Restoration at a fraction of the previous cost
04/01/2018
New technologies make it possible! Whereas in the past thousands of hours of work and a lot of money had to be invested in parts, computers, the internet and 3D printers now allow a completely new approach to restoration, especially for vehicles in very poor condition.
3DRestore is one of these companies that has made it its mission to give old cars a second (or third) life at low cost.
The process is always the same. First, what's there is scanned. Then the software searches the Internet for as many images of the vehicle as possible in order to add missing parts to the three-dimensional plans as correctly as possible. A virtual model of the car is then created from the entire mass of data and compared with the restoration object. This makes it possible to identify the missing or defective parts and rebuild them in a wide variety of materials using 3D printing. But the software can do even more! It generates a precise construction plan (similar to the instructions for Ikea furniture) so that you know in which order which parts should be assembled. And for the upholsterer, the computer also generates cutting patterns for leather or fabric parts.
In the current situation, it goes without saying that the specialists still have to intervene manually during the process. But the system is constantly learning, with every restored vehicle. Complete data is already available for cars such as the Lancia Flaminia Touring or the Porsche 356, to name just two examples. In addition, available parts (or blanks) can also be communicated to the system so that they do not have to be reprinted.
The calculation shows that the new process is far superior to the previous restoration procedure. In any case, the Amilcar CGSS in the pictures was newly created with only 350 working hours and a lot of computing power. In terms of costs, the investment in rebuilding amounted to less than a third of the usual amount. More information on the new process and further examples of restoration projects can be found on the 3DRestore website.
