To the corner of Fort & Livernois for today’s P.D.J.
This handsome peice of automotive history was built in 1928
The same artist who painted the windows at the U.A. prior to its superbowl wash also did the former offices of Fisher Body. Does anyone know the significance of the “S” and the “C”?
Although the name has been off the building for a long time, the GM logo as well as Fisher Body are both still visible.
Here is a present day shot from Google Earth of the offices. You can see the original structure outlined in red, as noted on the Sandborn below.
From the Sandborn map from 1921, the office building (much smaller) and factory show up as the Ternstedt Manufacturing Company.
Here’s a little blurb from 1968 about Ternstedt:
Ternstedt Rejoins Fisher Body
DETROIT, MICH., Nov. 4, 1968– Ternstedt and Fisher Body Division– separated two decades ago when Ternstedt was made a separate General Motors division– are being united again.
Chairman of the Board James M. Roche announced today that consolidation of Ternstedt into Fisher Body Division will permit increased coordination of automotive body design and engineering. The headquarters of the two divisions now face each other across one of the Technical Center lakes.
Ternstedt was named after its founder, Alvar K. Ternstedt, inventor of the first practical car window regulator. A native of Sweden, he applied for a patent on his invention in 1911 but it was not granted until 1916.
The regulator utilized a chain and sprocket mechanism that offered greater east of operation than any previous device. Ternstedt needed financial backing to start his own company so in 1917 he invited the Fishers and several others to join him. At that time, the Fisher organization was already the largest body-building firm in the world.
At a meeting in Detroit on April 17, 1917, the Ternstedt Manufacturing Co. was incorporated. Ternstedt was elected chairman. The seven other directors were four of the Fisher brothers and three other major Fisher Body Company shareholders.
But Ternstedt didn’t live long enough to enjoy the success of his venture. He died six months later and in 1920, Fisher Body acquired the Ternstedt firm.
When Fisher Body became a division of GM in 1926, Ternstedt became a division within Fisher Body. Ternstedt became a separate division in 1948 and now, 20 years later, is now rejoining Fisher Body.
Alvar Ternstedt lived long enough to start manufacturing operations at a building located at Fort Street and Livernois in Detroit, site of the present Fisher Body Fort Street Plant. That remained the Ternstedt headquarters until a new divisional office building on the Tech Center site in 1962.
At present, Ternstedt operates seven plants and has nearly 25,000 employees. There are 400 Ternstedt products on the average GM car such as door handles, window regulators, locks, wheel covers and many of the brightly-plated trim parts found on vehicles.
Also from the GM corporate history section of their website:
1926 – General Motors purchases the Fisher brothers’ remaining interest in Fisher Body Co. William Fisher, president of Fisher Body Corp., becomes general manager of GM’s new Fisher Body division. The acquisition includes Ternstedt Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of automobile body hardware and metal stampings. In 1933, Ternstedt is made a division of General Motors. Brown-Lipe-Chapin, a supplier of differential gears for General Motors cars acquired in 1922, is made a division of General Motors in 1926 and consolidated with Ternstedt in 1962. In 1968, Ternstedt Division is consolidated into Fisher Body Division.
Click here to see some the the radiator caps produced by the Ternstedt Mfg. Co.
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I was reading Susan's info on William Schnell and found it very interesting. I have been doing some research on automotive patents and was wondering if she might have the patent numbers from the Schnell and Bonnie Lemm patents. Might she have any additional information on Lemm. I am putting a presentation together on women inventors and she would be a great addition. Thanks
William Schnell has hundreds of patents for hood ornaments, interior dome lights, door handles, and non-automotive inventions. Bonnie Lemm worked for Schnell, but I don't know much about her. Al Gonas worked for Schnell and told me that Bonnie Lemm was a very talented designer and one of the few women in the art department during the 1930s. She smoked like a chimney. You can find patents for both Schnell and Lemm on google patents. It looks like she designed three hood ornaments and four door/window handles. Good luck with your presentation.
Its a snowy Tuesday morning "Fat Tuesday" to be exact I find myself sitting outside the "Fisher 21" with dreams and questions of what was. I work 1.5 miles from here but I work for Detroit Edison and my job is right outside the plant , I find myself driving past this structure with other structures of a ghost town resemblance as almost i'm there last fan before the wrecking ball of time takes them away and notice that with the age of these buildings also is the age of all of us, not one of us lives forever and how time is cruel and keeps marching on, I a 39 now hitting 40 this year and having some sort of constant sad feeling on how much time has passed as water under a bridge. This building "Fisher 21" and others like it remind me that how many lives you impact is what counts as these big monsters did throughout time. Right now I look at the broken green window squares and the faded white paint and cant help to realize that I am on my way to looking like one of these memories, 50 75, 100, 150 years etc, time rolls on I find myself wondering what floor my mom's 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo was built on a car I fell in love with and how its been gone for so long, well just wanted to say something in regards to the "Fisher 21" is all , and that I used to shovel A.J. Fisher's snow as a young guy, see ya......
I have what I believe is an original Pontiac hood ornament. It is an Indian head and very very heavy. Face is metal and appears to be a bronze? Head and feather appears to be a silver metal and the head it set on a round base. Underneath the base it says made by Yernstedt mfg co. Detroit usa. patent applied for. I can provide a picture.
Any idea what the worth is and what are the metals. Thank you
Bonnie E. Lemm was born October 22, 1895 in Ohio,
She married William Walsh and died in Detroit May 15, 1984 at age 88.
I have been unsuccessful in finding birth/death dates for William Schnell.
I have recently found a genuine 1928 buick hood ornament in good condition, amongst my late fathers posessions,could you please tell me how much it is worth to sell.
Regards Rhonda
The artcle posted by Susan on Wm. Schnell is very interesting. It is understandable that Schnell would have designed mascots for the many GM brands named but interesting that Ternstedt Mfg. Co did work for Pierce Arrow and Nash which were competitors. I have two Tireur d'Arc (nude archer) mascots that I think are from 31-32 model years and say Ternstedt Mfg.Co and design patent pending on the bottom. They are signed Wm. Schnell. I also have another that has the same nude archer and the cap cast as one piece made by the Stant Mfg. Co, Connersville Ind. and includes a patent number 1806224 and is not signed. I reason that the Stant manufactured item was made after the Ternstedt item since one is patent pending and the other has a patent number issued. Do you know any more about the history of Ternstedt Mfg. Co before GM acquired them? How did it come about that Schnell designed and manufactured for competitive brands? Who was Stant and how did they come to have rights to the Nude Archer (or did they)? You mention that the address was Schnell's law office. Was he a lawyer too or did he employ lawyers just to do his patent work-or what?
This is for Doug: William Schnell was born May 5, 1884 in Dusseldorf, Germany and died October 14, 1977 in Detroit.
In answer to Eddie's questions: William Schnell was not a lawyer, but a skilled craftsman, born in Germany and recruited by Ternstedt to come to America to design for the automotive industry. Yes, while at Ternstedt he did design for competitive auto manufacturers which fascinates automotive historians. "An interesting story of cooperation is that in 1930 the Ternstedt Division of General Motors
was contracted by Pierce-Arrow to design a new radiator ornament." (http://arizonaccca.org/publications/PierceArrowAtoZ.pdf)
For Cathy: The 1928 Pontiac Indian hood ornament (designed by Schnell)sells for $250 - $450 on ebay in good condition. It is up for auction fairly frequently. This piece has a bronze-colored face on nickel plate with a chrome metal base (noted in patent 1,804,279)
I don't know about the 1928 Buick that Rhonda has. What does it look like? Mascots from that era in good condition sell for $250 - $550.
Here is a nice history of Ternstedt for Eddie: http://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/Ternstedt_Division.
Doug: How do you know about Bonnie Lemm? Are you a relative?
I am a relative of Bonnie Lemm. It is certainly true that she smoked like a chimney for most of her life. We were always told she designed the Pierce Arrow hood ornament and I have some information compiled by the public relations staff of GM which quotes Albert Gonas saying that. He said she was assigned the project by Schnell. I searched Google patents and could find no record of a patent for either person for the archer. I will have to search with the patent number given by Eddie Bell.
In looking up the patent number 1806224 I found it means the radiator cap and not the hood ornament.
Doug, where did you get the information on Bonnie?