Paul Tatseos, left, displays his 1958 model at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Above, an incongruous standout at the “Dream Car” exhibit was this beautiful model of a French coach from the Napoleonic era.

BOSTON Is there a connection between General Motors’ current problems and the demise of a nationwide “Dream Car” design competition that GM sponsored for teenagers between 1937 and 1968?

College scholarships were awarded to those judged to have the best design and craftsmanship.

Many of the national, regional and state winners gathered for the Model “Dream Car” Retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last weekend for the 2008 reunion of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild think so. Some 65 examples of their craftsmanship were on view in a side gallery at the museum.

Most of the models, some of which were extremely detailed, looked like they had driven off the set of The Jetsons, with futuristic curves and flair. One incongruous standout was the beautiful model of a French coach from the Napoleonic era.

“We believe that is the case,” said Eugene Simone of North Smithfield who, along with his brothers Gerald and Anthony, entered the competition every year between 1957 and 1962. “A lot of us talked about it this weekend. I think they (General Motors) hurt themselves significantly.”

He said the Fisher Body Division of General Motors initiated the contest partly as a way to get fresh design ideas. He said there was a feeling that auto stylists typically run out of ideas in their early 30s, and “the kids came out with great ideas.”

And noting that General Motors, like all American auto companies, produced feats of design in the 1950s and 1960s, he said its modern cars “all look the same.”

Winners of the contest won significant college scholarships. “What did it mean to us?” asked Simone. “It basically paid for our college educations.”

Simone, 64, said 4,000 to 5,000 students entered the competition every year. Overall, GM awarded 387 scholarships worth about $2.5 million as well as spending about $1 million on expenses-paid trips to Detroit and cash prizes.

“To win a scholarship, it really had to be something else,” said Simone.

Contestants had to be 11 to 20 years old and had to build the 1/12-scale cars from scratch. GM supplied the wheels.

Paul Tatseos, who won an award in 1958 when he was 18, said he spent 700 to 1,000 hours on his entries. He was displaying his 1958 entry, a green convertible that he made “out of a solid block of poplar.”

Apart from the balanced flow of the overall design, he said he had to hand craft all the details –– steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, seats. He said he made many of the details from aluminum strips while the windshield was shaped by warming it and bending over a carved piece of wood.

“You had to make everything yourself, you know,” he said.

As a result of his involvement in the competition, Tatseos went into auto design, spending some 35 years with GM both in Detroit and in Australia with GM’s subsidiary Holden.

Like Simone, Tatseos also said he felt GM had lost its way with regard to design, but said he hoped that vice chairman Bob Lutz, who previously worked at Chrysler and Ford, was bringing back an emphasis on design.

James Miga was attending with his award-winning model from 1968, when he was 18. He said he entered the competition for four years and the experience had been a major influence on his life.

“It was a good experience,” he said.

“It was a challenging project to start with nothing but a block of wood, to solve all the problems.”

He said he won a trip to Detroit, which had been an eye-opener, and later went on to a career in product and graphic design.

Simone said he thought Tatseos’ estimate of 700-to-1,000 hours was conservative. “At least that,” he said. “I was thinking about it all the time, daydreaming (at school). And I’d get up in the morning with a new idea.”

He said it was hard to conceive of the skills required in today’s world. “You’ve got to understand, there were not parts that were made,” he said. “You had to learn how to use a milling machine, a lathe.”

He said General Motors ended the program partly because interest –– let alone the skills –– in building a model car from scratch was “no longer there.”

“I wish they still had a program like this,” he said, noting that his children were astonished at what he and his brothers had accomplished when they were teenagers.

Interestingly, none of the Simone brothers went on to careers in auto design. Eugene went to work for Merrill Lynch, Gerald worked for Ford for three years before becoming a pharmacist, and Anthony is a teacher overseas.

“So you don’t know where you’re going to go!” Simone said.

For more information, go to www.fisherguild.com.

pelsworth@projo.com