General Motors Body By Fisher. Transferred from an original 35mm print. Footage from this film is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com
General Motors Body By Fisher. Transferred from an original 35mm print. Footage from this film is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com
My father worked for General Motors-Fisher Body in Detroit and later at the General Motors Technical Canter in Warren, Michigan. Dad was a skilled woodworker who made full scale models of GM automobiles , and wood die models of automobile parts out of wood. I remember as a young boy and again as a teenager, touring his shop at the Technical Center. It was exciting to see where he worked and what he did. All but a few glimpses of the new wood and clay models were covered from view, but it was so interesting. Before going to work for Fisher Body, Dad made custom laminated wood fishing nets, tennis rachets, and hockey sticks and fine wood cabinets in his shop in the village of Laurium, in Michigan's Copper Country in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. His work with wood was not only functional but also art. Dad taught me a lot about woodworking as a boy and I have loved to work with wood all my life. I remember always looking at his hands and admired what he could do with them. Even today, when I look at photos of my dad, I am still drawn to his hands, the hands of a skilled woodworker and fine craftsman. I have my dad's Body by Fisher badges and carriage pins in a safe place. Thank you, dad, for all the wonderful memories you helped create for me. Thank you for sharing this very interesting history of Body by Fisher.
It makes me wonder where all those wood dies went
Wow, thank you for sharing. I truly admire and appreciate the skilled men and women that helped build this country and still the ones to this day. As a machinist, I am a skilled worker and make things for manufacturing facilities.
I tell you, it's a crime of a shame, of how you can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of people who appreciate what goes into a manufactured product, not only cars
This KZhead video brings back a fond memory I have of my mom bringing her brand new, 1969 Pontiac Catalina home. She proudly showed off her new car to me (I was four (4) years old at the time) and when she opened the driver's front door, she directed my attention towards the bottom, center of the door opening (an aluminum plate), saying to me as she glowed with pride: "See Freddie; she has a body by Fisher! They are really good bodies"! Right afterwards, my mom promptly showed me something that I had never known even existed. My mom directed me to the front bumper of her new Catalina and once again, she proudly stated: "She even has a rubber nose"! As a young child, I had no idea that a car having a "rubber nose" was a "real thing". Fifty two (52) years into the future, the cars built back in the sixties, compared to cars of today's vintage, have very little in common anymore. Well, at least the "rubber bumper" carried on over the years and still exists even on new cars! This new, sky-blue, 1969 Catalina car was very special to my mother. She loved that car so much. Nowadays, I can only pray that my momma is driving a brand new, sky-blue, sparkling, 1969 Pontiac Catalina around up in heaven, with no traffic. I love and miss you so much momma... Your Freddie
Wonderful post, nicely written…great memories of your Mother and a bygone era of the automobile,
@Fred Roeder, Such a nice story. Made me smile. Same here, Dad bought a new '67 Chrysler Newport Custom. We went to go see it in the showroom. A few days later, what a surprise! The '62 Biscayne wagon was probably not too happy. lol!
History shows that many great things came from this era; great engineering product from post war. Supermarkets, great cars, fast food, suburbia, space program, jet age, great music, television, computers, etc. As a nation we will never see this again!!!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, are why a sizeable number of these classic Fifties and Sixties automobiles are still on the road today.
Many are in Cuba 🚘💕
I have 3 of them in my garage.
I was born and lived in the middle of this region. I worked in machine shops and foundries that produced parts for all of these cars.
IAM 73 now and I did all this kind of work. The only thing I didn't do was work in the stamping plaint and on the assembly line. It was great to see something made from nothing to a beautiful car. My hands where like a surgeon 😷.
Awesome!
I don't have the Patience for that type of work.Worked as a Machine Repair.
That's a great job!!@@richardtrudeau7363
My wife was surprised to see her uncle in this video! He put in 45 years at Fisher in the design department!
Exactly....I remember the one on the door of our 63 Impala wagon the 63 Nova and on the Cadillac
This brings back memories of my parents' Oldsmobile with the "Body by Fisher" plate on the door sill.
Should have read “Rust by Fisher”.
@@tomrogers9467 Not all of them rusted, but yes, many did. LOL
@@tomrogers9467 and for the 1980s: Electrical Problems by Fisher
@@spod2998 Well, technically that’s not correct, since fisher only built the sheet metal components. Electrical problems were courtesy of GMC. (Great Mass of Crap). Every GM car I owned was inferior quality and reliability. Then I switched to Honda, and can now appreciate quality and reliability.
After watching this, I have much greater appreciation for what Preston Tucker must have gone through to make his car bodies starting from scratch. Keith L.
Those tool and die makers were legend in this country at that time. They could design tools and machinery for any application. They were innovators and problem solvers of the first order.
junk=ford
We still do
My father had a 65 Cadillac Sedan de Ville and always remember seeing that Body By Fisher as we stepped into that car I restore old refrigerators and coke machines and I get so impressed by craftmanship of years gone by
I met a girl once whose name was Fisher. What a piece of work she was! Mind by Mattel, makeup by Sherwin Williams and body by Fisher!
Was she a two stroke or a four stroke?
@@tomrogers9467 Neither - she was a sleeper!
Was her interior by Fleetwood, like it said on the sill plate of a Cadillac?
My dad worked for fisher body in lansing mi for Olds along with 6 uncles 1 grandfather and 1 aunt and mother in law. Long live the wonderful GM cars of the past!
70scarguy OLDS/BUICK My dad worked for Fisher Body in Flint... A totally different era, huh?
infonurs Indeed a better one if i had a time machine i would go back i hate our current time era.
70scarguy OLDS/BUICK I strongly sense that you wouldn't be happy then, either.
MrShobar How do you know.
My 55 Chevrolet still running 6cy & powerglide but needs rocker panels
Marveled at the Body by Fisher label in my dad's 1978 Oldsmobile 98 Diesel, GM's first foray introducing a diesel engine into a passenger car. It was basically a converted gasoline engine, and basically junk. I was given that car and drove it from California to Michigan and charging up the steep hills in the Rockies it looked like an ancient 707 taking off with a blast of diesel exhaust fouling the pure Rocky Mountain air, sorry about that!
Lots of diesel owners swapped out for gasoline engines.
That's why they say, "They don't build them like they used to anymore" what a true statement. Beautiful
I have always liked cars the cool vintage cars 50s 60 70s also build plastic model cars and also autobody. very good film to see how cars are put together. when I was younger my grandfather had a 57 chevy convertible and my dad had a 57 ford ranch wagon 2dr
I had a few uncles who worked for Fisher Body. It was all about craftsmanship, in those days. You never hear about that anymore. Car/truck commercials, today, give you no clue about what went into making what you are seeing. Fantastic video.
Fascinating, - My 1988 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon has a 'Fisher Body' plaque on the door sill kick plates with a little carriage inscribed on to it.
These men of a bygone era enjoyed their craft and took pride in producing a good product. Good video.
Until there was a labour disruption
Thanks so much for posting this great footage. I'm restoring a 57 Chevy and it's great to see how much work went into these classics. Makes you appreciate the cars from the inside out.
How did your restoration go?
I have a 1955 Belair 2 Dr hardtop . I have owned the car for 25 years. This video is so wonderful. I am able to see how my car was made. Wow thank you so much for posting this.
Hey there.. I realize you posted your comment FOURTEEN YEARS AGO ‘but’, having just read it for the first time @ myself, in the middle of restoring one of my ‘55 Buick Super 56R’s, I couldn’t resist asking you if you were ever able to fulfill the completion of restoring your ‘55 Chevy Belair? I’ve likely watched/listened to this same vintage film 30+ times over the past decade + & maybe not necessarily this same YT channel… can’t remember if same KZheadr. I discovered this film’s title from original literature i painstakingly collected for my two ‘55 Buicks over the past couple decades, one item of which, lists out any and all GM/Buick Films, whether 35mm slidefilms with accompanying vinyl record audio &/or, R-to-R 16mm movie films… I’ve collected every original slidefilm kit but, these motion-picture 16mm films have eluded me thus far! Any of them having been digitized/archived & uploaded to YT over the years, has been such a great help AND ENTERTAINING!
@@seanbatiz6620 thank you for the reply from many years ago my comment. I actually sold my 55 I was frustrated the threaded clips that holds the quarter panel stainless trim on we’re too short so the quarter panels had so much Bondo in them could not start the nuts. The car needed complete new quarter panels so I sold it and let somebody else worry about it and I am enjoying the money. Thank you so kindly for the reply Travis in KY
Yipper, they made beautiful cars back then.
A guy i know who once said," Why does it cost so much? It's only a car." I was shocked he could be so naive. The complexity of an automobile is staggering. No wonder it takes billions of dollars to introduce a new model.
Absolutely correct. The amount of engineering for even the smallest of parts is mind boggling. That we can buy a modern car for $25,000 is amazing.
It's amazing that they ever got anything built, it's so complex and intricate. And all before computers. And it all fit together perfectly.
And they figured it all out with a slide rule ( remember those ??? Hmmmmm ???? ) and good old American brain power .
There was a Fisher Body plant in Tarrytown, NY, when I was a kid.
What love and admiration for the automobile. Beautiful.. What love and admiration for the automobile. Beautiful..
my grand father was the head supervisor there 'Jimmy Aldrich' for over 30 years. and my dad worked there also I think he was in the body shop but his name was Jeffrey Aldrich (now deceased)
What you comment is not only wonderful for automobiles, but also for the people of that time where the children continued the lavours of their parents, their future work was planned, the families developed in peace and with a future. All this is being lost thanks to globalization and the business of a few.
What love and admiration for the automobile. Beautiful.
I found this vid absolutely fascinating! Having worked as an autobody mechanic in my younger days, I always wonders how stamping dies were made. This answered it!
I wish I had a 55' chevy 2DR! Perfect hotrod!
Only if 2Days Automobiles could be built like Yesterday's, Yesterday a True Build and Craftsmanship
they showed us films like these in ..industrial arts classes...I stayed awake...
1948 olds body by fisher excellent fit and finish even after 70 years
The ghost of the middle class haunt these old plants for that class is dead !! along with all of the great things that made the USA great .
John Siders I'm doing very well. And those industrial jobs don't look appealing at all. Been there.
+John Siders You're right but unfortunately, most of the plants are gone now.-JJ
MrShobar I know a tall Chinese dude, according to your feeble attempt at logic this would mean the Chinese people are all tall. Idiot.
For the first time in our countries history we .have a President who promised to revise the horrific trade deals that destroyed the middle class, but guess who the UAW endorsed ?
@@terrylunsford352 When those trade deals are revised the American middle-class won't be able to afford to buy any of the products of production.
Even though I came in at the end of it, in the plastics division, I surely wished I worked in the modeling (the clay) part.. it wasn't encouraged for girls to go there., yet there were many prototyping occupations for interior components.. RIP Fisher/Pontiac.. some day I will be gone too.. and the Memories of Detroit will be graffiti ghosts in the wind.. Something NoOne thought possible..
Awsome vidio.I too have a 55 chevy hardtop,those were the days.It's too bad greed and the lack of care for the middle class have turned Beautiful 1955 into Ugly 2012.
Как мне все это знакомо.Сначала я был штамповщиком, а потом контролёром ОТК.Процесс производства мастер-- моделей проходил перед моими глазами.И контроль готовых штамповок.70- е и начало 80- х годов.
The best cars made by Fisher body!
Remember the one Fort and Livernois Detroit Michigan
My father worked for Fisher Body. Thanks for sharing this fascinating video on the production of these masterpieces.
Interesting to see how much work, thought and planning goes into making the car bodies, right down to the smallest details!
Yes no computer design involved algebra and slide rule and mechanical drawing
I had a 1966 Chevy and brothers had Chevys, Pontiacs and a Buick of 1950s and 1960s. We loved music heavy metal too.
17:25 Two-hand press control, so you don't forget one inside.
It was 1959 I was on the night shift ,20 years old and not the sharpest tool in the shed operating a press that riveted the upper ball joint to the control arm there were two buttons at knee level that had to be pressed with your hands I was also “Poping” a few with guys on the line near me so I figured out that I could speed up the operation by using my knees to push the buttons ,I pushed the buttons with my knees and a little inebriated didn’t see my right hand was in the press ,I didn’t loose the finger but my pointer is definitely larger and fatter the my left finger. The moral of the story is don’t drink and drive.
@@vitosanto3874 Wow, that's a blessing you squeaked by there! 👊🏼
my dad worked for fisher for 40 years in cleveland ohio
Thanks for keeping this older historical gem going for all to enjoy and perhaps learn something. I know the technology is very outdated but as most of you know, this is not the point. Respectfully. Sven.
these cars in 2013 are still being proudly driven everyday in Cuba, do you think a toyota Prius will be driven daily in 50 years,oh thats right todays cars are NON restorable, do your part and dont buy them.Buy old cars restore and drive them,one of these classics did save my life, and could save yours when a plastic pod bounces off of it off a bridge on some black ice, remember what GM engineers have said, weight wins in a motor crash. Be smart buy gas and drive something beautiful and heavy.
At this Time AMERICA WAS REALLY leading the World with his Items!
Mostly because the rest of the world was still rebuilding after 7 years of world war. We were lucky we escaped that destruction
@@dougn2350 7?
With its products. Not “his items.”
@@peterducodil9890 1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945... That's 7 years by my count.
@@ScoutSniper3124 From sept '39 until sept '45...that's 6 years by my count
When the "body by fisher" sill plate disappeared, car style went to shinola, all the most beautiful styles and even Americas pride as a great industrial giant suffered as a result. Love Chevys muscle cars of the 60's? Love the 50's cars?, The 40's tanks? The thirtees coupes and street rods? all Fisher. Love the 80's, 90's and modern day look alikes? nahhh, shame what greed does to everything good and beautiful. Think anyone will want to restore a 2000 Impala? doubt it. Hats off to the Fisher bros. Thank them when you go to a car show, or a cruise in, they made a mark that will be in the hearts and minds of American car guys forever.
It is as sad in some ways to view this film. It reminds me that we used to make almost everything in the USA, people had good jobs, little crime, strong families and a better way of life. I miss it.
How sad.....America truly shone then....As did the big three. As a recent retiree of GM, I appreciate the days when Quality ran the show, in ALL industry
And more so by hand, even, when compare with today.
Adverage salary one dollar an hour, money had value , by 1965 no more silver coins . Now basketball players demand 30 to 60 million dollars Greed in sports
@@edwardalamo2507 I strongly agree! I will not contribute to any pro sports team or player. When I shop at the grocery store, I will not buy any item that sponsors any sports team, like Pepsi or any type of cereals. I live in the suburbs of Boston, home of the Red Sox and New England Patriots... I love it when somebody asks me if I am watching the upcoming game... I say "oh, the Red Sox are playing?... Isn't that football?'... you should see the look I get back! lol... its really hilarious!
@@edwardalamo2507 Greed everyplace, son...not just sports.Or are you just against athletes?
@@formula112967 Oh, I can see that you are really down on the athletes but you don't mind that a Hollywood star gets $100 to make a movie these days? Or that a CEO from a failed corp. gets $32million when FORCED to retire? Or that a piece of shit car that parks for you , costs $50,000....Maybe your industry had a unique way of separating the fools from their money so you really don't think of yourself as being greedy...That's capitalism-that's the American way...
These cars really are this great too, the doors on my ‘53 Buick still open & close that easy. They don’t put this kind of quality control into cars anymore, this is a bygone era for cars...
Yes, they built quality cars and they would back them with a FULL 90day/4000mile bumper-to-bumper warranty!
every car rusted out by 75,000 miles and you died if you crashed it.
@@guysteel Far less rust in a 1950s fuller body than any of the cars Detroit has put out since.
@@guysteel Depended on where you lived. If it was a salt state it was game over but it didn't matter because most who could afford new cars changed them annually. As for crashing it can be said that cars were never built to crash: they were built to drive. A 60mph crash into an oncoming car also doing 60 mph gives a 120 mph impact. No car old or otherwise would protect you
@@nickjervis8123 You'd be amazed at some of the crashes people come out of with only minor cuts or bruises these days
I;ve never seen the FLIP the rear WINDOW in trick.That was great!
Столько труда нужно вложить, что б спроэктировать одну только дверь! Афигеть! Уважение и почет инженерам! Теперь я понимаю, почему разработка новой модели машины так дорого стоит, столько труда и испытаний нужно пройти + наладить производство.
The film says Bountiful..,the caption says Beautiful.oh well,still my all time favorite styling.
So labour intensive. Things have changed so much
i actually live in Norwalk Ohio, where fisher wasa started, and this is cool!
There was a time when America was great and hard working and innovative men were promoted as an ideal and those who practiced it were looked up to as examples.
Those were the days when a car was built like a tank.🚗🚗🚗🚗
and ran like one too
This was a fascinating video! Thank you for the upload!
what a great video. I love hard work and production!
Awesome.I have 250k miles on all my GM trucks vans. 330k on Venture mini van original motor and trans amazing!
I've still got my dad fisher 1966 Impala awesome to drive not as fast reacting in suspension as a Holden but better than walking any day
Australian?
I remember my Dads 66 Belair and seeing that blue coach on the door body.
Nice to see the skilled artisan getting some credit. As mentioned below the Fisher plant stands now as a crumbling ruin like so much of the rest of Detroit.
The Fisher Body plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania was razed after GM sent its work to Mexico. It's now a Copart junkyard. The Fisher Guide plant in Columbus, Ohio was razed after GM sent its work to Mexico. It's now a casino. I used to calibrate and maintain the boiler controls at both places.
I do miss exploring that plant. It was crazy to think how many cars and people went in and out every day. And how it's desolate and empty now today
Take a shot of your favorite alcohol every time the word "craftsman" "craft" or "craftsmanship" comes up.
Holy crap you'd be dead in less than 10 minutes! Lmao!
A drive by the Fisher plant today reveals an abandoned ruin. Like too much of America.
We can thank NAFTA, Bill Clinton who signed it, and the UAW who backed both!
Karl Kretschmar Remember the song "I'm just a bill" Clearly you don't! What are you 12? "He started it"
Karl Kretschmar NAFTA!
Karl Kretschmar NAFTA+ Bill Clinton+ UAW = Flint.
Karl Kretschmar NAFTA
The Great Tri-5 Era........ LEGENDS amongst many
A huge United Parcel Service shipping facility is located where the old Fisher Body plant use to be in suburban Chicago.
Dan Uscian Spent 12 years at the Willow Springs plant. Tool & die maker.
Fischer Body Willow Springs IL and neighbor GM Electro-Motive Division La Grange ran the local economy for 50 years. The area boomed. No more FB and a small GM Electro Motive Div. How sad. The area is not the same booming towns as before. As General Motors goes, so goes the nation.
superb!, thank you
My father's Nova had the small logo of Fisher ! Always tried to figure out why Chevrolet did not made its own cars!
My 55 Pontiac is a work of art.
Wonderfully crafted 50s corporate propaganda film! I really admire how the narrative seamlessly melds together the production methods of guild artisans of the pre-industrial age with assembly line work that aimed to erase any trace of job complexity so that one worker was as disposable as any other. The good ole days, indeed!
i agree so much with you. I had a 56 chevy power pack was really something. I now have an ImpalaSS a good one as wwll.
You mean a b-body ss?
Love it !
I remember a metal plate bolted inside the frame of the driver's door of my father's '69 Camaro engraved with the words "Fisher Body" and a depiction of the carriage under the words. I always wondered what that was about.
+Agent Fungus i remember the logo stamped in the rocker sill cover. open door look down
Armando Flores :Yesss!!! The logo with the carriage thingie. Always mystified me as a kid. Parents had to 'splain it to me. Ach. Us old folks! Riding in those beautiful really unsafe rattly metal beast cars.
Actually it would have said: "Body By Fisher".
Door sill you mesn
I remember that too..funny how something like a simple door sill plate sticks in our memory..I think it was on my dad's Pontiac Catalina
Great video! This was before I was born, and I’m old!
Yeah, they don't make 'em like that anymore. Amazing quality in an age where everything was done by hand and true craftsmen.
The love for the automobile used to be done with craftmanship and hand skills. Today its only numbers built by robots without a soul.
That's why it's tough to watch Graveyard Carz. They never looked as good as Mark's shop restores them when they rolled off the trucks.
@@spaceflight1019 Agree !
Boy, have times changed......
Try standing at that power press feeding sheet metal into it all day. I know I did it . Talk about being tired at the end of the day.
Vito Santo, I couldn't agree with you more. I've done that kind of work. You earned every dime you made. Hats off to you.
Automating stamping presses has been my job for 50 years. I always wonder how many fingers, hands, arms, shoulders and backs were saved by automating that type of work.
my dad was a foreman in the syracuse plant for 5 yrs those were the halcyon days
I see a lot of those jobs that got replaced by robotics, especially welding.
Thankfully
Yeah that's good. It would drive me crazy just do a repetitive job every day, like just moving a sheet of metal from one conveyor belt to the other
+++++I am currently restoring a 66Malibu I have to tell yes after 50 years yes some of sheet metal needs replacement but let me tell you it is daunting they really built these cars back then not so easy to separate the metals but that's why I love the old cars, after I am done this car will last another 50 years.
nice !!! thanks
I wish I could find this exact footage from GM Lordstown, Ohio, circa 1978.
I wonder how they managed to redesign a model every year, that's a lot of work
They were not redesigning a totally new model every year. A basic design would carry on for several model years with minor or trivial tweaks from one year to the next.
Chevrolet in 1936 was basically one car with a 2 door sedan 4 door sedan and a business coupe a lot of the annual styling changes were sheet metal and sheet metal and trim tweaks that 6 cylinder engine was in production for decades.
~ Nostalgia ...
I dont care what anyone says... The 55 chevy is the most beautiful car ever made!
I like the 66 Riviera best.
1965 Olds 442.
The Fisher Body stamping plant was in Ontario, OH. Mansfield.
Fisher body is the best impala's and belairs so nice cars and todays cars are cheap plastic crap.
What if things were the opposite? If older cars used plastic and newer cars were rust prone sheet metal? Now you'd be longing for plastic.
you want a nice car?You want a solid car?You want a luxury car?Than buy a 60 years old car
Doll Empire Club by Sheila ‘kno
There’s a test crash on KZhead between a 1959 Chevrolet and a 2009 Malibu.....the 59 kills the driver....big, heavy car and its a death trap. Modern cars are far safer.
Beau Lancaster you’re not very bright
The right half and the left half don't have to be mirror images of each other, Just ask Johnny Cash.
Funny how buildings can turn to complete shit in just a few years. This is when they made good cars. Most of today's plastic jellybeans all look the same. Boring.
Have to agree all look the same can't tell one from the other
Throw away cars.
Agree
Man I want a new 1955 bel air 2dr
great vid
Wish I could spot video of my grandpa here, but I don't think I'd recognize him in his 20's anyway. Duane "Dewey" Graham
Wish we could send a video of present day Detroit, back in time, to these craftsmen of 1955. I'd like have shown them what the fruits of their labors led to ie, the mayhem occurring on the streets of the United States. They may have taken different decisions.
Good times for workers.
Yeah my 1984 Cavalier was built better than my 2015 F-150 and 2017 Fusion are. Misaligned panels & trim, gaps, etc. Shameful.
I wanna go to this world. Where do I find the train that will take me there?