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Courtesy of the Charles Brown Collection |
As General Motors' most expensive cars, Cadillac annually showcased GM's latest innovations. Since the late 1940s, GM's head of Art and Colour section, Harley Earl, appropriated aircraft aesthetics as seen in the 1948 Cadillac's tailfins. The flashy tailfins immediately caught consumer attention, and their size grew annually throughout the 50s. By the end of the decade, Earl was the still-active granddaddy of American automobile design. He would retire soon, but not without a swan song.
Arguably the most beautiful and undeniably the most ostentatious, the 1959 Cadillac was fruition of everything Earl had hinted at earlier in his career. With its gargantuan tailfins, endless chrome, and amenities bordering on pompous, the 1959 Caddy was a spectacle to behold. It was Earl's first mass-produced car and it looked as if it could actually take off in flight. It was, however, aerodynamic only in a visual sense. From a scientific standpoint, the car's aerodynamic look, as is true with all of Earl's designs, championed style over substance. Nonetheless, the public ate it up.
That same year, after 32 years of service, Harley Earl retired as head of GM's Art and Colour Section leaving behind not only a wealth of classic American car designs, but a vacuum in automotive styling. After Earl's departure, Cadillacs became flatter, larger, and more boat-like.
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