By the end of the year, Ford, Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Buick will all have celebrated their 100th anniversaries as automakers. But did you know that automotive design is only 75 years old? That means 75 years ago, getting a car with some style meant you could have any color you wanted as long as it was black.

By 1926, Alfred Sloan -- then president of General Motors -- realized that all cars were very similar to each other and design was going to be a deciding factor in purchases. So he set up an art and color section to GM and got Harley Earl to head it up. Earl was running a specialty auto body shop in Hollywood, California that took Cadillacs, Buicks and Ford Model T's and fashioned custom-built coaches for movie stars.

Earl went on to influence design by giving us recognizable features such as chrome, tail fins, curved windshields, and the infamous Motoramas. He also delivered the first concept car, the low, wide Buick Y-job. Never meant to be built, the Y-job was instead a conceptualization of the company's design direction. Even today, Earl's design legacy still influences modern cars.