'Art and Engineering Background' Key to HJE's Success

Harley was Detroit's first professional "auto" industrial designer targeting the mass market. During Earl's four decade (1920s, 30s, 40s and '50s) long tenure at GM, no other engineers had a blank check to build an endless stream of astronomically expensive experimental custom cars "from the tire treads up" said Harley that among other things, were boldly used to represent the company in the public eye.

'56 news article (at right) entitled, Auto Stylists Drive Far Into The Future delves into Pioneer-Earl's creating "the men of the future" in the modern auto industry.

"Harley Earlites" 

This historical article is a real watershed for contemporary readers, exposing some long forgotten winning expressions from the birth of the modern auto world; such as, Mr. Earl, the corporation's key "man of the future."  Remember, this was a time when Detroit was doing great and America's auto industry was sitting on top of the entire world of big business! People across the country wanted to know about the creative heart of the auto business, hence why articles like this were delivered to the masses informing them on, "the Harley Earlities." 

Professionals who designed cars back then (1940s to 1960s) were known as "Auto Stylists," and this new profession was hot! Sadly, as the winning performance and stats behind America's auto industry significantly cooled, beginning in the 1970s, the good times for Auto Styling in Detroit were dramatically changing. Afterwards, the profession as a whole transformed and became much more conservative and its top leaders, from the 1980s forward, wished to remove the "Car Stylists" term from the auto world vernacular and recasted these professionals as,  "Car Designers" from now on in.

So where does this leave us in today's Auto Design universe? Truth be told, the world's best car designers these days pretty much loath the original Auto Stylist moniker and if a major journalist or top auto exec referred to their auto maker's veep of Design as an "Ace Auto Stylist"  it might be akin to a sissy term from the past. No doubt the gaffe would create a little tension between the VP of Design and the company's communications/public relations people. 

Personally, we hope more women come into Harley's professional arena moving beyond this writing (2014), since their feathers don't easily get ruffled by the Stylist term Harley Earl and others were proud to be called throughout their professional careers.

"Ace Auto Stylist"

For a number of reasons, Harley Earl was proud of the term directly above for not only is he being hailed at the top of his field but he was the responsible head for originating the "Auto Stylist" term in the first place! After which the phrase become a standardized description representing a new breed of professionals entering the modern automobile world. What other great auto pioneer created such an important new profession? Not a one. Some articles point out that women car stylists/car designers respected the term more than their male counterparts. 

Automotive Heaven

These days, the best way for a car designer (male or female) to reach the very top of the auto world is to be equal part "artist and engineer."  Being original, resisting convention and going on to design millions of uniquely artistic well-engineered cars is key when it comes to ultimately landing in the great pantheon in the sky, a.k.a., automotive heaven.