My father has been spending much of his retirement creating a legacy program for members of the long defunct Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild. His efforts are to pair automotive museums and Guildsman around the country together so that the history, legacy, and importance of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild lives on. He has connected over a dozen museums and over 100 car models to the program.
Jim Grace is the creative genius behind Carthropology and seeks to highlight the role and significance of the automobile in our culture, lifestyle and history.
It was an honor to film my father, Tony Simone, and contribute “the making of a Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild model car” to Jim Grace’s Part II of “The Amazing Cars of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild”
At the time the Fisher Body was the second largest membership organization after the Boy Scouts! This in depth retrospective highlights one of the most creative moments in automotive industry.
To quote Jim from his YouTube “Carthropology” page:
“This is Part II of an overview of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild Design Contest that was sponsored by GM for almost 4o years. Like Part I, this video contains exciting one of a kind imagery of these cars in locations and situations created exclusively for this report. This episode begins with highlights of the show, a short contextual history of the reason there was so much excitement about the auto industry at the time. In the second half, the show documents the actual process of building one of these cars. Including; brainstorming, sketching and ultimately creating with mere wire, clay and wood a midcentury masterpiece of automotive design. The process is demonstrated by an award winning guild member: Tony Simone and is a unique historical record of this sort of work. You will gain a deeper understanding of the automotive world at mid century and for the Automobiles designed at that time. This in depth retrospective highlights one of the most creative moments in the automotive industry.”
“Carthropology introduces us to exclusive “insider footage” documenting the process of designing and handcrafting futuristic cars as practiced in Mid Century. The first part puts the enormous enthusiasm for participation in the Guild in historical context. (It was the second largest membership organization after the Boy Scouts.) The second half presents incredible video of one of these hand crafted cars being made by a Guild winner: Tony Simone. There is no shortage of eye popping visuals, capturing the excitement surrounding automobiles and their implications for the future. Viewers are taken on a journey back in time to witness events that until recently were almost lost to posterity but which are recreated through special effects and artistic studio work in stunning ways. The report seeks to put in perspective a moment of sparkling genius, where styling, technology and gushing optimism drove young Americans to excel in the arts, sciences and industry in remarkable ways.”
“The story of this period is explained in an easy, enlightening way. No-one who puts the time in to watch this should finish the report with unchanged understanding of recent history, the car industry or the potential for great things in the future.”
It was an honor to work with Jim and to see how his work can inspire and connect others who were involved in the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild decades ago. Automotive history is important and should be preserved, not to mention the innovative styling that these young men demonstrated decades before computers were invented!
If you stumble upon this blog post looking for addition information on the Fisher Body please reach out to me and I can put you in touch with my dad regarding the Fisher Body Legacy Program.
