The Fisher Body

by Gabrielle MacLellan        The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild began in 1930 as a competition to build a Napoleonic Coach with awards based solely on craftsmanship. By 1938, with the increasing interest in car styling, the Craftsman’s Guild introduced a new category, designing and building a model car. The interest in the car design competition was so overwhelming that the Napoleonic Coach was dropped. By 1968, when the Craftsman’s Guild was concluded, over 8.7 million youths had enrolled over the life of the competition, millions of dollars in Awards had been given and many lives had been touched – some profoundly. Thru the years, the Craftsman’s Guild represented rock-solid values. Young men learned that perseverance was essential and that hard work paid off. They enjoyed a sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from a constructive and positive activity – plus the joy of working with their hands and mind to create their very own design.
The prizes for the winners were substantial, cash awards for State Winners and college scholarships for National Winners. After each model was judged by a team of GM Designers and Industrial Arts Teachers, State Winners were notified and given their cash award. Regional Winners were given an all-expenses-paid trip to the 4 day Guild National Convention in Detroit. Nerves were on edge until the Annual Banquet, where, in the presence of prominent Educators and GM Executives, the National Award Winners were announced and broadcasted live to anxious parents and friends. Later in the convention, these young designers would spend a morning in the GM Styling Studios talking to professional designers and seeing firsthand how real cars were designed. While National Winners go home with scholarships, all the participants go home inspired.
Many scholarships are given each year to young people with outstanding athletic ability or an outstanding scholastic record. What made the Craftsman’s Guild unique was recognition and reward for young people with outstanding creative ability. The competition, conducted annually until 1968, gave boys between the ages 11-19 the opportunity to express their imagination, their design talent, and their technical skills.
For a limited time, this summer only the Dufferin Historical Museum has a Napoleonic Coach built by Milton H. Lake on display. This remarkable coach won second prize in 1932 in the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild. Included in this display is the hand built shipping crate complete with the original shipping label. This is most defiantly a display you do not want to miss.