[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Harley Earl and Virgil Exner


My post was about Automobile shows and the emphasis on design in those days.

Today the design of a car is nonexistent. We're all driving around in monotonous, dull motorized jelly beans.

Ah yes Harley Earl, the master of deception. Harley well understood what would sell cars and he was for the most part right. Give a car enough "pizazz" and the public will buy, even if what's underneath the "pizazz" is less than perfect. (I can say that because I own five examples from the Earl ran GM design studio)

And Doug you are 100% correct about the lack of unique automotive design, that went to heck in a hand basket with the end of the 1970s. While I own a 2014 Chrysler 300C with all the gadgets they offer for it, I drive a 1978 Lincoln Town Car on most days. It will draw a crowd at any gas station these days and lots of "thumbs up" on the highway, almost the attention getter of either of my '62 Oldsmobile Starfires. On the other hand the 300C is just another cookie cutter car that is very difficult to discern from a Mercedes, a Hyundai Genesis, and half a dozen others.