The shaper was invented in 1836. Water or hand powered for 50 years until electricity came around.
The best way to whittle that chunk of metal down to workable size. Handy for keyways, etc.
Today with carbide cutters you machine the excess.
How far has CNC taken us?
I have watched the genius of metal forming on the Target 550 car. Many thousands of hours.
The alternative is to spend a similar amount of time making a model, making a mold, and then body parts.
Or you can do what Ron Main did. Design the body on a CAD system. Turn that into a CNC program and machine the mold. Then take it to Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites and have a body made.