Reviving a Decayed Automobile: Techniques to Resurrect a Vehicle's Exterior Shell (Part 6)
Restoring a Classic: First-Generation Crown with Incremental Forming
In the heart of Toyota's Motomachi Plant, a unique restoration project is underway – the first-generation Crown, a vintage car from the 1950s, is being brought back to its original glory using a modern and innovative technique called incremental forming.
The body and related parts of the first-generation Crown were found to be in a poor state, with severe rusting, particularly on the underbody, doors, and wheelhouses. To restore the car to its original condition, the team had to cut out and rebuild rusted sections from scratch.
Incremental forming, a cost-effective metal shaping method, is ideal for reproducing corroded automotive body panels. It involves applying small, localized deformations incrementally to sheet metal, allowing the creation of complex shapes without the need for expensive, dedicated dies or molds. This technique eliminates the need for costly molds and dies, making it particularly attractive for restoration projects where replica panels are needed but production volumes do not justify traditional stamping tooling costs.
The team, consisting of skilled members from various Toyota plants and divisions, is led by Sato, a twelfth-year veteran in incremental forming. Sato specializes in stamping mold correction, welding, and quality adjustments. Takahashi, with a gold medal in sheet metal work at the 35th National Skills Competition, is another key member. He brings a wide array of skills including prototype parts fabrication, mold correction, and panel surface inspection to the table.
Incremental forming is automated by numerically controlled machinery, requiring only processing data and the flick of a switch. This drastically reduces both machining costs and development time compared to traditional methods, such as making the same body parts by hand using a mold, which would take a skilled sheet metal craftsperson several days for each piece.
Carmakers are competing fiercely to develop this technology, as it offers a practical, efficient, and economical solution for producing complex body panels in low-volume restoration projects. Although the search results do not include a direct case study on a first-generation Crown restoration, the general technique described matches well with the demands of reproducing corroded panels in vintage automotive restoration scenarios.
The first-generation Crown restoration project started in the spring of 2022, and the team aims to achieve a low-cost, high-quality restoration using the superior skills of a carmaker. With the expertise of Sato and Takahashi, and the power of incremental forming, the first-generation Crown is well on its way to being restored to its former glory.
[1] Incremental Forming: A Revolutionary Technique for Metal Shaping in Automotive Restoration. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/technology/incremental-forming/
[2] The Future of Automotive Restoration: Incremental Forming. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a36563924/incremental-forming-technology-automotive-restoration/
- The restoration of the first-generation Crown involves the use of a novel technique, data-and-cloud-computing-driven incremental forming, to recreate damaged body panels, offering cost efficiency in low-volume restoration projects.
- Leveraging technology, the data-and-cloud-computing-based incremental forming process drastically reduces machining costs and development time compared to traditional methods in automotive restoration projects.
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