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

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…

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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]