Responsible for the ground-breaking design of the 1959 Cadillac was G.M. design chief Harley Earl. Born into a family of coachbuilders in 1893, he grew up in the then sleepy town of Hollywood. The family formed Earl Automobile Works in 1908.

In 1914, Earl attended Stanford University, and the family income was primarily earned from making chariots for epic movies. Bought out by a local Cadillac dealership in 1919, the company was given over primarily to customizing car bodies. Around this time, Harley Earl developed the now standard technique of modeling new car designs out of clay.

During these early years of the automobile, looks were not really considered a priority until General Motors’ chairman Alfred P. Sloan realized that the aesthetics of a car could greatly improve its desirability to the consumer. Harley Earl was invited to General Motors to head the new Art and Colour section.

Earl’s first success was with the ‘La Salle’ in 1927. He developed his first ‘dream car,’ the Buick Y-Job, in 1937. Harley Earl had several commercial successes with Cadillacs, Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Buicks by the time he retired in 1959. Harley Earl was a true pioneer, inventing two-tone paint, chromium plating, and the tail fin, but he was never recognized for his achievements with any form of award.

The 1959 Cadillac was where Harley Earl reached the extremes of his vision in automobile design: longer, lower, and more ornate. The tail fin was first introduced in 1948 and was said to be inspired by the World War II P-38 fighter. The early fins were fairly modest. In 1957, the fins steadily grew until 1959, when they peaked, dominating the look of the car.

Several features of the car are said to resemble the look of aircraft from this period, and the large wrap-around windscreen could give a cockpit-like feel. By the time of his death in 1969, Harley Earl had been responsible for the design of around fifty million cars, give or take a couple.

Size is everything

The 1959 Cadillac was by no means a small car. It was certainly designed to make an impression wherever it traveled. The only problem is, they just don’t make car spaces big enough these days. Compared to today’s family cars, you can clearly see what a giant it was, although it was not unusual for cars around this era to be so large.