Inside the Fischer Body Craftsman’s Guild: Contestants Recall the Great General Motors Talent Search

From 1930 to 1968, General Motors sponsored a 1:12 scale model automobile design competition for youth – the famous Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild. Each year thousands of boys and young men from across America competed for scholarships by designing, building, and submitting a scale model of their own "dream car," to be judged on such qualities as design originality and craftsmanship. A public relations bonanza for GM, the program helped to identify and nurture a generation of future leaders in design engineering, automotive design, automotive styling, industrial design and other endeavors. In these essays, more than 30 Guildsmen chronicle their experiences in the competition, revealing their model car design techniques, tricks, and secrets.

I was lucky enough to be one of those boys and contributed my story to this book. At the age of 13, I joined the General Motors’ Fischer Body Craftsman’s Guild, designing and building six plaster cast models from 1958-1962.