Automobile tailfins, which came to the fore in the 1950s, generally are traced to General Motors chief designer Earl Haley, who introduced such fins on the 1948 Cadillac. Chrysler Motors’ Plymouth advertising claimed tailfins were not “fins,” but rather “stabilizers” to reduce steering correcting in cross winds by as much as 20 percent. Although generally an American phenomenon, forms of tailfins appeared on both German Mercedes and British Vauxhall vehicles.