I have searched a bit and found that the fisher coach company was bought by gm in 1927, i have a 1927 tudor sedan with fisher tags on it, i am looking for some old photos or something to show me what these things looked like inside and out. My goal is to restore the interior and body of this car as much as possible, then hotrod the frame and running gear, just lookin for parts and input, Thanks!
right, it was a coach builder, chevy produced the frame and running gear, then fisher put a chevy badged body on it with the fisher tags on the lower cowl and firewall
Hey, Prior to their buyout by General Motors Corporation in 1927, Fisher Coach, later Fisher Body ,built bodies for vehicles other than GM. Chrysler and Willys were just two of those makes. Swanky Devils C.C. " Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Chevys said "body by fisher" for several decades....first they were tags on the outside of the cowl, later on the sill plates.
Fisher Body was acquired by GM. Briggs Body was acquired by Chrysler Corp. Murray Body was acquired by Ford.
Yes, GM opted to get complte control of Fisher Body for builidng its "work-strike" bodies, but I think the continued to do business with a few of the luxury body builders as well. I can BELIEVE SilverSink's '48 Fisher-body International. For one thing, International pretty much had its own market niche and wasn't much of a threat to GM's truck lines, saleswise. Secondly, it would have been GM's choice whether to contract out some work to other makes, if they so chose, even though most GMs were, of course, Fisher-bodied.
I appreciate PasadenaHotRod mentioning Briggs Bodyworks, which at one time built more car & truck bodies than anybody. That included bodies for regular Packards (not the custom-body Packards). And SO, it was a pretty major cramp in style when Chrysler up and bought Briggs lock, stock & barrel after WWII. Too bad, too, since Packard had other issues by that time. (Note: I know Packard managed eventually to overcome the problem by buying their own bodyworks. By the final years, the sill plates on Clippers, Patricians, Caribbeans, etc., said, "Body by Packard." I only know because I rescued one of those plates.)
Are they still around? i think i remember my brother's 83 camaro had "body by fisher" on the door sill plates. This means fisher made the 3rd gen trans/camaro bodys? Which is another aspect of carbuilding i don't understand----because in the videos you see carbodys (3rd gen trans/camaros in particular) on the assembly line being welded by robots? So does this mean fisher designed the body, but did not actual manufacture the body? i thought chevy designed the camaro body? Do you see where this is going...........? Sorry for hi-jacking the post.
c10Simplex, I don't think that's hijacking. Fair question. I don't have the answer on whether Fisher is "still around," though GM bought Fisher Body lock, stock & barrel early on. So, whether they're still called Fisher or got subsumed into the GM giant and their name minimalized or renamed, I can't say. But, your other question is about who does/did just WHAT? Using GM as the example, the GENERAL procedure would be GM's Design & Color Department (long under Harley Earle) would have drawn up the artistic DESIGN concepts and detailed specs, measurements, etc., probably even mocked up a planned model or two at smaller scale. Not much would have been left to chance. (Engineering, of course, would be in charge of the drive train components.) Once approved for production, the car plans would go to the Fisher body folks to translate the conept into real cars -- meaning developing the dies to make fenders, doors, roofs, etc., and make them fit the intended wheelbase chassis. Whether it's people or robots on a line, then you're talking the ASSEMBLY phase of production -- actually putting the parts supplied by the Fisher folks together into finished cars. (BTW, hundreds, if not thousands, of parts go into a car, so all this is a years-long process to develop and produce a new model!) Again, this is a GENERAL explanation, but I hope it helps.
Fisher built bodies for Dodge Brothers from 1924 to at least '26. My '24 DB coupe has a Body by Fisher stage coach on it.
According to Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt): "Fisher was dissolved by being merged with other GM operations in 1984." For the story on the GM takeover of Fisher, see: http://icc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/dtn030v1
very nice, i am glad to see so much info on this topic. I had no idea the fisher name was still in use by the 70s. Anyone have any info on were i could get photos of either restored interiors or original interiors for something like my 27 tudor?
Just a little tidbit of info.This is what I had heard.Now,don't hold me to this,Larry Earnst,aka Reverend Larry Earnst of Barris-built 51 Chevy Bel-Air,was part of the Fisher family.That's where the money came from to build the Chevy.I doubt a Catholic priest had that kind of cash to customize a car back then.
LeBaron Bonney probably makes a kit for your interior. Pick up a Hemming's Motor News for an ad. You could try the Vintage Chevrolet Club site too, I got some info from there for my DB.
Hey, The Fisher Brothers, all seven of 'um, were involved with the automotive industry from the start. They were well skilled in wood working, and owned vast stands of timber. The senior Fisher served on General Motors Board of Directors for many years. This was one of the reasons General Motors was so slow in going to the all metal body. Some GMs still had wood in them as late as '39! Swanky Devils C.C. " Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of compassion!"
Pimpin Paint: I always enjoy your posts because there's something NEW to learn. Your comment about wood in GM bodies is really surprising, considering (1) Harley and the boys in the style/paint dept. were doing a pretty good job in the '30s with body lines, and (2) Hudson and Essex were starting the trend toward enclosed cars and all-steel (or at least MORE steel) by the early '20s, and then Terraplanes were known for their sturdy all-steel construction and improved chassis/handling. THANKS for the post!
I have a 28 chevy coach that I have turned into a sedan delivery. I don't have any interior shots but I will look around and see what I can come up with. there is a 27 chevy in colorado craigs list. I don't have anything to do with it, other than I am watching it out of curiousity...John P.S. I think yours is a 28 chevy also because of the longer hood, and the shorter roof line. Chevy was tooling the 28 chevys up for the 6 cylinder install in 29, hence the longer hood. And the roof line was a lot taller in 27.
Exactly! So i wasn't imaginating it; As recently as 83 "body by fisher" was still on the door sills. Of course, by this time the door sills were plastic, not metal on camaros. i noticed on my cavalier, the door stills, plastic of course, say "GM."
thanks for all this info, the only reason i say it is a 27 is that the title says that, but i had the same thought, it is a 28, i thought because the back of the roof was more rounded than a 27
My 1922 Ford center door sedan had a body by Fisher. Basically metal panels nailed to a wood inner structure. I assume Fisher made all the center door sedan bodies for Ford. Mick
okay, so i now have decided to keep the chevy, replace the wood with steel, and put in a nice and peppy straight 6, what sort of gm motor options do i have?, i would like something with good hop up parts availability, and that has an overdrive transmission option, the car will be a road trip car, as well as a cruiser, the only problem is that I am not a chevy guy and know nothing about their s6 options, if it were a ford i could do a good old 200, what does chevy offer?
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