[HARLEY EARL, INC. Corporate Identity]

Commemorating the Golden Age of Automotive Design in Detroit

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Frank J. Bunker, MarketWrite, at (313) 886-9074

Tail Fins Created by ‘The daVinci of Detroit’ Define Cars of the Woodward Dream Cruise

   ROYAL OAK, Mich., July 26, 2003 — The automobile was his canvas.  And the tail fin stands as one of the most recognized and beautiful signatures of Harley J. Earl, known as the originator of the modern American art form of automobile styling.

   Symbolizing America’s technological ingenuity and industrial strength, the automotive tail fin helped define American cars of Detroit’s Golden Era.  The first automobile to sport them was the 1949 Cadillac, designed under the direction of Harley Earl, the former General Motors chief of design remembered by colleagues today as “The da Vinci of Detroit.”

   Tons of tail fins soon will grace metropolitan Detroit’s roadways during the 2003 Woodward Dream Cruise, a gathering of automobile enthusiasts and the objects of their affection — classic cars.  Held Saturday, Aug. 16, the Dream Cruise features the cars that define an era.  Many of the crowd favorites will be Harley Earl designs.

   “The tail fin was more than a styling innovation,” said Richard Earl, automotive historian and grandson of Harley Earl.  “The tail fin came to represent the can-do spirit of the times and helped streamline the rapid pace of progress.  And in the United States, everything good was possible.”

   Harley Earl reported his inspiration for the automotive tail fin came from the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the revolutionary twin-engined, twin-tailed American fighter plane.  Earl was first to apply tail fins to the automobile, the 1936 customized Cadillac of movie cowboy Buck Jones.

   Earl and the men and women of the GM styling and design department liked the futuristic look of the design and decided to employ it in the top-of-the-line 1942 Cadillac.  The war sidetracked their plans when GM’s manufacturing facilities were converted from consumer to war production.

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Tail Fins Created by da Vinci of Detroit                                          Page 2

   After helping build the machines needed for victory over the axis powers, Detroit was ready to build cars for the American public.  After the legendary 1948 Cadillac hit the road, tail fins became a hit with the public and recognized as an enduring status symbol of GM’s leading marque.  Soon tail fins spread to GM’s other lines and Detroit’s other auto manufacturers.

  Understanding the importance of styling and design to the public and, hence, attracting new buyers, General Motors recruited Harley Earl to start its “Style & Color Studio” in 1928.  Harley Earl said engineering excellence and automotive aesthetics go hand in hand:

“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.”

  In order to preserve Harley Earl’s contributions to automotive styling and design excellence for the next generation, Richard Earl founded Harley Earl, Inc., and created the quintessential working biography and Internet resource on the modern art of industry.  Essentially, there is no other online site like it: www.carofthecentury.com.

   In addition to documenting the history of the tail fin, the site details the many contributions of Harley Earl, who from 1927 through 1958 served as the first vice president for design and style of General Motors.  In that time, he was responsible for the designs of more than 50 million automobiles, including many of history’s classic designs, including the 1949 Cadillac.  The success of his automotive designs made Harley Earl history’s first million-selling contemporary artist.

  Harley Earl’s influence still is felt in the Motor City.  From lengthening and lowering the body, to widening the wheelbase, Harley Earl’s innovations include full-size clay-modeling, the concept car, the development of integrated head and tail lights, eliminating running boards, the first-ever onboard computer in a car, and the use of “Oscar,” the first dummy used to crash-test automobiles.

  Tail fins also marked the Le Sabre, a multi-million-dollar automotive research project hailed in 1952 as “The Car of the Future.”  Many elements of the Le Sabre were incorporated in the production version of Harley Earl’s 1950 Chevrolet Corvette, including the wraparound windshield and subtle tail fins.

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For more information, rare historical photographs from the Earl Family archives (such as the 1936 Buck Jones Cadillac and Harley Earl’s signed art work) or to interview Richard Earl, journalists are asked to contact Melissa Mengden Bunker of MarketWrite at (313) 886-9074 or marketwrite@comcast.net.

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