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This 1958 Corvette Concept Car, nicknamed the "Fancy Free", was designed by the first prominent, all-female design team in American history. GM Vice President of Design, Harley Earl, decided that bringing in female designers would boost car sales. In 1955, statistics showed that women had the final say in 7 out of 10 automobile purchases and Earl thought female designers would give GM an edge. They were dubbed the "Damsels of Design" for publicity purposes, a name which they did not like, as the wanted to be known as just designers, not "women designers". They produced 10 concept cars for the 1959 Motorama and this Corvette is the only one left in existence. Harley Earl retired and was replaced by Bill Mitchell who said that "no women are going to stand next to my male senior designers". By the early 60's they were gone from GM. It makes you wonder what the automobile industry would look like today if these talented women would have been allowed to flourish. I took this photo at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

You can read about them here: www.core77.com/posts/49498/The…

Description
This 1958 Corvette Concept Car, nicknamed the "Fancy Free", was designed by the first prominent, all-female design team in American history. GM Vice President of Design, Harley Earl, decided that bringing in female designers would boost car sales. In 1955, statistics showed that women had the final say in 7 out of 10 automobile purchases and Earl thought female designers would give GM an edge. They were dubbed the "Damsels of Design" for publicity purposes, a name which they did not like, as the wanted to be known as just designers, not "women designers". They produced 10 concept cars for the 1959 Motorama and this Corvette is the only one left in existence. Harley Earl retired and was replaced by Bill Mitchell who said that "no women are going to stand next to my male senior designers". By the early 60's they were gone from GM. It makes you wonder what the automobile industry would look like today if these talented women would have been allowed to flourish. I took this photo at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

You can read about them here: www.core77.com/posts/49498/The…