The Tesla Model Y is an all-electric SUV made by Tesla. It’s meant for normal everyday driving, like commuting and errands, using electricity instead of gasoline. People bring it up a lot because it’s a common Tesla model.
General Motors (GM) is the large automaker discussed as the employer and organizational context for Alfred P. Sloan’s decisions. The segment quotes Sloan’s book about setting up a special department to study art and color combinations in GM products.
Car
LaSalle Roadster
They talk about the LaSalle Roadster as a notable GM-era car. It’s used to illustrate how Harley Earl’s design work influenced GM, and they mention there are photos of Earl with one.
Coach builders were companies that made the car’s body separately from the basic chassis. Back then, people could buy a chassis and then pick a style for the body.
The Volkswagen Phaeton is a luxury-style sedan made by Volkswagen. It’s meant to feel more upscale than the brand’s regular cars, with more comfort-focused features. People mention it because it’s less common and more “premium” than typical Volkswagen models.
The Volkswagen Golf is a compact car made by Volkswagen. It’s built for everyday driving and is known for being straightforward and practical. People often mention it because it’s a very common, well-known model.
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Emily BB24: Hey, what's up? It's Friday.
Emily BB24: Yeah. Okay. Uh, we talked about the Dewar Trophy. Yeah. Which is what that made Cadillac famous,
Rose BB24: maybe not talkies. Maybe not talkies. Okay.
Rose BB24: A French ship-to-shore radio station in 1904 is the picture on Wikipedia.
Like, they let the car sit for 18 months, and then they went and ran it. I thought they said they ran it for 500 miles or 2,000
Rose BB24: Uh, but I, I think we're talking about the UK.
Rose BB24: I, I mean, I just learned that at Phase. I was, like, dry sanding some rusty piece of metal I'd brought out there to work on, and he sprayed it down with WD-40 and it, like, wiped off, and I was like, "What am I doing?" So-
Emily BB24: AJ the Fabricator said, uh, "Bye bye, Miss American Pie," Emily BB24: that could be. We'll have to maybe ask him or look it up or something.
Emily BB24: And, uh, William liked the m- him and co-founder William Durant founded Chevrolet, and William liked the melodic quality of the name Chevrolet, so he said, "Let's call it that."
it's the Chevy 350- I wanna hear. Your question was: What car did Harley Earl design that made, uh, GM go, "You're fucking hired"?
Rose BB24: That, that car is an abomination. And I do believe he would've hated it. I hope. I hope. And, uh, I, I, I mean, obviously, I think he was just g- just being nice enough
Tom, Tom guessed the Buick Y model. He said, "I think the late '30s, but I may be wi- way off." Now, the Y model, uh, no Now, I was thinking of the Y Job, which was Earl's personal custom car-
Sloan's book. Okay. And, uh, he said, uh, his book, if you wanna look it up, uh, which came out in '63, My Years with General Motors, very original title. Uh, "I was so impressed with Mr. Earl's work that I decided to obtain the advantages of his talents for other General Motors car divisions. On June 23rd, 1927, I took up with the executive committee a plan to establish a special department to study the question of art and color combinations in General Motors products.
Rose BB24: If the above date is correct, Sloan had already made up his mind to set up Earl as head of Art and Color, because Earl had gone on the GM payroll nine days earlier on June 14th. So, the executive committee's approval of Art and Color, if Sloan sought it at all, must have been a rubber stamp formality. Um, yeah, the public responded and made the LaSalle an instant bestseller. And there's some cool photos of LaSalle in a, or of, uh, Earl in a, a LaSalle Roadster, and it is just, it's a lovely car. I mean, it is really
And back then, you have to understand, there were- You know, in the early aughts of, of, uh, America, there were like 2,500 coach builders in America, and that's because you could buy a chassis, and then there were, you know, whole posters of all these different body styles. But you could go to a coach builder and be like, "I want a Model A Phaeton."
Rose BB24: Um, it is really cool, and Earl was known for that. They liked his styling and, yeah, so they supposedly, he was golfing and they had to reach him on the golf course, and Alfred P. Sloan calls him and is like, "We, we need you." That might have been, uh, that may be when they brought him out to work on the LaSalle.
Rose BB24: there ... that's why LaSalle is the subsidiary brand of, uh, Cadillac.
It's out of print, but I'm fairly certain you can still buy it at fayebutler.com. I believe that Faye still has some copies. Uh, but otherwise, it's a hard book to get, and it is... can be quite expensive. Fantastic book. One of the only books on car design. It's 100 years of American car design. It's
Emily BB24: Oh, boy. I do have a question this week, and I am going to harken back to our road trip episode, which came out on Wednesday, which is today because we're recording a different day.
Rose BB24: You mean in a car?
Emily BB24: Brain
About this episode
The hosts dig into early GM design history, starting with Harley Earl and clarifying the difference between a guessed “Y model” and the “Y Job,” Earl’s personal custom car. They connect the styling landscape to how coach builders worked—buy a chassis, then choose from different body styles—leading to thousands of coach builders in America. The discussion also touches brand positioning, including how LaSalle fits as a subsidiary brand of Cadillac.
