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7 Things You May Not Have Known About Corvette Designer Harley Earl

7 Things You May Not Have Known About Corvette Designer Harley Earl

7 Things You May Not Have Known About Corvette Designer Harley Earl

Earl photo 1

If you don’t know who Harley Earl is, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume you’re not a longtime Corvette fan.

As GM’s top car designer, Earl’s name is as synonymous with the Corvette as the name Steve Jobs is with Apple. Especially when it comes to innovation.

A recent CNN.com article clearly highlights Earl’s contribution to the Corvette, but the report also mentions a few facts that you might not have known about the iconic car designer. And while we’re sharing, we also had to include these photos of Earl’s custom Corvette collection…

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1. Harley Earl moved to Detroit from Hollywood, where he designed cars for celebrities.

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2. In essence, you could say that the C7’s new PDR technology stems from some of Earl’s ideas, like the rear backup camera.

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3. At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Earl was a towering figure and an absolute authoritarian when it came to doing things his own way.

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4. The Corvette grew out of Earl’s deep personal desire to come up with a direct competitor to European sports cars.

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5. Earl is said to have come up with the idea for the Corvette while sitting in a darkened room with a board-man and a body engineer in Detroit’s historic Argonaut Building.

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6. The designer is also credited with leading innovations like collision warning alarms, cruise control, keyless entry, onboard computers, and rain-sensing technology.

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7. Earl’s success as a car designer put General Motors into the habit of redesigning automobiles on a more annual basis.

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Source [CNN.com]

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