|
 This
book describes the history, memorabilia and people of
the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild (1930-1968) which
consisted, initially of contestants constructing miniature
model Napoleonic Coaches (1/18 scale) from 1930 to 1948,
and then 1/12 scale, futuristic model cars from 1937
to 1968. The top scoring models won university scholarship
trust funds for their creators, namely - teenage boys
and college age young men. Initially introduced in the
U.S., in 1932 the Canadians joined the coach competition
through GM Canada Ltd.
It was begun by the Fisher family as a philanthropic
project during the Great Depression, but evolved into
a successful talent search and recruiting tool for General
Motors Corporation. In the mid to late 50's an internal
study by Fisher Body Division of the Craftsman's Guild's
accomplishments concluded that, other than the 206 Guild
graduates working at Fisher Body Center engineering,
the youth scholarship program was an important source
of design talent for GM Styling.
 |
| Click
for larger view |
It started as a foundation
and because an educational "movement" and
successful design education program for youth as well
as a highly successful public relations and advertising
program which generated considerable public "good
will" and huge corporate exposure. Although the
relationship between youth and future GM customers was
recognized, the overall purpose of the Guild program
was to general public "good will" and, because
the youth contestant's styling ideas were relatively
amateurish in nature, the contest did not stock GM's
inventory of new styling ideas. So successful and institutionalized
were the tenets, values and virtues of the program that
it continued for 34 years with the exception of World
War II.
 |
| Click
for larger view |
Beginning in 1965,
the idea of the U.S. Craftsman's Guild program was exported.
GM Overseas Operations Division got involved and Craftsman's
Guild competitions were born at Vauxhall (UK), GM Suisse
(Switzerland), Adam-Opel (West Germany) and at GM Holden
(Australia). Although these were mostly short lived
experiments, the Opel Modellbauer Gilde in West Germany,
a co-educational program, was conducted from 1965 to
1979. A few girls finished among the top 40 model-makers
in the Vauxhall Motors Ltd. and Adam-Opel contests.
On the average some 1,697 models were entered annually
in the Opel Modellbauer Gilde competition compared to
an average of about 3,141 model entries in the U.S.
Craftsman's Guild competition.
The education "movement" that the Fisher brothers
had envisioned had become an international education
program and talent search forum. It helped young peopIe
find their wav in the world - perhaps an advocation
became a vocation or industry design career. Maybe their
vocational callings switched from auto design to product
design to architectural design or from mechanical engineering
to engineering architecture, but the Guild got them
thinking about their futures and where they fit in.
Some became career automobile designers working at GM,
Ford, Chrysler, AMC, Nissan, Subaru and Volvo reaching,
in a few cases, the Director of Design level. Others
became top product designers in interior and exterior
architectural design, home and office furniture and
major appliances. Some Guildsmen. were so talented as
artists, engineers, craftsmen, and/or designers, that
without benefit of formal education, they became independent
and successfully self-employed.
 |
| Click
for larger view |
In 1968 all of this
came to an end in the U.S. when the corporate "bean
counters" concluded that benefits of the Guild
did not exceed the costs. Because the number of new
GM customers, or the number of cars sold or the amount
of "good will" couldn't be measured or quantified,
the benefits side of the equation could never be determined.
Perhaps because it was co-educational and formulated
for the first phase of women's liberation, the Opel
Modellbauer Gilde continued to flourish until 1979.
This is consistent with education institutions which
over the years shifted to co-education in order to survive.
As a tribute to the legacy of the Fisher Body Craftsman's
Guild, Automobile Quarterly magazine sponsored three
Car Styling Contests (rendering/drawing contests), at
various times in the late 80's and early 90's, for aspiring
student and adult auto designers with the results being
judged by leading industry design executives. In inaugurating
their design competition, in which there were hundreds
of entries, Automobile Quarterly magazine stated the
following:
 |
| Click
for larger view |
"From 1930 to
1968, the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild sought to harness
and nurture the visions of American youth. Among its'
goals, of course, was corporate visibility, but the
Guild also produced generations of designers, many of
whom by dint of persistent creativity, rose to the top
ranks of industrial design and today shape products
for that more perfect world. We honor their energy and
enthusiasm with a design contest that encourages the
visionaries of today to share their dreams of tomorrow."
(Automobile Quarterly, 1987, Vol 25, No.2)
Available through McFarland & Company, Inc., publishers
at http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/
|
