{"id":497977,"date":"2018-12-20T12:48:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T20:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=69706"},"modified":"2024-12-06T03:48:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T03:48:57","slug":"earl-mitchells-corvette-styling-cars-to-be-sold-as-a-pair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/earl-mitchells-corvette-styling-cars-to-be-sold-as-a-pair\/","title":{"rendered":"Earl & Mitchell\u2019s Corvette Styling Cars to be Sold as a Pair"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Styling Cars\u2014a 1963 convertible and 1964 coupe known respectively as the Harley J. Earl and Bill Mitchell Corvettes\u2014will be offered together as one lot, at the 2019 Mecum Kissimmee Auction.<\/p>\n

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Born on November 22, 1893, in Hollywood, California, Harley J. Earl began his career as an automotive stylist while working in his father\u2019s thriving coachbuilding business\u2014Earl Automobile Works\u2014designing custom bodies and automotive accessories. Soon after the firm was purchased by Hollywood Cadillac dealer Don Lee, Earl\u2019s talents attracted the attention of Lawrence Fisher, the head of Cadillac, who, after viewing Earl\u2019s portfolio, while on a trip to California in 1925, hired him to design the 1927 LaSalle, which debuted in March 1927 to universal acclaim.<\/p>\n

That success led Fisher and General Motors Chairman Alfred P. Sloan to appoint Earl as the head of GM\u2019s new Art & Color Section, the automotive industry\u2019s first in-house design studio. Earl innovated the use of freehand sketching and clay modeling as design tools, produced the first concept car (the Buick Y-Job) and the Motorama dream cars that followed, headed the design of the original Corvette, introduced jet-inspired tailfins, and with Sloan implemented the concepts of planned obsolescence and annual model changes to drive sales.<\/p>\n