The dated Automotive News story directly below establishes the first known documented case of modern industrial espionage, in 1933, whereby one car company is seeking to pay for photographs of what a rivaling car maker's exterior "automobile design" looks like: 

"Chrysler photographers, who made a habit of hanging around the Proving Grounds, became so annoying that Olle Schjolin, project director for the Albanita, took to carrying a rifle with him in the test cars. He threatened to use it on spies from other companies."

The above pictures of the Albanita were taken on the roof of the original GM Building (Argonaut "A" Building) in Detroit, Michigan by a GM Photographic lensmen in order to document the events of Harley Earl's new area created inside this corporation. For example, beneath is a wonderful pre-war shot of the famous Y-Job taken in the exact same location, notice privacy screen to keep prying photographers from snapping pictures from any nearby building. The story goes when any planes were seen flying around, the prototype car up on the roof from Designer-Earl's dream factory, would either be pushed back into the freight elevator or else a tarpaulin would be draped over the advanced concept vehicle which Mr. Earl had requested sent up to the roof so he could eye it outside (in natural lighting). 

The Y-Job on roof of the GM Building; in the interest of Modern Styling this experimental project embraced  many new objectives.

Back in GM's heydays, important leaders like then CEO, Alfred Sloan along with men like Earl were not the types to ever expose their underbelly or alarm outsiders to what they were constantly soft-pedaling: The Styling Section was the source of where GM's most modern and valuable trade secrets were initially developed and later evolved. For example, today's auto world manufacturers do not spend large dollar amounts camouflaging small-scale prototype engineering parts, like transmissions, before they go into production. It is an entirely different matter involving the exterior body style or sexy design of some concept car. The auto media or a rivaling automaker might pay a high dollar amount for a picture of a competitor's new model and/or concept vehicle of the future. Mr. Earl first created this dynamic code or mystique that every worldwide auto company currently employs.

For example, long before any new automobile makes it to a showroom floor these days, carefully disguised prototypes are secretly tested around the world; spy photos below of C-6 Corvette, with bras on, prior to it's '04 launch. The job of the professional spy photographer is to locate these “test mules” and get them on film years before the car hits the market. Not surprisingly, spy photos of an advanced design of a Corvette (another inspiration from Harley Earl's wheel of creativity) can command near record prices paid out to members of the auto design paparazzi. 

The historically innovative Automotive News story featured at the top of this section clarifies how it was only after Harley Earl moved to Detroit and founded the Art & Colour styling section of GM did this auto design paparazzi commotion come to reality in the first place. For this reason, he is a seminal figure behind the history of why any automaker today bothers with masquerading and/or camouflaging their experimental vehicles from prying photographer’s cameras. In other words, Harley Earl created the paradigm and was the original master artist/engineer in Detroit to start this entire activity of hiding his forward designs. So, the conscious activity of "why spy photographers take pictures of advanced concept designs of automobiles" is just another extension of Harley Earl's pioneering the automobile design profession. Consequently, if you would like to read how Harley Earl was in charge of the "Camouflage Dept." for Detroit's Arsenal of Democracy and/or "Design" during World War Two...click the link at the bottom of this page that will take you to another area where Mr. Earl opens up on this topic in a 1954 interview. 

Going one step further, do you think there ever was someone inside Ford Motor Co. prior to 1927 protecting any photographers of a rivaling company from wanting to snap photographs of any new designs of what the Model-T was going to look like in the future? No, there wasn't...because prior to Earl's coming to Detroit, there simply was no such thing as an "Annual Model Styling Change"...and most importantly all Model-T's looked the same. 

Designer-Earl Knew His Albanita Was Homely

Anyone with a knowledge of GM/Chrysler history from the 1930s can realize one thing, the Chrysler Airflow was simply a disaster when it came to "sales leadership" and that's why the 1934 Airflow brand was discontinued three years later. So, one just has to ask why on earth does the Chrysler Airflow get so much kudos and recognition in the history books and today's auto media as being a big winner as far as "streamlining" was concerned? Could it have a lot to do with public relations and the design constantly being "talked up" later on? You betcha. After all, to professional designers like Harley Earl, successful streamlining meant marrying aerodynamics and aesthetically pleasing lines together into an automotive design masterpiece that would eventually be volume produced and harmonically wow many members of the general American pubic into buying GM's new automotive designs. 

Notice droopy looking similarities of the experimental Albanita design by Art & Colour next to the Chrysler Airflow.

The real pacesetter in 1934 was the radical design of the all-new streamlined LaSalle and the turret top invention GM had just introduced onto the auto scene (in a couple of years, all GM's cars had them)...LaSalle was also a giant sales leader, too. In other words, what's addressed in the above article about the Albanita was intended to happen. Meaning, GM Styling and/or Harley Earl was betting that Chrysler's Airflow team would jump at the chance to copy some of the rather dull design cues of the 1933 Albanita! Obviously, Chrysler took the bait, too...and the rest of the story is history. 

Furthermore, If you want full disclosure on how and why the U.S. military knew Harley Earl was their man in Detroit who could most likely succeed at getting "Germany to swallow the bait" ...then read about how America's phantom war designer secretly started a "camouflage school" inside his GM division leading up to World War Two (click link below and then go to page-11 of this interview):