Plastic Car Bodies

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Plastic Car Bodies

A noticeable feature of modern cars is the Increasingly wide use being made of plastic materials for the interior decoration of the coachwork. Typical of this tendency is the plastic instrument board which is to be seen in so many of the 1939 types. But in Europe, manufacturers ai'e proposing to carry the use of plastics even further, and to build complete motor car bodies of this material.

The Auto-Union Company, in Germany, for instance, has taken out a number of patents covering a special method of doing this which are most interesting.

The process consists of building a double-walled body of plastics. The various components are manufactured separately, and then assembled in a special jig, with applications of adhesive at the joints. All fittings and any necessary reinforcing pieces are then put into position, and the final step is to place the inner walls within the jig. The assembly is then ready for literally “cooking” into one piece, and this is achieved by placing inside the body an inflatable bag or balloon. Steam or hot air is admitted to this bag through a suitable connection, which then expands, and presses .the members of the body assembly outwards against the jig. The outside portions of the jig have hollow passages into which the steam or hot air also is admitted, so that heat is applied to the assembly both from within and from without.

While it is generally admitted that quite a strong and light motor car body can be constructed in this way, the objection has been advanced that repairs in the event of an accident would be rather difficult, and that until some method is devised of successfully replacing broken panels, the plastic body must remain a theoretic possibility on designers’ drawing boards.