[peck420]

Can somebody provide a list of 'hand made' cars?

I can find hand assembled, I can find hand inspected....can't find any hand made.

[DrCaleb]

peck420 peck420:

Can somebody provide a list of 'hand made' cars?

I can find hand assembled, I can find hand inspected....can't find any hand made.

You might want to look at cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini . . .Rolls Royce, Morgan . . .

Most high end cars are primarally hand built. Parts are machined and built by a person with tools. Not stamped from steel and assembled by robots like Hyundai and Chrysler, etc.

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi2548211993/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19XB4E_J0MY

[peck420]

Dr C.

Those are all hand assembled. Less than 10% of their components (and none of the critical components) are hand made at all.

Drive trains. All machine made, hand assembled.
Chassis. Machine made, machine assembled.
Interior. Structure components - machine made, hand assembled. Cosmetic components - hand made, hand assembled.
Electronics. Machine made, hand assembled.
Body. Machine made, hand assembled.

I don't understand the allure of 'hand made', when very, very few parts of cars (or homes for that matter) are hand made. Just hand assembled.

[DanSC]

Ferrari uses both people and robots to assemble their cars.

There's also the economies of scale. When you're spending six figures on a car, you probably want it to be very personalized. With so many possibilities and so few cars made, it's probably cheaper to hand-assemble the cars than design, build, and test robots that will then assemble the cars. Also, you can charge much more for a "hand-built" car.

[DrCaleb]

peck420 peck420:

Dr C.

Those are all hand assembled. Less than 10% of their components (and none of the critical components) are hand made at all.

Drive trains. All machine made, hand assembled.
Chassis. Machine made, machine assembled.
Interior. Structure components - machine made, hand assembled. Cosmetic components - hand made, hand assembled.
Electronics. Machine made, hand assembled.
Body. Machine made, hand assembled.

I don't understand the allure of 'hand made', when very, very few parts of cars (or homes for that matter) are hand made. Just hand assembled.

"To create an Apple Pie from scratch, you must first create the Universe" Carl Sagan.

If you want to get pedantic, so can I! A "hand built" vehicle from your perspective would be a wheelbarrow.

Look again, many of the components are built by hand, ie: a block of metal comes in one side, and an engine or a wheel or a frame leaves the other and inbetween are machinists with mills and lathes. As Dan points out, robots are used where appropriate.

If you look at that Rolls Royce video, the interior is almost completely created by people using HAND tools. Very few machines beyond a power saw or buffing wheel. Same goes with Ferrari or Bugatti or Aston Martin. The frame on a Morgan isn't even steel! The chassis, doors and most of the frame are wood or carbon fiber!

[peck420]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

$1:

Final assembly, including all body, paint, wood, and leather work, is completed to each customer's individual specification at the Rolls-Royce plant in Goodwood, West Sussex. The plant is close to the historic Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit.

The plant contains the paint shop, body shop, leather shop, woodworking shop, assembly line, and executive offices under one roof. There are only three robots in the factory. The robots paint the body; the paint is polished by hand after the robots spray each coat. The coachlines, which are exactly 3 mm (0.1 in) wide, are done, as well as all other work, by hand, in keeping with the Rolls-Royce tradition.

It has a 6.75 litre, 48-valve, V12 engine that produces 453 bhp (338 kW; 459 PS) and 720 N·m (530 lb·ft) of torque. The engine is derived from BMW's N73 V12 powerplant and is assembled by BMW. It uses direct fuel injection, and is a drive by wire design, using valvetronic technology. The power output is regulated by infinitely varying valve lift by moving the rockers and rocker fulcrums via electric servos, rather than using the throttle body. The throttle body is maintained for fail-safe operation.

The aluminium extrusions that are used to construct the aluminium spaceframe are produced in Norway using hydroelectric power, shaped and machined in Denmark and finally hand-welded in Germany.

It is 1.63 m (64.2 in) tall, 1.99 m (78.3 in) wide, 5.83 m (229.5 in) long, and weighs 2,485 kg (5,478 lb). The body of the car is built on an aluminium space frame and the Phantom can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.7 s and to 300 km/h (186 mph) in 60 s. It has a six-speed automatic transmission and double wishbone suspension. The transmission is sourced from ZF of Germany. The vehicle electronics are sourced from BMW.

Rolls 'used' to be hand made. Than they were bought by BMW and brought back into the world of very high end cars.

As for Morgan, call me when they stop using BMW and Ford drive trains. None of which are hand made.

[andyt]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

peck420 peck420:

Can somebody provide a list of 'hand made' cars?

I can find hand assembled, I can find hand inspected....can't find any hand made.

You might want to look at cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini . . .Rolls Royce, Morgan . . .

And we all know that those cars are known for their reliability vs the more ordinary ones.

[DrCaleb]

peck420 peck420:

Rolls 'used' to be hand made. Than they were bought by BMW and brought back into the world of very high end cars.

As for Morgan, call me when they stop using BMW and Ford drive trains. None of which are hand made.

Rolls are hand made. How did ownership by BMW change anything?

Besides, you asked for examples of hand made cars, and then you discount cars that are actually handmade because ________ ?

When all those car plants in Ontario were closed a while back, and when other were closed for good in the last couple years; people were out of work. Not Robots. (if the robots were out of work, I'd hire them as minions in my world domination strategy)

I still see nothing however, that tells me that a robot can't assemble a pre-fab wall or floor; faster, better and cheaper than a person (who no one can find to do the work anyhow) can.

[peck420]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

peck420 peck420:

Rolls are hand made. How did ownership by BMW change anything?

Besides, you asked for examples of hand made cars, and then you discount cars that are actually handmade because ________ ?

When all those car plants in Ontario were closed a while back, and when other were closed for good in the last couple years; people were out of work. Not Robots. (if the robots were out of work, I'd hire them as minions in my world domination strategy)

On this, I can only say that I will agree to disagree. I just don't consider assembly, 'hand crafting'.

$1:

I still see nothing however, that tells me that a robot can't assemble a pre-fab wall or floor; faster, better and cheaper than a person (who no one can find to do the work anyhow) can.

On this we are agreed. I personally think we should be using people for what people are best suited for...creative thought. Let the machines do the labour, they are better at it any ways.