In the late 1920s, General Motors Chairman Alfred Sloan offered Hearley Earl a fantastic position: directing the styling of all GM car lines. Earl soon wielded unprecedented control over GM´s new product development.

GM´s Art and Colour Section (which Earl later renamed Styling) revolutionized the auto industry, and rival manufacturers soon developed styling studios of their own. A car´s appearance became just as important as its mechanics.

From 1948, Earl attached tailfins, chrome trim and other ornamental parts reminding of aircrafts to GM cars. Tailfins saw their greatest distribution in the mid-fifties and had mostly disappeared by the mid-sixties.