Harley Earl

1953 Corvette.

On November 22, 1893, in Hollywood, California, one of the most important figures in automobile history came into this world. Harley Earl was truly an automobile legend. Earl's father, J.W. Earl, Began works with custom car body parts and eventually starting Earl Automobile Works in 1908. Harley Earl went to Stanford University but left to work with his father's company, which was now building parts for Hollywood Stars. A dealer for Cadillac later bought out Earl Automobile Works but kept Harley as the director of the company. Lawrence Fisher, a general manager for Cadillac, discovered Earl as he was evaluating Cadillac shops around the country. He was impressed with Harley Earl’s work, especially his method of using modeling clay to plan out his designs. Lawrence asked Earl to design the 1927 Cadillac LaSalle. His Success with the LaSalle lead Earl to jobs such as the 1939 Buick Y-job and the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette. Harley Earl is also known for the first auto designer to use “tailfins” in the design of his cars.

The Cadillac LaSalle

Earl's first project, the 1927 Cadillac LaSalle is probably the least known of his cars. It is your classic town car from the 20's and 30's with spoked wheels and a v8 engine.

The Buick Y-job, Earl's second car, was truly a work of art. It was one of the first vehicles to have concealed headlights, and it was very aerodynamic for its time. Although it never made it into production, the concept was well liked by many.

The 1938 Buick Y-Job

Earl's most famous creation of course was the Chevrolet Corvette. Now a high performance sports car, it was first released on July 14, 1953 as an economy car. The Corvette is known as the poor man's Lamborghini, however it smokes the Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Porches on the track.

So as you can tell, Harley Earl was an amazing artist and visionary for General Motors Corporation. His first cars may not have been huge successes, but he produced the greatest car in automobile history, and created huge success for GM and the country. Now you know my hero and why I chose him.