Mass Production

• TEC452 Home
• History Index
• Functions of Automotive Body
• Design Factors
• The Body Challenge
• The Early Days
• Early Body and Chassis
• Mass Production
• American Styling Revolution
• The Italians
• Safety
• Voice of the Customer
• Mechanical Influences
• Evolution of Body Features

• Roots of the automobile,
  • Bicycle
  • Horse-drawn carriage
• Mechanical assembly and body-building were separated
  • Skills and personnel
  • Production
  • Geography

• The initial car assembly method,
  • Build running gear
  • Build heavy steel frame
  • Assemble all running gear into the frame
  • Lower body onto the frame
  • Complete assembly

• Early attempts for building steel bodies were made by Daimler (1901) and Pierce-Arrow (1905)
• The first all-steel body is attributed to the Budd Manufacturing Company (1915) in Philadelphia
• Dodge was the first large company to use the Budd principle (early 1920s)

An all-steel Dodge Using the Budd Principle

• An all-steel Dodge (early 20s)
• Used by the American Fire Chief
• The design marked the end of the coachbuilt era

• Citreon licensed to build all-steel bodies on the Budd principle
• A distinctive car with disc wheel covers and open touring bodywork

• 1922 Lancia Lambda
• Technically ahead of its time
• Used deep pressed-steel frame side rails with cross members
• Provided a very stiff frame
• Improved handling and permitted efficient independent front suspension

• Development of one radius on body panel smoothly in 3D into a different radius was a challenge
• Problems in the design of bodies were much more visible and consequential
• This problem was underscored by mass production
• Better surface production methods were necessary
• A geometric construction technique known as Proportional Curve was used
• Scale triangles on each axis were used to develop the curves
• Communicated the design intent to the sheet metalworker, who developed checking templates to measure accuracy

• 1935 Opel Omega
• The first integral steel body, dispensed with the traditional chassis
• Major step towards weight saving

• The next stage in body engineering development
• Each panel takes the maximum stress
• Did not use an integral body design
• Used "torque boxes" in front and rear, joined only by the sheet metal cabin
• Excellent in absorbing crash energy
• Initially demonstrated problems with vibration and corrosion

• Industrialist Ransom Eli Olds produced the first significant car plant in Lansing, MI
• He observed before Henry Ford that the world was hungry for cars
• He realized cars had to be cheap to sell well
• "Curved Dash" was produced in 1901, and sold for $700, an unheard of price at the time
• Simple and functional design
• Sold 450 in 1901, 2,500 in 1902, 4,000 in 1903, and 5,000 in 1904 - a boom in the car industry

• Model N
• Henry Ford’s first attempt at making cars for the masses
• Forerunner of Model T
• Produced before the moving assembly line, and sold for $500
• Undercut the Olds

• Ford’s Model T assembly plant first installed in 1908
• Labor costs were immediately cut by 75%
• Parts where stacked by the side of the track, instead of in a central location

• Body’s were lowered over chassis as they rolled on the assembly line
• The notion of the assembly plant dates back to 1901 when 20 Locomobile Steamers were produced per day
• In 1912, Ford was producing 250 Model Ts per day
• But, it was the all-steel body that unlocked the full potential of mass production
• All-steel bodies opened the door to the high-speed metal press capable of thousands of parts per shift

• Ford’s workforce increased from 18,000 in 1915 to over 60,000 in 1923
• 8,000 Model Ts were sold in 1912
• Over 500,000 Model Ts were sold in 1915

• In 1903 the Europeans built 80% of the 62,000 cars produced world-wide
• In 1920s, America gained leadership
  • 11235 cars in 1903
  • 4,000,000 cars in 1929 (84% of all cars)
• Production of "cheap" cars failed in Europe
  • Poor engineering
  • Low power

• Ford had a single model policy, for optimal cost and production objectives
• GM merged with Chevrolet in the same period
• GM overtook Ford in market share, with a greater variety of models

Model T Ambulances in WWI

• In WWI (1914-1918) the real worth of motorized vehicles was demonstrated
• Thousands of soldiers learned to drive, fueling the demand for cars

• TEC452 Home
• History Index
• Functions of Automotive Body
• Design Factors
• The Body Challenge
• The Early Days
• Early Body and Chassis
• Mass Production
• American Styling Revolution
• The Italians
• Safety
• Voice of the Customer
• Mechanical Influences
• Evolution of Body Features