CC Wordless Outtake: The Ghost Of Harley Earl
– Updated on November 10, 2019
-
-
-
American Brands: GM 
American Brands: Ford 
American Brands: Chrysler 
American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others 
Automotive Histories and Misc. 
Asian Brands 
UK Brands 
Australian Brands 
European Brands 
Cars Of A Lifetime & Auto-Biography 
Buses 
Trucks, Pickups and Vans 
Design 
Trains, Planes & Ships 
Motorcycles, Trikes, Bicycles 
Engines, Transmissions and other Tech 
Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment 
RVs, Motorhomes, Trailers, Campers
Such a beautiful car, I would say the high point of the “Earl” style, everything that came after was going to far. (although I wouldn’t kick my 58 Buick out of it’s parking space!)
The 1958 Buick grill seemed a little “too much” for me.
The bars by the logo don’t help. The 1956 Packard has a similar grill, but the hood is more sloping and the bars are of course gone.
I think the Earl look is just too garish. The Packard look more subdued, but still potent.
Harley Earl was a GOD to some of us .
Dagmars ? SWEET ! .
-Nate
To quote the Boss: “Honey I just wonder what it feels like in back of your pink Cadillac”
Now that is a lovely Cadillac. Are those Dagmar’s solid or hollow?
Hollow. If they were solid, they would weigh 150lbs apiece.
I really like these mid fifties Cadillac’s; ever since I got to drive a ’56 back in the 70s when a family friend, a school teacher, had one as a dd when they were just an old car. What a powerful long distance road car and it had the first one I seen of those “twilight sentinels” I think they were called, that turned your brights down when another car was coming at night. Trouble was, they dimed for every street light or neon sign too
Ah, “Dagmars”:
Didn’t the ghost of Harley Earl help design the Buick Rendezvous?
Just because my last name is Earl…………
In the late seventies in Eugene, I found a 1957 Cadillac 4 door hardtop in a field and did a very light restoration. (It was an unusual model– short wheelbase for inner city parking etc. Better overall proportions w/ less rear overhang.) It was also pale pink, with a low lustre black top. The interior was a combination of tuck and roll pink leather with black and silver brocade. Once I pulled up to an intersection, and two very old ladies were crossing in front of the car. One said to the other “My god, its pink”. About ten years ago while driving north of Bend, I saw the car briefly going the other direction. I have had many lovely cars– but if I were to ever win a lottery, watch out! I WILL come looking for that car above all others. It was truly beautiful–and called “Dolly Parton’ for the obvious reasons!
Pink Cadillacs – just made me think of
1) Mary Kay Cosmetics – they’ve traditionally awarded pink Caddys to their top salespeople
2) Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” where she makes a reference to a pink Cadillac – and I think her music video actually shows this particular model.
When this came on my screen I was looking at it sidewise with the bottom of the screen cutting right across the middle of the grill “dagmars” and it looked like a hungry shark! oh, imagination. I like the lighting of the sun washing out part of the picture. Car and pic: Art.
Thanks! When I first took the picture I thought the sun had messed it up. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the way it turned out. 🙂
Not too familiar with Dagmar, but I have seen Snooky, Snooki,or whatever she calls herself on “Jersey Shore”,and those bumper bombs on this Caddy DO resemble her boobs.
Harley Earl had a great eye for transportation design. From “torpedo-shaped” bodies of the forties to the larger, weightier, widened designs of the fifties and sixties, his design work characterized some of the best in American auto design! And memorably so. The LeSabre Buick concept. and tapered split-rear window ’63 Corvette comes immediately to mind. But it was the Cadillac that ruled the minds of most anyone in America looking for a personal statement of their success and place in life.
With heavy “sleeping beauty” lines both seductive and demure, and fine mesh grills, the Cadillac was feminine supremacy! Civilization,; American-style!. Good looking and quietly powerful! Earl was a great genius! Only Virgil Exner approximates Earl’s superior judgment of massing of body, contoured lines, and signature details.