Call this one “The Curious Case of the Missing Model,” because Harley Earl’s 20-inch styling model of the 1958 Firebird III dream car was last seen resting under glass at the Museum of Science and Industry in 1983.
Earl’s desk model of the jet-inspired car held minimal monetary value in those days. At best, the museum had a snazzy little corporate memento, a reminder of Earl’s 31 years as head of General Motors Design.
Funny how times change.
In 2003, that same plaster mock-up might fetch $15,000 to $20,000 at auction–if you could find the thing. This isn’t the actual gas turbine Firebird III concept car. The real Firebird III remains fully operational, locked in heated storage at GM–and is priceless. We’re talking about a simple plaster and metal model created from scale templates used for a master mold, from which presentation copies were struck.
And Earl’s copy may be worth worth a cool 20 G’s.
“That’s a conservative estimate,” said Leila Dunbar, the Sotheby’s appraiser known for valuing automobile collectibles for the PBS program “Antiques Road Show.” “This is a tremendously cool piece. That it’s tied so closely to GM’s best-known designer gives it extra cachet. It could sell for much, much more depending on how much someone wants it and appreciates its place in automotive history.”
Dunbar and the administrators of GM’s Historic Collection know how hot the market in Harley Earl collectibles has become, thanks to the late designer’s image being re-introduced by Buick in an advertising campaign. Earl guided GM Design from the 1927 through 1958 and lived another 11 years in retirement. His pride and joy Firebird III casting prepared by GM Styling was added to the company’s Motorama exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry after his death in 1969.
Firebird III was perched on a turntable in the Motorama space, just inside the doorway from Yesterday’s Main Street, for 14 years, until GM gutted and refurbished the exhibit. At some point during that 1983 renovation, Firebird III vanished. Poof!
Museum of Science and Industry exhibit files indicate Firebird III was returned to GM when the space was updated, though project notes indicate no comprehensive inventory sheet. General Motors staff maintain such a transfer never took place. Rod Green, supervisor of Design Properties and Vehicle Management at GM, was emphatic: “Mr. Earl’s Firebird III model didn’t make it back–and we’d very much like to have it for the Historic Collection. I keep watching eBay and the other auction sites, because I know that’s exactly where the Firebird III model is going to show up one of these days.”
Green may not be so far off base.
His colleague Larry Faloon mentioned a simple, hand-written 1940s memo by Earl that recently sold for $1,200 on eBay.
And automotive memorabilia collector Sam Sandifer of Wilson, N.C., thinks he came close to finding Earl’s Firebird III two or three years ago when he answered a blind ad. The seller was asking $2,000, but the model was gone when Sandifer made contact.
“It might have been the Harley Earl car, but I have a gut feeling there were several Firebird III styling models made for GM executives,” said Sandifer, whose collection numbers 8,000 pieces, including 30 similar styling models of GM concepts. (He owns a rare Firebird II replica made in the same GM Prototype Shop as the missing Firebird III.)
“On Firebird III, I’m sure you’ll find an identifying mark underneath,” he continued. “There would also be a presentation plaque reading something like `Firebird III by GM Design and Styling.'”
(GM historic consultant Faloon confirmed Sandifer’s contention. He said they know of at least two models and possibly three. And, Faloon said, the only person who would know that number for sure is Earl.)
So, how did the model get away from the Museum of Science and Industry in the first place? Who would snag a 20-inch plaster model from a museum demolition site?
Ted Swigon was director of exhibits at the museum in 1983 and recalled dealing with GM on that project. “General Motors did everything themselves,” he said. “GM worked with outside exhibit groups in contracting for design and construction. All we [at the museum] provided was exhibit space.
“When they changed Motorama [in 1983], the exhibit was bottled up and emptied out by people GM hired. We put up door plugs at the entries–plywood panels on hinges with hasps and padlocks. The museum area man [maintenance technician] assigned to Motorama had a key, and there were other staff members in and out. If I were you, I’d try to find that area man. Then I’d go back to GM and look for a guy named `Chuck.’ He was in charge on their end. I’d also talk to Museum Collections. That model could be sitting in a box on a shelf.”
Firebird III is nowhere to be found in Museum Collections. The area man assigned to GM in 1982-83 is long dead. And nobody at General Motors remembers the shadowy “Chuck.” All of that would be too easy anyway.
Mark Hayward, director of Museum Collections, said: “I’m crazy about mid-20th Century design. If I saw the Firebird III model, I would have been on it like a heat-seeking missile! It’s just not here. That model is nowhere in Museum Collections.
“But I’d like to make a point regarding 1983 versus today, if I may. In its day, the Firebird III was a plaster model. It would not have been viewed as a valuable piece of design sculpture. It would not have been elevated to the level of Fine Art.
“My guess is some person at GM in 1983 looked at the Firebird III model and saw a piece of promotional material and discarded it. I hope that’s not the case–because it is a cool car.”
Several interview subjects described the missing Firebird III as “cool.” Dunbar called it a “tremendously cool piece.”
Former museum tour guide Josh Cohen, now a program associate with the Chicago Metro History Education Center, said he often cut through the Motorama demolition site in 1982 and 1983 on his way to other exhibits, and remembered the Firebird III spinning under its glass dome.
But Cohen didn’t think anyone would unwittingly pitch the model into a Dumpster. “That thing was way too cool to throw away,” Cohen said. “Somebody would have taken it home.”
Taken it home?
Joe Emady may have the most plausible answer. Emady, an electronic design technician with the museum, recalled a more casual approach to dismantling exhibits in those days. Companies would come in and tear out space and leave behind salvageable light fixtures and miscellaneous bits of hardware. “General Motors left all sorts of 40-watt fluorescent fixtures,” recalled Emady, “and our boss Leonard Falk told us to go ahead and take them. Leonard didn’t like to see that stuff wasted.
“General Motors wasn’t the only company to leave exhibit pieces. In my shop, I have two puppets from the old Sears exhibit that were just tossed in the trash. We didn’t have a formal Collections Department [in 1983], so it’s very possible the Firebird III model was set aside and one of the guys asked Leonard if he could take it home. Leonard would have said, `Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure.’ I do know the Firebird III isn’t sitting in any [maintenance] shop in the building. That’s for certain.”
Leonard Falk died years ago, in case you’re wondering.
So the Harley Earl Firebird III model worth $15,000 to $20,000 remains missing.
Green and Faloon at GM are certain it’ll show up eventually. But they caution those who might try to palm off a counterfeit.
“Executing a counterfeit would be impossible,” said Faloon. “Because there are details about Mr. Earl’s Firebird III model that only we know. Details we have not shared. I will say the model is made from plaster, wood and metal, and the underside is not as well finished as the upper body. This was a presentation piece that sat on Mr. Earl’s desk. It was not meant to be picked up and turned over. The base would screw tightly into some sort of receptacle, probably wood, that was actually cast inside the plaster body. The color is a metallic champagne and probably faded by now. Mr. Earl’s colleague Ann DeCamillo owns the other Firebird III model, done in bronze mist color, and we think there may be a third. But we’re not absolutely certain. Mr. Earl personally controlled production and distribution of these models and he had strong ideas–and didn’t always share details.
“Mr. Earl kept quite a bit to himself.”
