"In 1956, my father [Harley Earl] liked to say import cars had 'saltwater splash' because they all arrived in the United States on massive freighters," said James M. Earl, Harley's son, in a 1997 interview. The Official Website of Harley Earl & America's Automotive Design Legacy wants to again enthusiastically thank J.M. Earl for supplying his in-depth viewpoint and historically important family photos used below.

Over the years since I first sat down with James [Jim] Earl, he has continued supplying relevant info in phone conversations on the behind-the-scenes activities of GM and his dad's unique periscope of the modern automobile industry. For example, further down, Jim gives a personal perspective on how Harley Earl went about creating the small car trend in America. Jim also unfolds how America's auto design pioneer was first in Detroit, way back in the late 1950s, to begin seriously taking GM into the examination mode of testing alternative fuel sources like ethanol and peanut oil, and being the first in a modern American car company to build hybrid vehicles, too. For example, read a 1958 TIME magazine article, further down, on Harley Earl's experimental car saying, "it can run on peanuts."

It's a proven fact in business history GM was far and away the most recognized worldwide global brand in 1956. Even behemoths today like GOOGLE are microscopic companies in comparison to the enormous size and role GM played in the 20th century. For example, GM was also known in the mid-1950s for having an unbroken record as the largest advertiser with the biggest annual ad budget every year for over 20 years straight; and this American company held this very record for over 70 years uninterrupted in the business world until the mid-1990s! And, not to mention, by 1958 GM also had monopoly like statuses [yes, mainly because of 'design'] in other areas besides auto making, such as train and bus manufacturing. The following print ad came from a 1956 LIFE magazine issue.

This double-page ad was in many different magazines. Right before television became the leading way to market products in 1959, print ad budgets were bigger than those designated for TV. The visual metaphor of this ad must have stirred up the minds of many hungry European and Japanese auto execs, for it foretold their future.

By this time, the whole auto world had caught on to the titanic role the automobile design profession was playing in keeping GM way out in front; therefore every new car company knew they had to heavily invest in a built-in "automobile design department" being in their respective corporate company hierarchies. Again, the above ad shows exactly how a massive foreign car invasion was transported over to the U.S.A., on giant ships by sea. In the decades to follow -- for over fifty years now -- literally trillions of dollars have changed hands because of it. Backed by numbers and statistics, it's the biggest business battle ever won in the history of world commerce. No wonder so many Americans today have an ax to grind with Detroit auto execs these days; for these leaders have not only lost the design trophy to auto makers abroad, but for decades now Detroit's leading execs let one of America's crown jewels of business [giant pieces of America's auto industry, market share, prestige, money and power] escape to foreign lands! 

The 'Small Car Trend' is one of the largest in America's auto world over the last 50 years. Not surprisingly, this entire development relates closely to the mightiest battle ever won in modern business history, too. Of course Detroit's auto makers want to continue denying any factual losses and/or disclose any historical information on this decades long invasion of foreign cars...that was obviously never supposed to dethrone America's auto capital (Detroit) from it's lofty perch by the end of the 20th century. Plus, beginning in the summer of 2008, Detroit's leading auto execs sure as heck don't want masses of American car consumers to figure things out, and then panic, and go out and buy 'small cars' because of super spiking gas prices. As usual, the foreign car companies are exceedingly more poised to profit from this sensitive activity that obviously effects car buyers decision making process. As usual, Detroit's auto makers are on the loosing end of this giant trend where billions of dollars are at stake every business quarter.

Who started the "Small Car Trend " in America's auto capital in the 1950s?

Jim Earl, with his father's 1951 LeSabre in family driveway. This experimental car was the most expensive car ever made at this time in history. Jim's interview, below, is on how the American business world (Detroit's auto industry) lost the biggest business battle of all time. 

"I remember it vividly," said James M. Earl, Harley's son, from a 1997 interview, "in 1957 Harley Earl sniffed the winds of change. His big business idea came to him via a 'bouquet of the sea' so to speak. He was certain it would be a giant one for the auto industry and envisioned how America's car consumers were going to want to be driving 'small cars' beginning in the early 1960s. As usual, he began working on his big idea for GM about 3 or 4 years prior to when GM would then release volumes of his newly created product designs to the public. I always liked the 'saltwater splash' phrase; it gave some flair to all the imports arriving in the United States on these massive freighters."  

Being part scientist, artist, engineer, inventor, entertainer, visionary, Harley Earl was the greatest renaissance man and/or ambassador of America's modern automotive world. Pictured here in 1956 with his incomparable aerodynamic masterpieces, the titanium shelled Firebird II and jetcar Firebird I. Notice, these were first American cars with sexy "aluminum wheels." Of course, GM's production cars had them later on! This is a perfect example how 'a trend ' got started in the auto biz back then!

Before Jim continued telling America's untold story on how the small car trend began in this country, he spoke a little about two other famous cars his father designed (this above picture was hanging on the wall of Jim's office), "Like it's predecessors Firebird I and II, the 1958 Firebird III came loaded with new auto innovations that would become standard features on the cars of the future we all drive today. Firebird III had the first on-board computer in a car, antilock brakes, cruise control, keyless entry, and climate control powered by this car's unusual alternative 10hp engine. Being the precursor to today's modern version it worked by pushing a button on the key, from inside your house for example, to start Firebird III's hybrid motor. Then a few minutes later you could climb in and your car would be warm or cold depending on where you lived, and then you could start their journey in absolute comfort. Plus, as you can see these two beauties (Firebirds) introduced the first 'aluminum wheels' that became another major trend Harley started that began appearing on GM's more expensive lines of vehicles in the '60s."

Jim passed on more on his knowledge, "When it came to heading the charge in this new direction, Harley Earl was on a mission and hired some of the top aerodynamicists and engineering talent in the country during the late 1950s. Harley personally saw to it that Bob McLean and Dr. Peter Kyropoulos of Cal Tech fame (pictured left and right of Earl above), were brought in to GM Styling." The following 1957 Los Angeles Times article titled, National Figure, is on Dr. Kyropoulos going to work for Harley Earl. "Because of secrecy issues related to advanced GM designs and trends, that naturally effected the company's potential fortunes, Harley always 'just did it' instead of 'talking things up,' that he was working on."

Jim went on to say, "Just as it is today, experimentation was the life blood of the auto industry in Harley's day. He became so powerful and was doing all sorts of blue sky innovations and research while vigilantly controlling the product design process of every GM transportation vehicle. Much of the time, what Harley was doing was aimed to bolster up his very own design team inside GM and/or the automobile design profession for which he was the king of after he had solidly created Detroit's dependency on design in the post world war era. Yes, Harley's ivory tower held complete creative control and he had every intention of taking the modern auto industry even further into the future. Of course all this money going into his department triggered all sorts of power struggles inside the corporation, which was no doubt had the most dangerous political environment because there was so much money involved in the running of the largest company in the world. 

But once again, he wanted to orchestrate [legitimize] one more of his historic business ideas in front of the entire automotive world by having each division of the "famous five" brands [Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile] introduce a small car to be positioned in their respective line ups. It's why more and more highly talented engineers like Peter Kyropoulos were summoned to GM...to work on the development of this new trend. Plus, by this time it had long become hospital routine in America's auto capital for all Detroit's other major automakers to copy the big ideas Harley Earl started inside GM."

"This was the order of the day. Once the rest of the industry caught on to how heavily GM was investing in a new direction Earl was headed in ...the entire industry ganged on board and followed. Up until say 1958, it had been going on just like this for over 25 years. For example, the entire American auto industry copied Harley Earl's largest trend ever, having an "Automobile Design Department. Giant trends championed by Earl that other major car companies copied were, the Auto Design Dept. w/ Math Based Full Size Clay Modeling Pre-Engineering; the Annual 'Styling' Model Change; the Concept Car; the Wraparound Windshield, Women's Rights Movement inside Detroit's Auto World; the Tail Fin. It's a certainty, if a car company didn't follow these above trends, it's a foregone conclusion they would have quickly gone out of business...because Harley revolutionized the car business being all about 'design obsolescence.' " 

"So in the late 50s Harley once again began sending out the signal via his channels that the 'Small Car' was coming and GM would be the first to reinvest their capital to what was sure to be the next big mega trend to rest on top of all Earl's other successful ones just previously mentioned. And all along the way Pioneer-Earl was creating ancillary trends, too. Like America's first sports car, Corvette created in 1953. As one can see today, this trend ended up becoming meteoric in this country for every major car company today has a sports car offering in their line up.  Remember, Ford Motor Co. would have never ever ventured out on their own and risked building the Thunderbird sports car if it were not for Harley's legitimizing Chevrolet bringing the Corvette to market in the first place. So, yes, Harley is the father of America's Modern Sports Car trend, too." 

"My brother [more of Jim's pics are below] and I predominately owned small foreign cars in the mid-1950s. One of these cars I owned was a bathtub Porsche while my brother drove an MG. I remember your grandfather [Harley Earl] telling me one day how he'd gazed out of his office window of the newly finished GM Styling building at the General Motors Technical Center into the parking lot where all his male and female designers parked. From his office, he had a commanding view of the whole new modern facility and anyway he noticed all the cars his young designers were predominately driving. 

Jim Earl donated snapshots here of his brother, Jerry Earl, in his first small car, A MG. Notice bigger Buick in background. Another rare photo Jim supplied, above right, is of America's most famous "concept cars" in Earl family driveway in 1951. Scroll down further to read a 1951 newspaper article on how these two modern masterpieces were Harley's daily drivers. The writer proclaimed LeSabre as, "The World's Most Amazing Car" and how after Harley's use, the Y-Job was headed off to a museum.

"This parking lot was not only filled with the Corvette by Chevrolet, that's size and weight was a significant departure from previous GM models or any other American-made car, but commingling in this parking area were other smaller and light foreign cars like VW Bugs & Karmann Ghia, MG, Porsche, Triumph, Fiat and even a couple of Ferraris, too. Back then Ferrari was not prohibitively expensive like today. I remember it because I was working at the Tech Center, it was right after the GM Styling building was completed in 1956. Anyway, this a perfect demonstration of how Harley could accurately pick the next big trend that the entire auto industry would move in. The dated 1957 photos you have of these small cars [shown at left link directly below] in the Styling Auditorium courtyard at this website prove Harley was again headed in the new small car direction. And, at this time in the Fifties, almost everyone who was anyone in the auto world knew Harley had been the main trend-setter for over the last thirty years time (1927 to '57), not only at GM, but in the entire American auto world. That's why GM always invested so heavily in this Auto-Pioneer's aim in the post war years. It's because Harley never stagnated -- his vision was his true genius and to this day he remains the modern auto industry's greatest role model." 

"Many of his cleaver auto-innovations applied back then are still standardized features in today's modern vehicles. Perhaps going deeper than any other person in Detroit's 20th century, he created  more 'cornerstones of capitalism' that continually effect everyone in our society and culture today. Certainty, the world as we know it now would be a duller place, and much different, if Harley Earl had never moved from Hollywood to Detroit to change and make a difference to America's auto world.

"The Small Car Trend was just slated to become another one of Harley's familiar new roads for which millions of America's car consumers would catch on, travel down and fully enjoy by the end of the 1960s! He was right about it, for it's one of the largest trends in the auto world today leading into the 21st century. Again, individuals like Dr. Kyropoulos were supposed to play big roles in the development of the GM small car trend, but then Mitchell got in and quickly changed everything around. Bill Mitchell, who followed in Earl's shoes, completely twisted around Harley's small car trend geared for the 'Famous Five Brands' of GM. By the mid-Sixties, Mitchell had every automotive division offering some form of gas guzzling high performance two-door so General Motors could be on top of the Muscle Car World instead of the Small Car World. But that's another story...."

It's almost a certainty if Harley Earl's Y-Job concept car or his experimental LeSabre, seen above, were to go on the auction block in the car collector world now, some individual or world class museum would gladly pay an astronomically high dollar amount for one of these national treasures, shattering any existing historic record ever paid. Why? Because these two works of art are No. 1 and No. 2 on a list of 37 priceless drivable motoramic masterpieces created by the greatest car designer who ever lived (proven in numbers and finance). Going way beyond the world of modern art, they are worldwide symbols of advanced automotive thinking that will not be duplicated anytime soon.

As I said at the website many times before, Harley's successor, Bill Mitchell, became one of his biggest detractors. See how he ran opposite of Earl's "Small Car" trend, and look where that's got GM today in mid-2008 with the world's largest super spike in oil and gasoline prices, ever.