Harley Earl - GM Designer Extraordinaire

[PissofCanada111]

THe cars today are shit. People are driving aorund these tiny little "Smart" cars. Every car back then had style and was amazing.

[DougCameraMan]

what a great documentary about Harley Earl. His styling department designed some of the greatest cars ever made.

[mensupportcenternepa]

@bosse3554-Billy Mitchell was the chief designer of all GM cars from 1960 onwards-Earl retired in late 58 after designing the 59 caddy

[yourallbrainwashed]

thanks for posting ! when chip foose is asked what car is his favorite, he always says 'the next one'. now i know where he got that from. harley earl is the first chip foose!

[opfredet]

This clip was made by GM Design in the 1980s. They were going thru some hard design times then. The dept head who chose the cheesy old musical score to accompany this short documentary on Detroit's modern master was surely a looser.

If you want to know more on the creator of Detroit's dependency on design, search "official Harley Earl website" or "Harley Earl Americana" to see excellent 6-min mini documentary clip on Earl up at youtube.

[mrpitv]

@opfredet Thanks for the comment and the suggestion.

[samkennydesigns]

@opfredet uhhhhh.....your film is just a promotion for a movie. as a young automotive design student I find this video much more informative.

[JBC814]

My favorites of the GM designs was the '55 Chevy and the '57 Cadillac, which had the best looking tail-fins of any car. If only they could bring back some of those great designs today. Ray Lowery's '53 Studebaker was years ahead of everyone else, but the car was a bucket of bolts mechanically. Pinanfarina's '52 Nash was very impressive as well. I believe the '49-'51 Ford was a landmark design also, but the '52 Ford was a step backward.

[quakebox]

he designed the corvette

[bosse3554]

Hi.A great american whos had influid me. i have 2 cadillacs 1963,one cab and one sedan six windows hardtop. this i have get from us by my self.i like them. I wonder why the 60 cars are so sheep in us still today and it looks like you don't understand the value and history in the sixtiens car. Brg Bo from Sweden.

[heyther3456]

longer, lower, wider, heavier and more thirsty

[BlueHeavenBound]

Great Video! A time when America could do Anything...

[SvenskFilm2]

I will never buy a new car , more fun and cheap to take care of the old ones instead ^^

[salvatorearcilesi]

egal wie viel Sprit die schlucken die Amis haben schon immer die schönsten autos gebaut...........groß.....ries­engroß...

[corvettels9]

We have this man to thank for the Corvette.

[LIFEIZTOOLTOOLIZLIFE]

cars today are soooooooo NOT safer, or more dependable. A big sturdy car made of STEEL trumps a 'plastic' square any&every day - airbag, or no. Dependability? Any & Every one that has had to take their BrandNew vehicle into the shop for repairs only months, weeks, even Days after $Purchase knows better of that 1 . As with every THING mass produced, mass consumed today - cars just aint the same ~QUALITY~ as they used to be. Ahhh to have a ~ClassicCar~ . just AnOther thing i will never know. sigh

[presidentbren]

Harley Earl actually drove the LeSabre as his everyday car for years. Could you imagine pulling up in a supermarket parking lot in that thing?

[smellytoilet1996]

its just so sad what happened to American car industry:from the beginning of the seventys those goddamned japs have been exporting their cheep crap into the land where AUTOMOBILE WAS BORN!!! AND IT ENDED LIKE THIS!!!

[VinnyMartello]

Eh... now our vehicles have ascended into stupidity. Their bodies are made of tin foil and engines made of recycled cardboard. Whatever happened to the automobile? And dont give me any of that save the polar bears crap either. Its all lies.

[MegaBoots10]

Unfortunately, there will never be a designer like Harley. It's too bad because the cars made today are safer and more dependable but can't they design cars that are both beautiful and efficient? A pretty design does not cost anymore than these shapeless orbs we have today. I'm a car buff but I have trouble distinguishing the various makes, both foreign and domestic.

[mrpitv]

I have to agree to a point. I think what Ian Callum is doing at Jaguar is quite remarkable. Also Henrik Fisker at his own car company has style and performance. The Bentley Continental GT is beautiful and timeless. The Lamborghini Gallardo is nearly perfect. The Porsche 911 is another timeless design and then there's Ferrari. The VW concept car, the UP Lite, a diesel hybrid, has both efficiency and beauty. We'll see if it comes to fruition. but I agree, Harley Earl was the best.

[MegaBoots10]

Where I lived, there were few foreign makes, save for a few MGs, Triumphs and VWs. I remember enjoying traveling the highways in the sixties and early seventies, admiring the different brands. Whatever happened to the popular and stylish coupes that cruised the roadways? The full sized cars looked great in the coupe form, with their graceful sloping roofs and rear quarters. Now, the back ends are so tall and stubby you can't see to back-up. Hopefully we'll see a trend back to this in the future.

[smellytoilet1996]

@mrpitv Giugaro is also famous and he designed the Alfa Romeo Brera and Spider!

[linamar123456]

@MegaBoots10 you are an idiot look at the Ferrari 458 the koenesegg and Bugatti veyron then hang yourself

please

[MrCorrosive101]

weird, in thoses days people would rush to futur, by design, innovation, today from what i'm seeing now, would prefer going back to thoses days,,,

[Flynn1926]

You can tell as the Harley Earl influence left GM so did good looking cars.

GM is gone now. I would rather set a hybrid on fire to keep myself warm.

[baracuda5555]

I'm sure he's spun around in his grave several hundred times since the GM design debacle of the 70's and early 80's. Only now after GM's massive wake up call, is the company finally pulling its head out of its ass!

Following the mantra of a well known 21st century CEO: "Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. Beautiful design is how a product looks, functions and reacts to the user.

[35sixer]

He was the MAN at GM .. He would be furious over the latest doings in GM..

These guys were one of a kind..

[aliggali]

R I P

[feedoggie]

WELL DONE! However, I'm sure Harley is rolling over in his grave with the goings-on at GM, not to mention the bland designs of the auto industry as a whole.

[sociablyclussy]

What a great American !!!!

[dalanis]

very educational and inspiring.