At what point were Ferrari bodies no longer made on wooden bucks?

I don't know the answer, but I visited Scaglietti in the "Lusso" era and was told that the parts were stamped in Torino and assembled at Scaglietti's.

 

275 GTB's were built using metal dies and power hammers. I believe PF Coupes also used metal dies. TdF's were probably wooden bucks.

 

Out of curiosity, would you say the same for the Boano/Ellena being a wooden buck?

 

Having stripped one to bare, the Lusso's bodywork is a patchwork of smaller, simple (non-compound) curved sections butt welded together; even the roof is done like that.

john

 

A wooden buck for the 1964 500 Superfast was exhibited at L'Idea Ferrari in Florence in 1990.

Of course this was a low volume model (36 made) but I wonder if the use of wooden bucks differed, depending upon the complexity of the form or the individual body builder -Pininfarina, Scaglietti or, in the case of some competition models, Neri & Bonacini.

 

There was talk about this in this thread in the boxer section where it was established that 365 Boxers were built using a wooden buck and someone even posted a photo of the buck - http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/boxers-tr-m/104530-when-do-boxers-become-accepted-true-classics-ferraris-50s-60s-2.html#post135775441 - see posts 34 and 38.

 

Power hammers are not the large stamping machines, but rather hand held devices that eliminate having to swing your arms to provide blows to shape metal.

Be careful in your conclusions about seeing wooden bucks. Most of the low production Italian cars used a wood buck as a pattern for the metal dies. You can find photos of wood bucks for Boxer's, Daytona's, GTB's Lusso's, etc. However, the later production cars were usually built over metal dies.

 

There is a bit of confusion here...
The wooden buck is necessary to make the first body always, especially if it 'll be useful for a prototype, an one-off car, a show-car or the pattern for a steel production. This is typical of the aluminium low-series production.
It isn't possible to make a mold for a metal dies from a wooden buck directly, because it's necessary a resin model to set up the mold, which is the second step. This is typical of every high-series steel production. So every steel production needs resin models, even for a single detail.

 

I am not sure about other models, but the Daytona body panels were pressed out into small sections, the front and rear ends of the car [ clips] were welded together off the car, and then assembled onto the car in a folding light blue metal frame / jig. See the photos in the the book Ferrari Daytona super profile by Nathan Beehl.
I have photos of the whole build process but not the copyright so I am unable to post them.

 

All over the place really.
The Internet, private photos, E-bay, lots of magazines [ I have just bought a mint 1969 l' Auto Journal with a great article about the Daytona and the manufacturing process], Neil Bruce, ten 8x10" photos from the Klemantaski collection, etc. etc.

 

Not always... The Nembo Spiders, Thomassimas and all of Tom Meade's Ferraris were each fabricated using manichinos made of a steel wire framework. A heavier version would be built for higher runs than say ten cars, as Tom explained to me. He was mentored by Fantuzzi, who was responsible for building racing Mazeratis and then most racing Ferraris later, as the productions were being handled by others. Marcel Massini wrote a very good article about Fantuzzi for "Ferrari Marketplace Magazine" describing the cars Fantuzzi built and the methods he used. The resolution is not real good, so if someone has a better copy that would be great.

COACHBUILD.com - Fantuzzi article by Marcel Massini
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That is a pretty rough butt weld, but something like that I guess in very tight places could occur. Larger pieces with straighter edges were hammered and made to overlap on the manichino. A line was scratched into the lower of the two panels overlapping and that excess was cut off. So those overlapping areas needed to be similar. They had this down to an art for sure. A hammer and a sand bag and even tree stumps created many early Ferraris.

 

I get sick when I see pictures like this.....

 

I am amazed that Ferrari used this primitive tech, with multiple small pieces welded together.
Bristol used a rubber die in their production, as rubber is easily manufactured and much cheaper than a steel die. Lasts for hundreds of pressings of the sheet metal is Aluminium.

 

I think the photo of Alberto's Dino show repaired crash damage before he repaired it. Ferrari did a much neater job with smooth seams.
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I was trying to be a nice fabricator...Your image is how Tom described it. Factory panels were over-lapping all over the body as it was assembled. Then, at the end, the panels were cut and butt welded. These were usually clean straight cuts, which were easiest to repeat, but not always (never) symmetrical on both side. Enzo was known to say something like, "no one see both sides of the car at the same time."

 

The Boxer, the 512, was the last one to use a wooden buck, to the best of my knowledge.

 

As late as the 308.

The engine lid of that car is three or four stampings, welded together

 

A few comments. That is an example of a crude repair from an accident where someone tried to re stretch the material that was creased during the incident. If one looks in the spare parts manuals of some models, i.e.: 330GT, you will see that repair panels could be ordered. Having done metal work on numerous cars those replacement panels offered is how the models were put together. The panels were stamped panels hammered welded together. A little different that butt welded. Hammer welding is a process where as the weld is done it is hammered and dollied flat to relieve and stress to both panels and help towards a clean finish after which it would be picked and filed. Some panels as late as 330GT were hammered formed on a wooden buck. The rear trunk panel, where the rear license plate mounts, are hammered formed. These I have seen on numerous models. Inner engine compartment panels also. They were crudely left as the lead and finish men took over to prep for paint. Most of the Italian carozzerias used the wooden buck, stump and power hammer method in metal forming.
When did that completely stop? Not sure. But I can say that from working on these cars some form of wood used in shaping metal was used thru the 330GT series. One can go to the Brandoli website and see that this method still in use.
Cory

 

At Algar in 1970 I bought a 1966 275 GTB that had been traded in at the local Oldsmobile dealer. The car had been in an accident and the entire nose was flattened back to the engine lid. We decided that it would be more cost effective to purchase an entire new front clip. A while latter a wooden crate arrived at our parts department with the new sheet metal. It appeared to be a one-piece nose section that extended halfway back each fender. My recollection is that we paid approximately $900 at that time.
D a v e

 

Interesting story...and amazing times..900USD...imagine what that would cost now.