Sure, you can make artisan cars and artisan indoor plumbing. This will not be available to the masses, however, without the economies of scale that come with big business.
You could also make artisan steel before the big steel industry. About all you could do with it was make swords and a suit of armor at terrific expense.
> of it being possible to manufacture goods at what would be far closer to "mom and pop" scale today.
Before the industrial revolution, 90% of the population worked on the farm, and famine was still a regular occurrence. There was no available work force to create artisan cars and artisan indoor plumbing for the masses. Nor was there food to feed them.
Some years ago, I toured Jefferson's Monticello mansion and estate. In the back yard there was a nailery, where the slaves operated a small forge and hammered out nails, one by one. Today you can just buy a box of nails for a few dollars, thanks to big steel and the nail making machining requiring little additional labor. I don't know how many nails could be made in a day's work by an artisan, but I doubt it is that many, and it's cost you at least $150 for that box of nails.
Nails were so valuable in those days people would burn houses down just to get the nails.
I had my roof replaced a year ago. After the roofers left, I spent a fair amount of time combing the yard to get all the discarded nails out of it. The nails were so cheap it was not worth anyone's time to pick them up. (I picked them up because I didn't want to step on them. I did anyway, driving the nail nearly through the sole of my shoe.)