Automotive Hollywood Opens at Automotive Hall of Fame

New photo exhibit honors auto design pioneer, Harley J. Earl

DEARBORN, Mich., May 10 -- As important as design is to the fortunes of the modern automotive industry, there was a time when even that key characteristic was first introduced. And the man largely credited with making it happen was Harley J. Earl.

Visitors to the Automotive Hall of Fame can get a glimpse into the "history is now" display honoring the fabled Vice President of Design at General Motors with "Automotive Hollywood: A Tribute to Harley Earl," running now through July 4, 2005.

The first man to bring styling to the mass-production automobile, Earl got his start in Hollywood designing custom cars for Tinseltown's so called "A- list." In 1927, General Motors hired him to head the first ever Art and Colour Section. In a career that spanned four decades, Earl and his team created beautiful, futuristic automobiles that started trends and created legacies. Among Earl's numerous achievements were the use of clay models, the "Dream Car," tail fins and the Corvette.

Grandson Richard Earl, who has spent much of the last decade bringing the memory and accomplishments of Harley Earl to the forefront, created the display. He says an appreciation of the underlying strengths of the automotive industry as it is today requires an equal appreciation of the historical reality.

"The modern auto design profession is based on tradition," says Earl, a consultant who now resides in Royal Oak, Mich. "There are so many innovations and 'auto firsts' that we take for granted today; many of which are directly rooted back to Harley Earl."

Other Harley Earl innovations, as chronicled in "Automotive Hollywood:"

* The annual styling model change (in effect, a catalyst for improvements of all sorts, as innovation in engineering and functionality quickly followed).

* The forerunner to the modern auto show -- GM's Motorama. So successful was the show concept it was copied by major GM competitors.

* The introduction of clay modeling. Still used today in the process of vehicle design, the methodology simply didn't exist before Harley Earl.

Earl is also known as the "father of the Corvette" and a number of historically significant concept vehicles, including Firebirds I, II, and III, and the original Buick LeSabre.

"To fully appreciate the depth and breadth of the American automotive industry, and in particular how important design has been and continues to be in Detroit -- the birthplace of automotive design -- we need to see and understand how history has unfolded," says Richard Earl. "That's what 'Automotive Hollywood' is all about."

The Automotive Hall of Fame, located in Dearborn, MI, is the only industry-wide means of honoring the men and women of the global motor vehicle and related industries. It is dedicated to preserving the history of mobility by celebrating the creativity, toil and genius of the individual. The Automotive Hall of Fame is both a visitor attraction and an educational resource for inspiring others to higher levels of achievement in their own work and lives.