Car model citizens: GM contests inspired kids

Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild entrants stay connected.Beavercreek man remembers competitions.

When 75-year-old George Herzog was a teen in Virginia, he entered the General Motors’ Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild contest for design and crafting model cars. He, like other entrants, have kept some of their models, formed an alumni group, and they will have their designs and models on display at this weekend’s annual Concours d’Elegance car event in Dayton.

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“At first, the contest was strictly for craftsmanship, and we were sent a kit,” said the Beavercreek resident. “My first car resembled an old Cadillac, and it was a state winner.”

The 3,000-to-4,000 finished entries, all from children and young adults, were shipped to Detroit to be judged, and there were state and regional winners.

“All the regional winners went to Detroit, where we got fitted with identical blazers and a tour of GM during the three-day convention,” said Herzog, who attended three conventions.

“They ended with a fabulous banquet, and all the bigwigs from GM were there, even Boss Kettering (Charles F. Kettering, the engineer from Dayton). The event was emceed by (TV news anchor) Walter Cronkite.”

Herzog entered six times, from 1955-’59, and again in 1963.

The competition was started in 1930 by the Fisher Body Division of GM, re-oriented itself for design and craftsmanship in 1948, and was discontinued in 1968.

Herzog is retired from program management at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “In sixth grade, we had a writing assignment on what we wanted to be, and I said I wanted to be an automobile designer, but later decided it was too much fun to be a real job.”

He went to Duke University, then got an Air Force commission and came to the Dayton area to work at WPAFB, where he met his wife, Lee, now a retired Beavercreek teacher.

“As I got older, I became curious about what happened to the other entrants,” said Herzog. “I Googled the contest and found that alumnus John Jacobus, a Federal retiree from the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., had written a book about the Guild competitions’ history, so I contacted him and found there was an Alumni of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild group. There’d been a reunion in Detroit in 2004.

“I got on the mailing list and went to the next reunion in Boston; the third reunion was in Scottsdale, Arizona, at a classic car auction.

“Not all the entrants and winners went into auto design. Our group consists mainly of retired automotive designers, but also includes those who went into architecture, dentistry, eye surgery and other areas.

“Chuck Gordon was an early winner when they shifted to auto design and later designed the Corvette among other cars. He was the head designer at GM, and some folks at our reunions worked on his team. Another alumnus, Bud Magaldi, designed the Ford Taurus; and Ron Will, who received the 1961 first place $5,000 National Scholarship model, became the chief designer for Subaru.”

When Jacobus put out a second book (essays by alumni about their experiences with the competition) Herzog’s quote was included. “I was treated like royalty then like I haven’t been since,” he noted.

Concerned about the legacy of the Guild's contests and alumni, Herzog learned that an "automobilia" enthusiast in Rhode Island had included the competition on his Piston Palace website.

“He collects Fisher Body memorabilia, in addition to other things, and has worked with Guild alumni to ensure the legacy of the Guild and our models.”

In addition, Jacobus was recently invited by the founder of the International Model Car Builder’s Museum in Utah to utilize the museum as a repository for displaying legacy FBCG models.

Close to 20 alumni will attend and display models and designs at the Dayton Concours d’Elegance, being held at Carillon Park.

Contact this contributing writer at virgburroughs@gmail.com.


How to go

What: Indoor display of custom designed automobile models by Alumni of the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild

Where: Carillon Park Dicke Transportation Building at Carillon Park in Dayton

When: During the Concours d'Elegance, Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Cost (admission allows visitors access to all areas of the park and event): $20 for adults, $15 if tickets purchased in advance; $5 for children age 3-17; free to Dayton History members and children under 3.

More info: www.daytonconcours.com

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