Fisher Body Craftsman Guild - 2008 reunion

The General Motors Craftsman's Guild, an auto design competition, was sponsored by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors.  The original competition was to build Coaches based on the Fisher Body Emblem.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

The competition later encouraged teenagers to build scale models of their dream cars. 

 Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

The competition for Dream Cars was from the late 1930's thru 1968 and it provided thousands of scholarships to the winners.  My husband, Paul Tatseos, won three times on different levels of the competition giving him a good start on his education at the Art Center College of Design in California.  He went on to work at General Motors Design Staff, in Warren Michigan, as did many of the other competitors.   Other winners went to other auto companies, industrial design, engineering, medicine and many other careers. 

August 2008 is the 100^th anniversary of Fisher Body and a re-union of the winners and their cars was put together at the Museum of Fine Arts  in Boston.  Approx 60 winners, many who have never met before, brought their cars to the museum for public showings.

The turnout was far more than I expected.   Hundreds of people, over the weekend, viewed the cars and talked to their creators.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

One young man was so enthralled with the designs that he was allowed to hold my husbands cars. 

His father said You and Paul really made all the difference for my sons experience there. By the end of the day he was totally comfortable going up and talking to some of the guys about the models they built and what they did later in their life. He's still a little young to appreciate what the men in that room have done but I'm not and I would love it if you passed on to Paul that as soon as we got home we went down in the basement and pulled out a 5 pound bag of clay and started to sculpt a "Dream Car".  You both made a very memorable day for a wide eyed little boy and these pictures are going to send him over the top.

I would like for all of those interested to know that there are still young people out there who want to learn what only they can teach them. In my profession I work very hard to keep the tradition of "Craftsman and Apprentice" alive and I hope to see some of that carry on here. Even in financially challenging times the one thing you can't afford not to have is creativity. Hopefully we can even spark an interest to bring the contest back to life for some kids in the future.

Thanks again

jimi

John L. Jacobus wrote the definitive book about the Guild and was responsible was putting together this show.  We all want to thank him.  For more information about  John and  The Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild see John's  Website

The Fisher Body Craftsman's  Guild Exhibition Catalogue can be purchased  from the museum

The night before the show members gathered to share stories and memorbilia that was not in the show.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

Great Article of the 100th Anniversary of GM

Harry Bentley Bradley Blog and show