Before Harley Earl, automotive styling was an afterthought. Engineers designed cars — and it showed. Styling was something you wrapped around the innards to keep them out of the rain.

The Damsels of Design were reaching their pinnacle of influence in the spring of 1958 when Harley Earl came up with what was unofficially called the Feminine Auto Show.

Harley J. Earl joined GM in 1928 and became head of the General Motors Design team, retiring in 1958. His designs in the ’50s at the Motorama tours are what brought the Corvette to the attention ...

Earl’s designs became best-sellers, and GM went on to destroy its competition and dominate U.S. automotive sales until the 1960s — a feat for which Earl was happy to take credit.

Along the way, Harley invented a brand-new system design. When he was sixteen, a nearby canyon flooded and he and his brothers used the resulting clay to mold car designs; even today, with CAD and ...

Harley Earl was the first automotive designer to hire women. But it wasn’t necessarily equality Earl sought back in 1950. If that were the case, General Motors probably wouldn’t have called ...

Harley Earl, the General Motors VP/Director of Styling and Design who unveiled the very first concept vehicle, ... but also the entire American auto industry. In 1959, ...

If you stepped into any U.S. car in the first half of the 20th century, it’s likely the late Harley Earl directly or indirectly influenced its design. Rare 1963 Corvette of legendary G.M ...

These sketches show how forward-thinking GM was back when it was becoming the formidable power in the automotive industry.

General Motors Design legend Harley Earl’s youngest son Jerome Courtney Earl – Jerry to his those who knew him – died under hospice care in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Oct. 2. Born in Detroit ...

E ver since legendary automotive designer Harley Earl penned his beloved Buick Y-Job in 1938, the concept car has foreshadowed trends in auto design and upcoming models from all manufacturers ...

The vehicles, one reclaimed from a suburban Detroit junkyard, epitomize the heights of American auto design in the 1950s. The vehicles, ... Jet Age design and Harley Earl’s dog.