Body by Fisher Ads

[Jive-Bomber]

From its beginning in the horseless carriage shop in Norwalk, Ohio (hence the logo), to its final sale to General Motors, the Fisher Body Company was built by the Fisher brothers into one of the world's largest manufacturing companies. They produc...

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[henrys_way]

Nice write up. Thats a good little piece of history. I have always liked the old Body By Fisher ads.

[nickles street chop shop]

That's was a good read. Makes me want to look up more about it. I gave the Body by Fisher sill plates on my 62 wagon still.

[Ghost28]

That's a nice read. One more thing G M came out with the crank up windshield in the mid 20s for ventilation. The crank and mechanism was located in the header above the windshield, it would raise up about 4 inches total. Kind of a cool idea for the time.
And yes I know about all the wood and nails in G M vehicles.

[gmstuff]

They sure were some clever guys, thanks for sharing.

[froghawk]

Thanks for this post, JiveBomber. I've loved the Fisher Body ads since I was a kid, particularly the "flying car body" series of concept ads from '58 & '59. Illustrator McClelland Barclay's figures with the dark outline were just great as well; here's my favorite from his series....

[mctim64]

Certainly one of my earliest memories of cars is this logo when entering my dad's old Buick.

[flamingokid]

Validation that saving all of those Fisher ads was worth it.

[goetzcr]

That Star Chief is so big and so cool.

[roseville carl]

When I was in the service in the motor pool in the early 60's we would always say that if we could only find a Ford drive train in a Fisher body we would have the perfect car. As the Ford bodys would fall apart but their drive train would take more abuse by a bunch of kids...............

[Rich Venza]

If I'm not mistaken, Hudson beat GM with an all steel, one piece stamped top by at least a year.

[Kettleman]

Nice article1 Thanks

[pimpin paint]

Originally Posted by Rich Venza

If I'm not mistaken, Hudson beat GM with an all steel, one piece stamped top by at least a year.

Hey,

General Motors was one of the last major auto producers to give up on wood framing in their bodies. The Fisher Brothers, all six or seven of them ,took turns heading up the Fisher Co., and one of them later sat on the General Motors Board of Directors.

Many builders beat General Motors to market with the use of the one piece turret top.

General Motors was still using lacquer based paint in North America into the 80s , partly because the Dupont Paint & Chemical Company had family members that sat on General Motors Board of Directors.

GM, building today's vehicles with yesterday's methods & materials

" Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "

[57ford/60thunderbird]

my granpa retired from fisher body's hamilton ohio plant in 77

i allways thought while growing up that id graduate high school and go to work there myself i graduated in 88 they closed the plant in like 86

[Triggerman]

Two points Jive Bomber.

I don't understand the point about the logo and Norwalk, Ohio. Please explain.

Secondly, I would imagine the story behind GM's takeover of Fisher would be fascinating reading. Can you imagine all the back room deals, back biting, back stabbing, and other machinations of corporate big wigs that occured?

[noboD]

Originally Posted by Triggerman

Two points Jive Bomber.

I don't understand the point about the logo and Norwalk, Ohio. Please explain.

I think the logo was more about them starting in the carriage business, maybe not. Fisher also built bodies for Dodge Brothers from '24 to '26.

[wayfarer]

My grandfather's brother won a national contest in the 20's to build a three dimensional model of the Fisher coach. He died shortly after and the coach (it was roughly two feet long and a foot high) sat in a custom made glass case in my grandfather's dining room. When my grandfather had a stroke, we passed it on to his only surviving brother. I think his son still has it, but I haven't seen it in years.

[choppd27'Munster]

love the history of these old car companies. thanks for sharing!

[slickhale]

they did have some interesting ad techniques, this is a plate that dealers were given( at least thats what i was told).

[flamingokid]

And remember the saying"Body by Fisher,brain by Mattel" ?