor Don Lee in 1920, young Harley Earl was retained on to manage this budding new enterprise. By the mid-20s, the Lee/Earl operation was building hundreds of custom automobiles annually. 

Naturally, H.J. Earl understood how working for a large corporation would no longer allow him to put his name, or “HJE” on the product any longer (two dimensional rendering and end product car designed for Cecil B. DeMille shown directly above). Being creative, H.J. Earl came up with all sorts of original ways to leave his mark after founding an industry-first in Detroit’s auto world. After introducing the 1927 La Salle automobile, the companion car to the Cadillac, this critically acclaimed sales leading vehicle was thereafter heralded as the first professionally designed mass-produced automobile designed by a master artist. 

After creating La Salle, the motor city beckoned him to move there, to make a difference, customizing all General Motors car lines of the future. 

Family photos, below, show areas of his passion

Two examples below were from a 12-page print advertisement insert, cross promoting Buick with Harley Earl, originally featured in over 35-million magazines (TV & print ad campaign debuted in Sept., 2002); such as Vanity Fair, House & Garden, Road & Track, Fortune, etc. All these particular print ads photo credited the Earl Family Archive (notice photo of custom car by Harley from 1920 at very bottom).