<VV> Fwd: Check out Official Harley Earl Website / Home Page

[Wrsssatty at aol.com]

<While I have not been able to appropriate the time required to  thoroughly 
study this site, and I will probably never do as much research as I  would 
wish to, there are quite a few areas that do not ring quite true to my  
previous knowledge of those times.  Seems there have been some liberties  taken; 
nothing really great that jumps right out BUT, I wonder if others have  
questions concerning the accuracy.  Personally, I am 'taking a grain of  salt' 
along with the information offered.  >
 
Yep!  I'd love to know who put this site together and why he has an ax  to 
grind.  I found it amusing, given his Harley Earl--Good; Bill  Mitchell--Bad 
premise that he sought to illustrate his theory that Harley Earl  wanted to 
build small cars by showing the late Corvair in the styling studio  given 
that the late Corvair was entirely designed under the leadership of Bill  
Mitchell!  Harley Earl certainly deserves his due but one could argue that  by 
the end of his tenure with GM his cars had become a parody of themselves  
(e.g. '58 Olds).  I can't vouch for Bill Mitchell's personnel decisions or  
whether he was a "nice guy" but under his leadership GM produced some of the  
best designed cars ever ('63 Riviera; '66 Toronado; '67 Eldorado and, yes, 
the  late model Corvair)  Bill Mitchell toned down the excesses of Earl's  
designs, scaling back on the chrome and tailfins.  Mitchell ushered in an  era 
of understated elegance. I could go on but why bother.
 
~Bill Stanley