General Motors design chief Harley Earl is generally credited for the automobile tailfin, introducing small fins on the 1948 Cadillac. Harley Earl designed the innovative tail fin that swept through an entire nation of car buyers during the 1950s and 1960s. Fins were an ebullient expression of devil may careness, the hoisting of a flag to honor America and a hope of better days ahead. They were splendidly outrageous, impractical and most people loved having them rest on the back ends of their cars.
It's likely if you did a national poll today you'd probably find out that many Americans still feel this way! Why, because unlike any other innovative idea used over the last 60 years of auto making to sell millions of cars, this one concept was a bold and adventurous strategy that really has no equal.
(via Everlasting Blort)The Presurfer