The subject of tooling for automotive bodies often comes up here in posts and discussions. Given how tooling is created directly from digital 3D images nowadays, without any human hands ever touching anything except keyboards, it’s instructive to see how it was done in the old days. And understand why tooling for a new body was so expensive; the amount of labor involved was huge, and the folks who did this work were some of the highest paid non-white collar workers. (note: you might want to skip the first four minutes).
And if you find this kind of thing as interesting as I did, there’s a second film (below) from 1970 on the same subject, showing how the early use of computers and digitization was already cutting out some of the most labor-intensive steps.
First film (Body Beautiful): I actually thought the first 4 minutes were quite interesting. History of art and progress, appreciation of true beauty–these are the kind of concepts that youngsters in public schools SHOULD be learning!
Agreed!
Thanks for posting, Paul. Nice to be reminded of all the steps needed to get a new car on the road, and I can see that even “reskinning” a basic frame and underbody and drivetrain was no mean feat. Creating all the production material—dies, jigs, etc.—amazing!
Factory shots: easy to point out that OSHA and hearing protection (etc.) weren’t on the scene yet, but amazing how it all comes together.
Drafting: I once intended to become an engineer, and took HS drafting—still old school with triangles and French curves and so on. Fascinating to see the zillions of full-size drawings, including for the entire vehicle. My father the Ford engineer: “most of the draftsmen seemed to end up a little round-shouldered after all those years leaning over and drawing.”
At the end of the film, a few post-1955 GM cars: just added to update it a little bit, I suppose?
The early process of mirroring the dies using the hand crafted fiberglass door and machining its steel stamping counterpart is fascinating to watch, I never much thought how that was done with old technology, and it’s not too far off in concept from woodwork using a guide bit on a router using a template.
Two great films. I have always been fascinated by technology transitioning from manual to analog to digital and then back as needed. The number of automated operations that relied upon punch cards/rolls was an eye opener. Like the upholstery embroidery sewing machine. It must have been a royal pain whenever those punch rolls broke and needed splicing together. The complexity reminds me of an automatic mechanical vs quartz wrist watch. The future appears to be skateboards and safety cages so maybe that means we can get back to more dynamically styled bodies. One can only hope so.
I love the end where the narrator claims a thorough rust proofing is applied inside and out to last for a lifetime as the body is sprayed and hidden spots are missed. Since he used a generic lifetime it is hard to tell if a human lifetime is the claim or a car lifetime and just how long a car life is suppose to be.
Culture changed a lot in 14 years judging by the background music – so appropriate for each of their eras!
i found this outstanding. i also was sort of in shock how the first video showed a native american as an example of ingenuity. i was shocked not because of it’s use… but bc of when it was made. in the 50’s. it kind of restored my faith in generations past… as the msg we hear today – in canada anyway… is how horrible man was. i know my msg might have been a bit sensitive and construed as political. bu it really wasn’t.
I’ve watched both of these films recently, Periscope films on you tube has been releasing a lot of new old films recently. Another one I enjoyed is this recently released Corvair promo, “From Here to There”.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiPsDGVaixg&ved=2ahUKEwje6YOg9I7oAhUjPn0KHaYDC6gQjjgwAXoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw089lZWNFhsn1bi0nc4nAx7
Less depressing than the news…