TOP 10 MILESTONES by HARLEY EARL

      Recently added are three more equally if not greater milestones, No. 11, 12 and 13. For example, No. 11 details how Harley Earl was the sole champion to stand up and battle for "Women's Rights" years before the movement gained so much nationwide traction during the 1960s; he also got the national press to prove it. This very accomplishment could actually be rated as one of Earl's Top 5 greatest milestones, but the following list is not in chronological order related to importance:

1.   Founder of the Automobile Design Profession in America ('Design' was the No. 1 reason for car sales of the 20th century) - This activity, based primarily on art, science and engineering first created Detroit's dependency on design and then went on to spread throughout the entire global automotive economy starting in the late 1950s. Most savvy auto execs, historians and journalists agree how this American industrial arts movement also cemented GM near a 50 percent market share for decades of time. By the mid-1950s, GM Styling had a design monopoly, but because certain government officials in Washington were aiming their "Trust Buster" legal cannons at this company to break it up, nobody inside the corporation talked. Harley Earl also established another first, introducing the landmark design scholarship programs allowing this new profession to propagate in academia (in 1934, Art Center College in Los Angeles received the very first scholarship from Mr. Earl’s recently founded GM Art & Color Section. And, by the 1960s, over 25 different colleges nationwide had become involved in this unique “GM Styling” partnership…not to mention, all the major auto makers after that following suit, too). In the future, this not only produced thousands of new jobs, but the trailblazing concept, of automotive design, mushroomed into becoming a giant champion of art education. By the mid-1950s, when Designer-Earl reached his zenith, this car design pioneer had become known inside the trade for creating a new order in the business, and, the look of the automobile had become the No. 1 driving force in car sales. Having held up to the test of time, the conviction “that appearance sells cars” is now even more respected as an ageless wisdom than it was fifty years ago. Although Harley Earl is often mistaken or simply labeled today as a "stylist," almost everything this scientific innovator made in Detroit was "engineering" based.    

2.   Inventor of the Concept Car;  a.k.a. the Dream Car - From a cultural context, this activity became a radical new way to merchandize all GM’s most important products—and proved to be revolutionary in rapidly increasing sales, too. Designer-Earl's very first dream car was the Buick "Y" Job in 1938 and it allowed him to exercise his full range of talents to create an integrated body shape with compound curves and body panels bent in three-dimensional form. The car featured electric windows, concealed headlights, a power-operated top, wraparound bumpers and no running boards. It was well ahead of its time. Like many of Mr. Earl’s modern ideas introduced to market GM’s image successfully, the "dream car" theme went on to be copied by all major car companies by the end of the fifties and became a worldwide industry standard for showing off new concept cars, getting public reaction, trying out new ideas of style and engineering and creating interest in automotive progress in general. This unparalleled auto innovation has lured hundreds of millions of people, young and old, over the last 40 odd years to not only visit modern automobile shows, but car dealership showrooms, too. Mr. Earl's essential element of design also called for a conscious evocation of fantasy: "We want to make what the public desires. Dream cars are 'automotive pioneers' and they show the public ideas that the average motorist has never thought of. They are 'thought starters' and 'dream stimulators' and they show what can be done." With his dream cars, Designer-Earl literally built tomorrow today. 

3.   Introduced the Annual Styling Model Change - in the annals of modern auto history its well known it was Mr. Earl who originally sold the idea to GM how they should be the first auto manufacturer to recognize the implications of visual appeal. What he started inside General Motors initiated a pattern of attention to consumer needs which was then manifested in every modern product GM was to design and build thereafter in the future. Today, the tradition of the "annual styling model" change helps shape products throughout American industry; ranging from can openers to earth-moving tractors. This very business activity, with its accent on continual improvement has stimulated product improvements and sales of everything from home appliances to outboard motors, and, therefore, has become a key factor in our national economy. Needless to say, it is the lifeblood of the American automobile industry. Planned, or, Dynamic Obsolescence (another innovative business first by Earl) is directly tied to the annual model change.*  "Design obsolescence" is originally where the term "Planned Obsolescence" came from. Here are Mr. Earl's exact words he wrote on the subject in 1956: 

      "In styling, however, where noticeable change must come annually, it amounts to dynamic obsolescence– the creation of a desire on the part of millions of car buyers each year to trade in last year's car on a new one is highly important to the automobile industry. The annual model change is directly responsible for this yearly trade-in situation. Since the design of the automobile is the first thing the buyer sees, the stylist is more continuously involved in the annual change. The importance of engineering changes, however, cannot be over estimated, but by their very nature they cannot be changed annually as much as can the appearance of the car.

      Thus, the design of the car can be a persuasive tool for inducing car buyers to get rid of the old and buy the new...."  

4.   Father of Modern Design in Mass Production - Yes, Earl was the world's first 'million' seller artist for he instituted major changes in how styling, design and art would be accepted in the business world. Starting in the late 1920s, Harley led the way to industry-wide recognition that appearance and function were of parallel importance. The paradigm busting shift this one auto innovator got GM to try, went on to radically change the determination of policy of how GM then went about building their products. * * It was Harley Earl who also set another important standard of this industry, being the very first "vice president of Design" of any corporation in the world. His knowledge of art, science, engineering and  volume production methods played no small part in General Motors' ascent to a position of industrial leadership. This auto pioneer also invented/organized the rules and principles behind the very first systems of the brand studio, color department and interior design studio all of which are standards in the worldwide auto industry today. Taken from Stephen Bayley's biography published by Knopf in 1983 titled, Harley Earl and the Dream Machine, "Viewed in terms of numbers and finance, Harley Earl was the most influential designer of the twentieth century." Why is it that none of Detroit's leading CEOs of the last forty odd years believes this is true? Because of all the invidious comparisons made between the masterful American designs Earl put on the roadways versus the millions of mediocre styled product designs Detroit's auto world leaders have been pumping out for decades of time now. 

5.  The Dean of America's Auto Design Protégés - The Car Design profession's most important, if not fully anticipated, legacy in America proved to be the “clone” of designer-imitators Harley Earl, originally spawned. Once General Motors legitimized Earl’s new math-based engineering profession, it was like a Cambrian explosion happened. Everyone from Ford and Chrysler right down to start up country’s, like Japan after WW II, wound up building their products the GM way (using HJE’s, more modern engineering technique – the very first stage of pre-engineering the operation of manufacturing the automobile). The car design field was a brand new business activity in the mid-century years, but still had entirely displaced engineering and manufacturing as the dominant driver in the GM approach to auto making and marketing directly following WW II. For example, during the '40s and '50s, GM's largest competitors began pirating raids hiring away some of Earl’s young and best protégés, so they could then duplicate his entire design process.

6.   The Motorama Show, introduced in 1953, became the precursor of the modern auto show. These days millions of people around the globe annually attend mega auto shows attesting how right Mr. Earl was in saying in 1955 that, "The Motorama is a new way of merchandizing." Many standards of theatricality and exhibit display originally used to draw in large audiences went on to be copied later on by all GM's major competitors. Remember, before these events, nobody had ever gathered together concept cars in one place before to lure giant audiences. Earl’s spectacular string of motoramic masterpieces toured major cities across America, providing the masses a free peek at GM's new engineering innovations and automotive artistry all blended in and around Earl's new-fashioned experimental dream cars. After an eight year run (1953-61), an estimated 10-million people attended these special events; nothing has ever been staged like it since.

7.    First to introduce the concept of clay modeling to Detroit, one of the most important steps in vehicle design still used today. Using modeling clay developed new forms, ranging from automobile components to sculpting full-size prototypes. By the mid-1930s, GM had fully adopted Harley Earl's radical new business paradigm of "pre-styling & pre-engineering" to master design all their cars. Without question, the world's largest auto maker for over 70 years now has been using this more-modern form of product design. Plus, every other major auto concern today remains faithfully compliant to using Mr. Earl's new production method or code to build their automobiles this way, too. For example, over ninety nine percent of all the cars and trucks that have been on America's roadways for over the last 50 years were originally shaped in the birth-form of fluid contours and one-off sculpted clay model prototypes...and then the actual vehicle would follow later on (the number of cars and trucks is staggering...approximately 500 million). If Harley Earl had not brought one of his chief innovations to Detroit; for example, the sculptor's technique of using clay models...it's highly likely that all cars and trucks today would be radically inferior. And, no doubt, the twentieth century production numbers for transportation products would have never been as sky high.

8.   Father of the Corvette - One of the great untold Twentieth Century stories is the genesis of the Corvette and Harley Earl’s role as the visionary designer / inventor who chose to incorporate Chevrolet’s greatly enlarged manufacturing program, together with GM’s unparalleled resources, to turn a powerful new sports car into reality. Fifty five years have now past, and the best part of the story on this bedrock American icon is just now starting to surface.

9.   Opens Harley Earl Corporation Outside GM in 1945 - Emphasizing a brilliant move in entrepreneurship, Designer-Earl establishes a remarkable foothold (starting his very own independent industrial design firm) over many other leaders in GM on account of Ford Motor Company making him a tremendous offer near the end of World War Two, "come over to Ford and design all our products." Part of the proposal included a natural sideline, he could also have his own industrial design firm outside Ford. This element of Harley Earl's timeline/storyline establishes the very importance of "design in industry." Many auto scholars agree, if Harley Earl had jumped ship from GM to Ford and brought hundreds of his loyal hybrid styling engineers with him (none of which had any contracts w/GM Styling), Ford would have quickly displaced GM in the all-important sales race following in the post war years resulted in: Ford Motor Company regaining the No. 1 position over General Motors.

10. Father of the Modern Car & Creator of America's "Small Car Trend" -  Billed this way by the media after his death in 1969, this auto innovator really was the modern master. Here's why Harley Earl was perceived this way: First to eliminate running boards, integrate the headlights, fenders, grill and trunk on American production cars (remember that before World War Two, Henry Ford's “old master” status and/or paradigm was based on function only, so this is why old Henry Ford always had such a difficult time endorsing change and modernity). Designer-Earl also went on to introduce the pillarless top, hidden spare tire, turn indicators, heated seats, tinted glass, electric windows and the power convertible top around the formidable age of progress years of the mid-twentieth century. He pioneered the two-tone paint job, quadruple headlights, flashy aluminum wheels, keyless entry and put the first telescopic power radio antenna on mass produced automobiles. Then there's the safety angle that GM leaders, starting in the 1960s, chose to keep secret that Earl instituted; like introducing "Oscar" the first safety crash-test dummy, not to mention his taking another giant step forward putting the first-ever onboard computer in a car (every passenger car and truck has one today).     

      Pure and simple, Mr. Earl was first to start the mega SMALL CAR trend in the American automotive business over fifty years ago; click link below to witness how one of the largest industrialized trends in history had its tender beginnings inside the mind of Harley Earl:

 Here are three more equally impressive Harley Earl milestones:

11. Harley Earl was a Giant "Advocate of Women's Rights in the Auto Industry" long before any other modern leader (actually, to this day, no top Detroit auto CEO or other leading auto-execs has ever risked getting onboard this movement)! Don't take our word for it, read the newsworthy story below, or examine more national newspaper stories featured at the color photo link further up on the left-hand column of clickable links titled, "Damsels of Design."

12. Invented the "Graphic Engineering" profession. It's another important business milestone GM and Detroit's leaders have kept hidden for decades of time. 

13. First to introduce a "Color Revolution" to Detroit's auto world. How and why does this very milestone affect everyone's lives today? Simple, because before Earl moved from Hollywood, Ca. to Detroit --- to make a difference --- over 95 percent of America's production automobiles were drab and dreary looking. Earl came into Detroit's black and white auto world and quickly colorized it. Notice, we present the facts at this website in quoting historical evidence written in newspaper articles like the one below, "the color revolution had its inception in the mind of Harley J. Earl:"

      * It's important to reiterate why Harley Earl’s behind-the-scenes historiography is often misunderstood in today's business world, society and popular culture. This has directly to do with archetypical GM administrators like Roger Smith who turned General Motors modern world upside down. The last thing the ex GM CEO Smith wanted to do during his watch (1981 to 1990) was buoy up GM’s true modern master in auto history and/or use any of Mr. Earl’s contemporary body of knowledge on how to make, market and sell cars in modern times using a mixture of "design" and "planned obsolescence."  Why would Smith wish to distort and/or erase this man's deeds and take GM down a whole new road? Because this way the media and American public wouldn’t be able to recognize the dramatic contrast between the way Smith ran GM vs. the more harmonic ways men like Alfred Sloan and Harley Earl used. It’s obvious now that Roger Smith ignored the following capitalist tool (Mr. Earl’s timeless quote below) for creating sophisticated product designs—meant to be woven and fashioned together towards building all GM’s modern products for consumers: 

“As in the case of the automobile, mechanical improvements, too, have contributed to improved appearance. In fact, it is rather an accepted principle that as a product is improved functionally, it tends to become better artistically.”

      * * GREAT IDEAS do not come from committees. For example, over the last 40-years GM has had an extremely hard time addressing change (the downward slide and/or the immense momentum that's behind it). 

Conclusion: Nobody has ever done a scholarly job of putting it all down together so others could then examine Harley Earl's deeds and accomplishments. Yes, it's unfortunate the history around his rein of leadership in Detroit was mucked up by such a volatile wake of leaders following afterwards. But, maybe a silver lining will arise? In any event, all this new information is a post humus victory for Harley Earl and the automobile design profession. Clearly this man's fact sheet, already supported in history, proves he not only "fist developed the American automobile design profession" but also "invented the No. 1 reason for car sales" in the modern era.  

It's truly too bad that today's executive force --- in 2007 --- working at GM stand behind continuing to erase corporate records and/or the very design history that supports Detroit being the auto design capital of the world! A perfect example of this is how foggy the perception is on the genesis behind any advanced profession or body of knowledge Earl detonated inside this corporation. GM and Ford execs along with Detroit's stuffy old guard who have often enough subsidized the very historians telling the history on Detroit's auto design legacy are continuing to control the flow of information on this sphere of knowledge. Doing so is just another clear indication of how Detroit's leaders today are still jealously guarding Harley Earl's greatest innovations and contributions made to our modern society and culture. 

Finally, Irvin W. Rybicki perhaps painted the best picture why so many people today don't know about Harley Earl. Mr. Rybicki was a 42-year GM veteran who worked under Earl and, later on, became the third vice president of GM Design (1977-1986). His statements were gathered in various taped interviews:  

"Harley Earl is responsible for more than half of GM's greatest 20th Century milestones. The fact this company had exclusivity of all his work and was able to capitalize off his artistic efforts and innovative engineering ideas first, is perhaps why this man's story is so controversial and a kept secret today in Detroit."