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Packard's chief body engineer and designer from 1916-1928.
His fine work attracted the eye of Harley who hired him away
in 1928 to help organize GM's body engineering and layout. Kaptur was appointed chief of body
layout starting in 1930.
The "pregnant" Buick of 1929 was Earl's first failure as a designer. These cars had a
stylistic feature called a "rolled belt line" or a widening of the body just
below the window openings. Walter P. Chrysler, upon viewing an early
production model, said that the cars looked "pregnant," and the Detroit
press picked up on his comment. As a result of adverse publicity and the
actual public reaction to the design, Buick sales were poor that year. In
the end, 56,000 less Buicks were sold than in 1928.
Earl found
this ignominious misadventure hard to shrug off, but help (and a return to
good favor) soon came to Earl from the contributions of an engineer in his
employ.
This man was
Vincent Kaptur, who had been hired away from Packard in 1928. Kaptur's job
was to check various car body designs for the different products in GM's
lineup to ensure that they "fit." After a while, Kaptur noticed that the
completely different car models that the divisions made actually were
extremely similar in their measurements, even though each division produced
their own models "in house."
Why not,
Kaptur suggested to Earl, have the divisions standardize on three or four
body sizes? Then they could employ a greater parts commonality, and Earl's
department could have the job of differentiating each model.
This idea
was a concept of scale that would modify the way automotive producers
develop their lineups forever, and Harley Earl was the point man who offered
the plan to GM management. It was called the "A, B, C, D" plan, in which
each letter represented a different chassis "floor plan."
From
scoundrel to prophet in a year and a half, Harley Earl was back in GM's good
graces, and his department was soon given additional responsibilities.
patent no.
122,077
Design for a Radiator Grille for a Vehicle
Vincent D. Kaptur
General Motors Corp.
Detroit, Michigan
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Archer L. Knapp was chief draftsman for Packard's Body Art Dept. from
1917-1925?
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