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The Flying Lady, January / February 2006
'The Flying Lady' is a Rolls Royce (RR) Owners Club of America magazine

The Fisher Body Craftsman Guild, An Illustrated History, by John L. Jacobus
McFarland (www. mcfarlandpub.com 800-253-2187), 2005. Hardcover 359 p., 171 illus. ISBN 0 7869 1719 6. $49.95

The first Reunion of the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild Coach & Model Car Competition was held in conjunction with the 17th Annual Eyes on Design Exhibition in June, 2004. For the first time, it brought together the organizers and participants of one of the largest and most important youth- oriented design activities ever developed.

Conceived as a philanthropic project by the Fisher family during the Great Depression the event was held from the 1930s through the 1960s, drawing some 8 million 12 to 19-year-olds to build scale model "dream cars" to compete for university scholarship trust funds worth as much as $5000. Having their talents identified at an early age allowed many of them to prrrsue focused professional educations. Even though perhaps half of the creative designers at work are ex-Guild members -- some of them Americas top auto designers -- the FBCG is not widely known nowadays outside of professional circles.

Written by a former Guild contestant (and retired automobile safety engineer) this book pieces together the story of the Guild through interviews, correspondence, biographies, and memorabilia, and describes in detail the 1/ 18th miniature model Napoleonic Coach and other 1 / 12 scale model cars the students designed. Models often took 1000-1500 hours to construct and the model-making and design skills are vastly impressive. (Appendices, bibliography, index)