One Week Roadster – The Fuller Fleetwood Roadster Project Shows How Digital Metal Shaping is Bringing an Old Craft into the New Age
Digital metal shaping has found its way into the creation of body panels for restorations and custom-built automobiles. Figur, a company based in Whippany, New Jersey, has developed machines that can take flat sheets of metal and quickly transform them into complex three-dimensional shapes – without the need for expensive hard tooling. Most panels can be formed in about an hour, and the current generation of machines can accommodate workpieces up to 41 x 57-inches, with forming depths exceeding 15-inches.
Until now, producing parts of this size and complexity required either enormously expensive stamping dies, or the skills of highly accomplished metal shapers. As you might imagine, both approaches demand significant investments of time and money. Figur’s Digital Sheet forming system is a complete solution including machines, tooling and software – all made in the USA.
Bryan Fuller, owner of Fuller Moto in Atlanta, Georgia, recently conceived an ambitious idea: use this new technology to help build an entire 19-foot-long roadster body – in just five days. To make that vision a reality, Fuller partnered with Figur, as well as SaltWorks Manufacturing, in Sarasota, Florida, where two Figur machines were dedicated to producing the required body panels. It took just 60 hours to form the parts for the entire roadster body, with Figur forming the front half, and SaltWorks forming the rear panels. Meanwhile, Fuller assembled a team of 25 skilled metalworkers to fit, weld, and finish the digitally formed panels into a complete body.
For perspective, even a well-equipped custom shop with an experienced crew would typically spend more than a year completing a project of this magnitude. Yet remarkably, the body for this one-of-a-kind roadster was virtually completed in just five days. In this article, we’ll look at how this seemingly impossible feat was accomplished – and the remarkable results that were achieved.
Fuller’s design was inspired by a Hot Wheels miniature roadster model. With the concept in mind, he built a ¼-scale model to work out the proportions and design details. Once this scale model was tweaked to his satisfaction, it was sent to SaltWorks, who scanned it to create a digital model. That model was then scaled to full size and used to guide the Figur machines as they accurately shaped each panel. Saltworks was able to use this same digital file to create a wooden buck, or form, to support the panels as they were assembled. Amazingly, all this work was completed in just over a week’s time.
Fuller cast a wide net to assemble the talented team of men and women who brought all these panels together to build an actual car body. They came from all corners of the U.S. and Canada. Once all the panels had arrived at Fuller’s shop, the crew opened the shipping crates and developed a plan for accomplishing this task in just five days. Teams were assembled to focus on specific areas, such as the front and rear fenders, the hood panels and door skins, the grille shell, and so forth. Those with specialized skills in welding and complex edge finishing worked with each team to streamline the workflow.
You might imagine the working days were pure chaos; with crews working into the wee hours, personalities clashing, tempers flaring, and hammers flying. But thanks to Fuller’s meticulous planning, the work went smoothly, even though most members of this team had never worked together before. Most sessions ran from 9am to 5pm, and every team member was well-fed and hydrated throughout the project. There was certainly plenty of head-scratching and problem-solving along the way, but team spirit stayed high, and the massive undertaking stayed on-track. You can even see a detailed video of the build on the Fuller Moto YouTube page.
This project dramatically showcases the power of this new technology for the specialty-car market. In no way will it diminish the need for people who do custom metalwork; it’s just another tool, well-suited to compressing the cost and timeline of projects that involve complex metal shaping.
Small-Scale Scoop
Digital metal shaping is not only useful for large, complex projects like complete bodies. It can also be tremendously helpful with smaller projects, too. A good example is a recent project at SaltWorks Manufacturing, where a Chevelle required hood clearance for a supercharger. The SaltWorks team designed a scoop using some inspiration from other mid-’60s Chevrolet products, modeled it in the computer, and then had the Figur machine shape it. Here’s a quick overview of the process.
Photos: Figur, SaltWorks Fabrication
Sources: Figur, Fuller Moto, Saltworks MFG
