Fisher Body Craftsman Guild Models

[FASTBACK340]

Tony Mozolla, former MASSCAR prez, was om hand today at the LIARS show with another gentleman displaying some original wooden models from the early 60's GM Craftsman Guild competiton models. Some were restored, some original. All were amazing.... Carved from laminated wood. And some guys complain about mold lines!

Here's the promotional info

Here's restoration photos of one of the cars

Edited November 14, 2009 by FASTBACK340

[FASTBACK340]

And here's the cars.....

And this one is awaiting to be restored....

[randx0]

those are so cool I wonder if there are more around .It seems like it was a big deal back in the day how well were these documented ?I would love to see more pictures.

[Art Anderson]

those are so cool I wonder if there are more around .It seems like it was a big deal back in the day how well were these documented ?I would love to see more pictures.

I'd love to see pics of the model that Donald C. Burnham won the contest with in the 1930's. Donald C. Burnham grew up in the house next door to my boyhood home in West Lafayette. His father, a registered pharmacist turned Mobilgas gas station owner, and the longest serving mayor of West Lafayette was a long time family friend as well. Don Burnham also was an international model airplane builder and flyer by the late 30's, in his teenaged years, and as an Eagle Scout, was the first runnerup in a competition to be the Boy Scout to accompany then Captain Richard E. Byrd on his second expedition to the South Pole. He grew up to be the manufacturing manager of Oldsmobile in his 20's, and the CEO and Chairman of Westinghouse in the 60's.

Art

[David G.]

I love those old models. In the days before CAD-CAM, designers had to hold a lot more in their heads than they do now. I think there was more of an art to it then.

Thanks for sharing those!

[Joe Nunes]

What is truly AMAZING to me is the picture showing the two finished models, made by Paul, and showing his age being 15 and 16 at the time. At that age I had trouble whittling a stick to start a campfire in Boy Scouts!! This is some very impressive modeling to say the least. I can remember reading about the auto industry competitions in model magazines of the '50's and '60's and actually trying to make a model from wood...lots of time and sandings and thought went into some of my attempts but they didn't make it to the mail box. I have a lot of admiration for the young modelers that could turn out the craftsmanship shown in these photos.

Joe

[FASTBACK340]

Paul was there showing his models and through talking with him, when he built those models ha was living about 6 blocks from where I now live in Bayside. Weird.....

During our talk he mentioned that in one of the photographs he was only 13 building a wooden model. We joked about 13 yr. olds today not even being able to repair a flat tire on their bicycles... never mind creating something from a block of wood! We had a harmless laugh at the current crop of computer-spoiled kids whom can do it on CAD-CAM before being able to handle a knife and carve.

Hope I'm wrong, but it looks like hands-on craftsman skills will go the way of home delivered milk. A memory....

[7000in5th]

I love these cars. I even got the info pack back in the day but never got a car built. If you want to learn a lot more about them check this:

Fisher Body Craftsman Guild

The most amazing thing is that the contest started as a competition to build a very closely regulated model of the Fisher Body coach:

[sfhess]

One of my cousins was among the first Fisher Guild contestants to build his entry from fiberglass. He won several state and regional awards, giving him the funds to obtain an engineering degree from the University of Utah.

I got the entry packets for the competition, including wheels, a couple of times. I never entered but eventually built a car similar to the Guild entries from laminated wood. I cut the pieces to shape on a neighbor's bandsaw. I still have the car somewhere, missing one wheel.

Edited November 16, 2009 by sfhess

[Willys36]

I know this is an old topic but I just found this site so cut me a little slack!!! I entered the competition 5 years from 1962 through 1966. My first car was made during my 8th grade year, my last in my senior year. I never won anything but that experience is still a major landmark in my life's journey. I recently restored my 5 cars and they are featured in a small article in John Jacobus' new book (coming out this fall) about the life stories of 29 contestants. LOTS of pictures of cars and lots of stories from the contestants about how they built their cars. John also wrote very comprehensive hard cover book on the entire history of the guild with again a lot of pictures of cars. Both are listed on Amazon and other book outlets.

Here are some photos of my cars. They are in chronological order from '62 thru '66. I am showing before and after shots of the cars during the restoration process.

Here is the '62 car

Edited November 23, 2011 by Willys36

[Willys36]

Second car, 1963.

[Willys36]

Third car, 1964

[Willys36]

4th car, 1965

[Willys36]

Last car, 1966

[Eshaver]

You know what is so ironic is many of these models became Custom show cars eventually and look closely, many of the design features became a 2006-12 design too !!!!!!!! Ed Shaver

[Tony T]

Jeff-Restorations are fantastic. Thanks for sharing your builds! Wonderful pieces of history!

[randx0]

I am glad to see more of these pop up. great work both then and now.

[Sixties Sam]

What a great history lesson! I'm glad those models are being restored and preserved.

[FASTBACK340]

Wow.... a 2 year old topic gets resurrected!

NICE restorations! Those Craftsman Guild contests were before my building years started, but man... some great creations! And with today's colors and finishes they're awesome!

Thanks for contributing to this thread!

Edited November 23, 2011 by FASTBACK340

[Junkman]

How big are those models? What scale are they?

[chebbysteve]

im pretty sure they were 1/12 scale

[cortinanut]

Saw this thread pop back up and I can't resist mentioning that a new book on the FBCG is about to be published. Some of you may be familiar with John L. Jacobus's history of the Guild, published in 2005. His second book, this time consisting of firsthand essays by contestants, recollecting how they built their models, will be published in early December. (Full disclosure: I work for the publisher of both books, McFarland.) Hoping it's kosher to provide a link--you can see both books at http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/searches/advanced_search2.php?advanced=jacobus&x=0&y=0, or on Amazon. The new book has 215 photos. As a lapsed modeler just getting back into the hobby (six projects going, none finished yet), I found it to be pretty inspirational stuff--guys talking about doing chrome plating at home, borrowing mom's vacuum cleaner motor to spray paint with, experimenting with all sorts of materials and casting methods, and designing some really amazing cars.

[lordairgtar]

Jeff, your first car and the last car resemble currently designed concepts. You were definitely ahead of your time.

[Eshaver]

Steve, thank you for the information. I too was involved with that contest years ago. From what I learned doing a model there, I took it to making molds for Custom vans years later . Ed Shaver

[Willys36]

1/12 scale. GM supplied a step-by-step booklet on designing and carving a wood model or casting a plaster body from a clay model. They also sent a set of 4 tires, small for sports car and a bit larger for passenger cars. They were made of hard rubber. They sent out quarterly newsletters to encourage Guilders to press on, and in those newsletters they offered kits of aluminum stock for making 'chrome' parts. Rectangular bars, sheets and a bar of 1 1/4" round for hub caps were in the kits. Price was very reasonable. I bought one kit my first year and there was enough metal in it to serve my entire career.

Deadline every year to postmark your shipping crate was I think June 1, I don't remember exactly, so the building time was during school months. In the design kit sent by GM was a full size template (in second picture in first post by FASTBACK340 , directly behind the blue car). The body had to fit in those parameters. Judging was tough as you might imagine; done by GM engineers and stylists, and because of the high number of entries. A lot of cars were not judged, just too crude to justify the time. I am proud that all 5 of mine were at least good enough to earn a score sheet! Max 200 points for craftsmanship, 250 points for design. Thousands of entries were shipped to Detroit, displayed, judged, then sent back home. Logistics must have been a nightmare. There were junior (12-15) and senior (16-20) divisions and each division got duplicate rewards. You could be a 12yr old snot-nosed 8th grader and win the same $5,000 scholarship with your first car as a 20yr old engineering student who had submitted 8 cars over the years. Back in the 60s and prior, $5,000 went pretty far in funding a full ride to a to engineering school. I remember a good year for my folks was $3,000 gross income.

There were state 1st, 2nd & 3rd winners, regional 1,2,3 winners, honorable mentions, and a special category of styling winners. Each winner got a cash award, $150 for the lowest State winner, $1,000 for the styling winners, and $5,000, $4,000, $3,000 & $2,000 for the 8 national winners. You could win any but the 8 top national awards and compete in future contests. If you won 1st-4th place, you were retired from competition. Many Guildsmen won multiple awards. The regional winners got an all-expenses paid trip to the annual convention @ Detriot, tours of GM, and a big banquet as gests of honor at the head table in front of all the anybodys in the car world. The 1,2,3&4 place winners were announced at that banquet.

There were guys who quit college and jobs for a year to dedicate full time to winning the contest. If you were a national winner, you were likely to get a job offer from GM after college.

It was a really big deal if you were ever drawn into it and tens of thousands of kids were. And just think of the advertising boon it had to be for GM. Tens of thousands of loyal customers whol felt like part of the company for life!

Edited November 30, 2011 by Willys36