With the help of a 3D printer, it was possible to save the car that participated in the Grand Prix 1914

The technology of 3D printing allowed to keep the classic vintage car.

The ABC News article is translated for you Top 3D Shop .

Australia - the birthplace of the only surviving machine currently participating in the 1914 Grand Prix - is the “Delage Type-S” car model. Thanks to the exploits of the restorers, this rare car is still on the move.
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In 2014, when the cylinder block cracked and water got into the exhaust system, the car stalled and was sent to a mechanical workshop in Castlemaine, 130 km northeast of Melbourne.

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Motor car

Motor remanufactured by mechanic Grant Cowie.

Due to the lack of spare parts or original drawings, and since only a handful of specialists had the traditional skills to make parts of vintage cars, Grant Cowie, an engineer for pre-war cars, began to look for alternative ways to recreate a complex 16-valve engine.

“I knew that using the traditional method, which includes creating a wooden model, would be an extremely expensive project and, with such a complex cast, it would probably take several attempts to correct this motor,” said Mr. Cowie.

He decided that the most accurate, efficient and inexpensive way to get the car back on line would be to use digital technology to create a copy of the original cylinder block.

The hitch was that before the repair of such complexity, Cowie did not do.

Delage model history

• In 1914, only 3 cars of the Delage Type-S model were created to participate in the premier race in French Lyon.
• A month after the Grand Prix, World War I broke out and the car races in Europe stopped.
• Delage Type-S cars were sold to the United States and then, in the twenties of the 20th century, one of them was resold to Australia for auto racing.
• This car was driven by one of the first Australian race drivers and later its owner was the legendary racer Lex Davison.

Recreation engine block

A laser 3D scanner was used to scan the motor unit from the inside and the outside — work that would have taken many months without such equipment was completed in a few days.



The data obtained during the scan were used to digitally “repair” the cracked motor on the computer. Then a mold was created using a 3D printer.

The process of creating the engine block

The original engine block has been scanned.

According to the fabricated form, the engine was cast at the local iron foundry, after which the traditional machining of the finished product was performed on a manual machine.


With the help of 3D printing, a mold was created, a new engine block was cast on it

“It's one thing to complete the processing, and quite another to collect all the details together,” says Cowie.

"When the engine was assembled and brought - it was a real relief."


Pictured is Grant Cowie, Pre-War Engineer

While many modern auto parts are printed on 3D printers, project manager Philip Gilfoyle commented that repairs of this magnitude are a unique phenomenon.


“As far as I know, this has not been done in the area of ​​car restoration,” said Gilfoyle.

Stuart Murdock, the owner of the car, insisted that all used parts should exactly repeat the original ones.


“I believed in these specialists and was not disappointed,” he said.

Engineering feat

Now that the 103-year-old has returned to service, Murdoch is a very satisfied customer.


“This is an outstanding achievement for all of its participants and, I can say, very significant for Australian engineering,” he said.

Automobile historian Douglas Blaine is amazed by the fact that one of the priceless S-Type models is still on the move: “The fact that this model exists in its original form is maintained in this state and is used by the owner, rather than gathering dust in some museum behind the glass , a really amazing fact. ”

Gilfoyle believes that digital repair technology can revolutionize the restoration of automobiles, and mechanics, like Mr. Cowie, are becoming less dependent on the availability of auto parts and the end of industry’s use of old technologies.


Type-S model on the 750 km race at the Grand Prix in Lyon, France, 1914

Where else do you think this technology can be applied? Where would you apply it? For what? Share your opinion in the comments.