Harley Earl
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Harley Earl was born in Hollywood, California in November of 1893 a fitting birthplace
for a larger-than-life
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man whose vision, sense of style, and showmanship would revolutionize the auto industry and forever change
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America's notions about the automobile.The son of custom coachbuilder J.W. Earl, Harley Earl grew up
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believing that personal transportation should be an extension of personal style.
This belief would become his
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guiding principle as he went on to create an enduring design legacy that would indelibly stamp his unique
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automotive iconography onto the highways of the American Dream.
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By the early 1920's Harley Earl had left Stanford University to design for Earl Automotive Works, his
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father's custom parts and accessories shop. It was here that he began to hone his vision and gain notoriety
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as a designer of elaborately customized "dream" cars favored by Hollywood's elite. It took only a few
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years for Earl's designs to attract the attention of General Motors, and in 1927 he moved to Detroit
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where he was named head of GM's newly created Art and Color Section, the division that would eventually
....evolve into the Design and Styling Department.
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Earl's arrival at GM began an era that would have incalculable influence on the way cars are designed. By
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introducing innovations such as clay modeling and the "concept car" to the design process, he brought styling
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to the fore. With the advent of such methods, still used today, form became the equal of function, and his
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aesthetic of "Longer, lower, wider," became a GM design mantra.
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As the post-war era began, Earl's fascination with performance, aerodynamics and sleek, streamlined chassis
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would pave the way for the creation of cars unlike anything America had ever seen. The future became the
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present as the running boards fell away to reveal the tail fins of Earl's powerful, chrome adorned dream
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machines. These were the cars like the 1950 LeSabre, cars with two-tone paint, hidden spare tires, turn
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indicators, rain-sensing automatic convertible tops, disappearing headlamps, wrap around windshields,
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tinted glass, and electric windows � all inspired by the imagination and vision of Harley Earl.
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Harley Earl's spectacular and influential career was filled with innovations and milestones. You'd expect
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no less from the man who defined America's notion of the classic car and invented the auto show. But what
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endures is his legacy of beginning America's romance with automotive style, with the idea that a car should
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ore than just getting from here to there. It's a legacy that every Buick we make today
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aspires to prove.
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