When A Big Business Prospers, The People Prosper

During the mid-twentieth century Design Leadership ruled and helped cement GM at the top of the business world. Introducing the concept of the Motorama became central to the General Motors universe and is now an idealized portrait of one of the greatest moments in American auto history. 

Well Done is Better than Well Said

Creating all of GM's product designs before, during and after WW II (from the late 1920s through the 1950s), did not come easy and the leadership mantle of the world's largest industrial corporation never rested on their laurels. During this era, GM's major innovations/inventions, like the traveling Motorama Shows, would create more mystique behind the company's mainline products. 

Sue Vanderbilt, one of GM Styling's newest female designers (hired in during the mid-50s), said this controversial statement in a 1960 magazine article, "Harley J. Earl dragged Engineering kicking and screaming into the 20th Century."  The quote allows audiences today to envision how many traditional Detroit engineers, during the mid-20th Century, didn't like many of maverick artist-engineer-Earl's moves. Making GM's cars "to sell" was a big job and HJE could care the least about winning some sort of "popularity contest" inside the American auto industry.