by Wallace Wyss - Harley Earl was GM's first director of design (then called Styling). It was he who pioneered making clay models (inspired by his fashioning cars of clay in California as a kid). It was he who created the concept of the dream … [Read more...]
Now You See It, Now You Don’t – The 1960 Corvette XP700
May 25, 2020 By 2 Comments
Is it really gone? by Wallace Wyss - Back in the ’60s, I used to know a guy in Detroit who was a top-drawer exec for GM—head of styling, in fact. And when he replaced the founder of GM Styling, Mr. Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell had to fill some … [Read more...]
Make Life Size Model Cars of Clay and Get Paid For It
April 15, 2020 By 1 Comment
by Wallace Wyss - When Harley Earl, the first designer hired by General Motors, was a little boy in Pasadena, CA he played in the (almost) dry clay riverbed, whipping up car designs. When he and his father made a name for themselves restyling … [Read more...]
Buick Y-Job Concept: A Re-Creation By Gary Wales At Benedict Castle Concours
April 7, 2019 By 3 Comments
Text by Wallace Wyss - Photographs by Richard Bartholomew - Nobody in the old car collecting field is as irrepressible as Gary Wales of Woodland Hills, California. Formerly known first as a Ferrari collector when still in … [Read more...]
LOST DREAM CAR FILE : The Lost 1959 Oldsmobile F88 Mk. III
March 20, 2019 By 4 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Harley Earl was a big man. Well over 6’. He was a towering figure in American automobile design. He was the one who basically thought up the idea of making clay models, because as a boy he made model cars with the clay of … [Read more...]
Buick Wildcat II – Harley’s Good Idea That Came to Naught…
March 18, 2019 By 4 Comments
by Wallace Wyss - Harley Earl the 6’ 6” dynamo from Hollywood who was GM’s first director of styling (he called it the Art and Colour section) had a grand plan around 1952. That was to make not only the two seater Corvette but hell, go all the … [Read more...]
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