Fisher Body Craftsman Guild
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
David McGee shared these photos on Facebook…
I have always been very interested in these design models, very creative, and lots of Custom Restyling ideas.
Time to get a Fisher Body Craftsman Guild thread going here on the CCC.
From Davids post
“Marty Martino was recently treated to a surprise viewing of some amazing Fisher Body Craftsman Guild cars recently uncovered at the estate of a man, I believe from the Maryland area. Here’s what Marty had to say about the cars (edited because they want to keep the location info anonymous for the time being).”
“(He)… said there was something in the car he had brought to show me that he thought I would appreciate (sure nailed that one!). He opened the trunk and within seconds the hair on my arms was standing at attention!
Staring back at me were a half a dozen Fisher body craftsman guild 1/12 scale models all done by the same young man during and after WW2 .
The first thing that I found amazing is the sheer number of models. This was a dedicated young designer to say the least! Then to top that off, these are in my opinion some of the best designed for their time that I’ve ever seen! Most look as if they were done by Earl’s guys at that time. The craftsmanship is also first rate including vacuum formed windows and hand formed metal moldings!! Quite a feat for the time.
The builder had won multiple top state awards, however, I’m surprised he didn’t get national prizes?
We were all in a very tight time frame so I grabbed my iPad (camera) while (they) set them up on the loading dock, next to my shop. I hurriedly shot the photos below while being told more information about the builder. It’s obvious to me that he could have had a fruitful career in Detroit, but instead he went to work for NASA designing rockets!
Sure glad pickers didn’t get there first!
I’ll learn more about the designer later this spring…
Below are some of the quickly shot images of the Fisher cars, taken Saturday.”
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
Mel Francis photo
Deans Garage website photos
Leonard Bellanca’s national award winning entry from 1951
Milton Antonick’s national award winning entry from 1955
Arthur Russell’s national award winning entry from 1957
Adrian Bruno’s national award winning entry from 1955
Gale Morris’ national award winning entry from 1949
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
Fantastic topic. Look at that 1957 National winner. Right there is the windscreen used on 59 and 60 models. Predicting the future of styling was an art. It is easy for us to look back at the past and clearly see the evolution of styles, but back then pre internet, it was magazines and Motoramas and custom car shows that inspired the new generation to participate in our hobby.
What is amazing is that for a while the backyard customisers were inspiring the designers.
Now that I see some of these advanced designs coming from high school kids, it is also apparent that they too inspired he designers more than we would have thought.
Some really cool designs and lots of inspiration here, but I’m happy the early “cab forward design” didn’t made it into production. Here is another photo of Milton’s beautiful sports car.
Absolutely incredible! These really show the forward thinking of the time and it is so cool to see the potential origins of actual design elements in production cars. Some are just so far out while others are quite conservative.
Robert A. Radcliffe III
King Kustoms
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.