Origins of the Car Design Profession
“He (Harley Earl) left behind a legacy in the automobile design industry that can never be superseded: he created that industry.”
One of the missions of this website is to preserve and extend America's car design legacy for new generations. Why? H.J. Earl was the auto world’s first superstar designer and the above quote from Detroit area automotive writer, Anthony Yanik, scratches the surface of how this pioneer was, is, and will always remain the most influential Car Designer.
Another unbiased quote comes from an October 15, 1962 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS article on HJE:
“To say that Harley Earl pioneered automobile styling in the modern day sense can hardly be challenged.”
There is a trove of categorical scholarly evidence and unbiased reports uncovering the storyline behind America’s Car Design pioneer.
TheOldMotor.com article on the early years.
1889 to 2024 marks the 135th anniversary of Harley's father, Jacob W. Earl, establishing the Earl Carriage Works in downtown Los Angeles, Ca. The winning tradition and heritage behind this design legacy begins with the back story of Harley Earl, the son of a late 19th century coach builder turned auto maker.
1955 magazine issue dedicated to Design in Detroit, tells it like it was, "In many senses, Detroit is also the design center of the U.S.A."
Historical GM Design photo demonstrates the DNA of Harley Earl. Every car maker in the global automotive economy today follows this exact technological template and/or “method” (pre-engineering a car or truck ahead of time) in full-size clay model mode within a state-of-the-art automobile design department.
The instructors on left with HJE at the Art Center College in Hollywood are Strother MacMinn, Joe Thompson and George Jergenson. These three were the first to teach this new profession at Art Center College and all learned the profession inside GM Styling under Harley. On right, instructor Alex Tremulis with Art Center students. During the mid-30s Tremulis also cut his teeth at the world’s very first car design dept. in GM.
“For car designers, the present is already the past — HJE”