Winged is coming: why the car bodies of the future will be aluminum and what is fraught with. The most interesting cars made of plastic Car body made of plastic

Winged is coming: why the car bodies of the future will be aluminum and what is fraught with. The most interesting cars made of plastic Car body made of plastic

30.07.2019

And the use of aluminum in the production of a body seems so seductive and new technology that it is forgotten that it comes from the first half of the twentieth century. As a constructive material for cars, it was tested immediately, as soon as they began to abandon wood and leather, and it turned out to be so well compatible with wood that this technology is still used on Morgan cars. That's just the majority of companies that in the thirties managed to produce a lot of cars with the widespread use of aluminum parts, later abandoned light metal. And the reason was not only the shortage of this material during the Second World War. The plans of science fiction futurists about the widespread use of aluminum in the design of machines were not destined to come true. In any case, until now, when something began to change.

Aluminum in metal form has not been known for so long - it was brought out only at the end of the 19th century, and it immediately began to be highly valued. And not at all because of its rarity, just before the discovery of the electrolytic reduction method, production was fabulously expensive, aluminum was more expensive than gold and platinum. No wonder the scales presented to Mendeleev after the discovery of the periodic law contained many aluminum parts; at that time it was a truly royal gift. From 1855 to 1890, only 200 tons of material were produced according to the Henri-Étienne Saint-Clair Deville method, which consists in displacing aluminum with sodium metal.

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Already by 1890, the price had fallen 30 times, and by the beginning of the First World War - more than a hundred. And after the thirties, it constantly maintained approximate parity with the prices of rolled steel, being 3-4 times more expensive. The shortage of certain materials periodically changed this ratio for a short time, but nevertheless, on average, a ton of aluminum always costs at least three times more than ordinary steel.

"Winged" aluminum is called for a combination of low weight, strength and affordability. This metal is noticeably lighter than steel, accounting for approximately 2,700 kg per cubic meter versus 7,800 kg for typical steel grades. But the strength is also lower, for common grades of steel and aluminum, the difference is about one and a half to two times both in terms of fluidity and tension. If about specific figures, then the strength of the aluminum alloy AMg3 is 120/230 MPa, low-carbon steel grade 2C10 is 175/315, but high-strength steel HC260BD is already 240/450 MPa.

As a result, aluminum structures have every chance of being noticeably lighter, at least by a third, but in some cases, the superiority in the mass of parts can be greater, because aluminum parts have higher rigidity and are noticeably more technologically advanced to manufacture. For aviation, this is a real gift, because more durable titanium alloys are much more expensive, and mass production is simply not available, and magnesium alloys are highly corrosive and highly flammable.

Practice on the ground

In the mass consciousness, aluminum bodies are mainly associated with cars of the Audi brand, although the first in the back of the D2 appeared only in 1994. It was one of the first large-scale all-aluminum machines, although a fair amount of winged metal was a trademark of brands such as Land Rover And Aston Martin for decades, not to mention the already mentioned Morgan, with its aluminum on a wooden frame. Still, advertising works wonders.

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First of all in new technology body manufacturing emphasized the low weight and resistance of aluminum bodies to corrosion. Other advantages of aluminum structures were sometimes mentioned: for example, the special acoustic properties of bodies and the passive safety of forged and cast structures.

The list of cars in which aluminum parts make up at least 60% of the body weight (not to be confused with the total weight of the car) is quite large. First of all known Audi models, A2, A8, R8 and related R8 Lamborghini Gallardo. Less obvious Ferrari F430, F360, 612, recent generations Jaguar XJ X350-X351, XJR, XF, XE and F-Pace. connoisseurs of real sports cars remember the Lotus Elise, as well as the platform Opel Speedster and Tesla roadster. Especially meticulous readers will remember Honda NSX, Spyker and even Mercedes SLS.

Photo: Audi A2 aluminum space frame

Often erroneously, modern Land Rover, Range Rover, BMW latest series and some other premium models, but there the total share of aluminum parts is not so large, and the body frame is still made of steel - ordinary and high strength. There are few all-aluminum machines, and most of them are relatively small-scale designs.

But how is it? Why, with all its advantages, aluminum is not used as widely as possible in the body structure?

It would seem that you can win on the mass, and the difference in the price of materials is not so critical against the background of other components of the cost of an expensive car. A ton of "winged" now costs $ 1,600 - this is not so much, especially for a premium car. Everything has an explanation. True, to understand the issue again, you have to go a little deeper into the past.

How aluminum lost to plastic and steel

The eighties of the twentieth century will go down in the history of the automotive industry as a time when the main brands in the world market were formed and a balance of power was created that has changed little to this day. Since then, only Chinese companies have added new blood to the automotive market, otherwise it was then that the main trends, classes and trends in the automotive industry appeared. At the same time, there was a turning point in the use of alternative materials in the design of the machine, in addition to steel and cast iron.

It is worth thanking for this increased expectations regarding the durability of machines, new standards for fuel consumption and passive safety. Well, and, traditionally, the development of technologies that allowed all this. Timid attempts to use aluminum in the nodes responsible for passive safety quickly ended with the introduction of only the simplest elements in the form of bars for crushed areas and decorative elements, which accounted for a few percent in the total mass of the body.

But the battle for the design of the body itself was hopelessly lost at that time. Plastic manufacturers have clearly won. simple technology making large parts out of plastic changed the design of cars in the eighties. Europeans were surprised at the manufacturability and "advanced" Ford Sierra and VW Passat B3 with their developed plastic body kit. The shapes and materials of radiator grilles, bumpers and other elements eventually began to correspond to plastic parts - something like this is simply unthinkable to be made from steel or aluminum.

Meanwhile, the construction of car bodies remained traditionally steel. The task of increasing the strength of the body and reducing the mass was completed by the transition to a wider use of high-strength steels, their mass in the body was continuously increasing, from a few percent in the late seventies and up to a confident 20-40% by the mid-nineties in advanced designs European brands and 10-15% for American cars.

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Corrosion problems were solved by switching to galvanized steel and new painting technologies, which made it possible to increase the warranty period for the body up to 6-10 years. Aluminum remained out of work, its content in the mass of the car even decreased compared to the 60s - the oil crisis played a role, when energy carriers became more expensive, and hence the metal itself. Where possible, it was replaced by plastic, and where plastic was no good, steel again.

Aluminum Strikes Back

Having lost the battle for the exterior, a decade later, aluminum won back under the hood. In the 90s and 2000s, manufacturers massively switched to aluminum gearbox housings and cylinder blocks, and then suspension parts. But that was only the beginning.

The fall in aluminum prices in the 1990s coincided well with the tightening of requirements for the economy and environmental friendliness of cars. In addition to the large components already mentioned, aluminum was registered in many parts and assemblies of the machine, especially those related to passive safety - steering brackets, amplifier beams, motor mounts ... Its natural fragility, a wide range of viscosity changes, and low weight came in handy .

Further - more, aluminum began to appear in the body structure. About all-aluminum Audi A8 I, but also began to appear on simpler cars external panels from light metal. First of all, these are hinged panels, hood, front fenders and doors on a car. premium brands. Alloy steel subframes, mudguards and even amplifiers. On modern BMW and Audi in the front of the body remained almost one aluminum and plastic. The only place where the positions have become unshakable so far is the load-bearing structures.

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About cons and corrosion

Aluminum is always difficult with welding and fasteners. For connection with steel elements, only riveting, bolts and gluing are suitable, for connection with other aluminum parts, welding and screws are also suitable. A few examples of structures using light-alloy bearing elements have proven to be very capricious in operation and superbly inconvenient to restore.

So, aluminum front suspension cups on BMW cars and spars still have problems with electrochemical corrosion at the joints and problems with restoring joints after damage to the body.

As for the corrosion of aluminum, it is even more difficult to deal with it than with the corrosion of steel. At a higher reactivity, its resistance to oxidation is mainly due to the formation protective film oxides on the surface. And this method of self-defense in the conditions of connecting parts from a bunch of different alloys turned out to be useless.

The Steel Challenge That Could Change Everything

While aluminum was conquering new territories, the technologies for the production of rolled steel did not stand still. The cost of high-strength steels decreased, mass hot-forged steels appeared, corrosion protection albeit with slippage, it also improved.

But aluminum is still coming, and the reasons for this are clear to everyone who is familiar with the process of stamping and welding steel parts. Yes, stronger steels make it possible to lighten the car body and make it stronger and tougher. back side medals - an increase in the cost of the steel itself, an increase in the price of stamping, an increase in the cost of welding and the difficulty in repairing damaged parts. Doesn't it remind you of anything? Precisely, these are the very problems that are inherent in aluminum structures from birth. Only high-strength steel and traditional "iron" difficulties with corrosion do not disappear anywhere.

But the same cannot be said about high-strength steel. A package of expensive alloying additives is inevitably lost during processing. Moreover, it contaminates secondary raw materials and requires additional costs for cleaning it. Price for simple stamps steel and high-strength differs significantly, and when iron is reused, all this difference will be lost.

What's next?

Apparently, we are waiting for the aluminum future. As you already understood, the initial cost of raw materials does not play such a role now as manufacturability and environmental friendliness. The growing “green” lobby can influence the popularity of aluminum cars in many other ways, from successful PR to reduced recycling fees. As a result, the image of premium brands requires greater use of aluminum and the popularization of technology among the masses, with maximum benefit for yourself, of course.

Steel structures remain the lot of cheap manufacturers, but as aluminum technologies become cheaper, they will certainly not resist the temptation either, especially since the theoretical advantage of aluminum can and even should be realized. While automakers are not trying to force this transition, the body structures of most cars contain no more than 10-20% aluminum.

That is, the "aluminum future" will not come either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

In the traditional steel bodybuilding, a bodybuilding dead end is visible ahead, which can only be avoided by breaking the trends for all-round hardening and lightening of structures.

While progress slows down the manufacturability of welding processes and the availability of well-established production processes, which can still be inexpensively adapted to new steel grades. Increase welding current, introduce precise control of parameters, increase compressive forces, introduce inert welding ... As long as these methods help, steel will remain the main structural element. Rebuilding production is too expensive, global changes very heavy for the hulking locomotive of industry.

What about the cost of owning a car? Yes, it is growing and will continue to grow. As we have repeatedly said, modern auto industry developed countries are sharpened for a quick renewal of the fleet and a wealthy buyer with access to cheap loans at 2-3% per annum. About countries with real inflation of 10-15% and salaries of the "middle class" in the region of $ 1,000, corporate managers are far from thinking in the first place. Will have to adjust.

The body is one of the most the most important details car. First of all, its main qualities should include strength, relative cheapness, but at the same time it should be optimally convenient for all passengers in the car and be distinguished by style and design. Agree that these qualities are sometimes contradictory, so there is no consensus among manufacturers which of the body materials is best suited for production.

We will tell you about modern body materials and consider their pros and cons.

steel body

The steel body can be of various alloy variants, which gives completely different properties to its varieties. So, for example, sheet steel has excellent ductility, and it also allows the production of external panels of body parts, which can sometimes have a rather unusual and complex shape. It is logical that high-strength grades have a fair amount of energy and excellent strength, so this type of steel is used in the production of power body parts. It is also beneficial that throughout the automotive industry, manufacturers have managed to simplify and fine-tune the craftsmanship of manufacturing steel bodies, which makes them quite inexpensive.

It is this factor that has made steel bodies by far the most popular in the automotive market.

With all these advantages, steel still has significant drawbacks. So, for example, it is inconvenient that steel parts are not light in weight, and are also subject to corrosive processes, which forces manufacturers to use galvanizing steel parts and, in parallel, look for alternative options body materials.


aluminum body

Today, more and more often you can hear about the use of a material such as aluminum in the production of car bodies. This metal, which is popularly called "winged", is not subject to rust formation on body parts, and the aluminum body itself, with the same strength and rigidity, weighs 2 times less than its steel counterpart. But there are pitfalls here too.

For all its qualities, aluminum has a significant drawback - it is a good conductivity of noise and vibration.

Therefore, automakers have to reinforce the body with anti-noise insulation, which ultimately leads to an increase in the cost of the car, and the metal itself is more expensive than steel. These factors contribute to the fact that the bodywork may subsequently require the use of special equipment.

As a result, all this leads to an increase in the price of the car itself. Not all manufacturers can afford a completely aluminum body, one of the few is Audi. But more often than not, you have to compromise and assemble aluminum and steel parts in one body. So, for example, in the model BMW 5th series, the entire front of the bodyshell is made of aluminum and welded to the steel frame.


plastic body

Plastic not so long ago was considered the most promising in the automotive industry. body material. It is lighter than even the aforementioned aluminum, it can be given any, even fanciful and intricate shape, and painting it is much cheaper, because it can be carried out already at the production stage using various chemical additives. And finally, this material certainly does not know what corrosion is. But plastic has many more disadvantages and they are quite significant.

So, the properties of plastic change under the influence of different temperatures - frost makes plastic more brittle, and heat softens this material.

For these reasons and a number of others, plastic cannot be used to manufacture those parts that are subjected to fairly high power loads, some repairs plastic parts and do not lend themselves at all, and require their complete replacement. This is what led to the fact that today only awnings, bumpers and fenders are made of plastic.


Composite body

Another type of material for the manufacture of the body are composite materials. This is a "hybrid" material, obtained from several connected together. Such production makes the composite body optimal in quality, as it combines the best of each component.

In addition, composite materials are more durable, they can be used to produce the largest and most solid parts, which undoubtedly simplifies the production itself.

Composite materials include, for example, carbon fiber, which, by the way, is used most often in production. Carbon fiber is used to make body shells for supercars.

The disadvantages of this material include the complexity of its use in the automotive industry. Sometimes manual labor is even needed, which, of course, ultimately affects the price. Another drawback is the almost impossibility of restoring carbon fiber parts after deformation during accidents. All this contributes to the fact that mass-produced cars in a carbon-fiber body are practically not produced.

Each body type has its own advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on the tastes of consumers, that is, you and me.

Good luck with your purchases and be careful!

The article uses images from the sites www.rul.ua, www.alu-cover.ru, www.tuning-ural.ruwww.torrentino.com


January 13, 1942 appeared the first in the world plastic car. Henry Ford received an official patent for his invention, which, according to the author's idea, was to become lighter and cheaper than a car with a metal case. Due to many objective reasons, such cars have not yet gained popularity. However, this does not prevent manufacturers from time to time to present concepts, and even trial batches of products from this unusual material. And in our today's review we will talk about the ten most interesting and iconic cars from plastic.




During the Second World War, most of the metal produced in the world went to the military. This fact was one of the main reasons for the emergence of Soybean Car - the first in the world plastic car. Of course, most of the parts of this car were made of metal, but the design also included fourteen bioplastic elements, which reduced the weight of the car by almost a quarter.



And the first plastic car launched in mass production, became Chevrolet Corvette 1953 release. The frame of this car was made of metal, and the body was made of fiberglass, which was gaining popularity in those years. In total, 300 copies of this car left the assembly line, which served as the progenitor of one of the most popular sports cars in the world.



Experiments with fiberglass bodies took place in those days in the Soviet Union. For example, in 1961, students of the Kharkov Road Institute created an experimental car HADI-2, which became the first domestic plastic car. The weight of the car was only 500 kilograms.



Trabant is not just a car, it is a symbol of the whole country that produced it, the German Democratic Republic. Due to the simplicity of design, small size and constant breakdowns, the car has become the object of universal ridicule. Especially the Germans, who always knew a lot about good cars, amused Trabant's plastic body (wings, bumper and part of the body panels). In total, more than three million cars were produced under this brand.



K67 car, created jointly concern BMW and the chemical giant Bayer, was first shown to the public in Düsseldorf in 1967. But this happened not at a car show, but at an exhibition of the chemical industry. After all, Bayer wanted to show off its achievements in plastics technology in this way. As a demonstration, this car with plastic body crashed into the wall several times without any injury.



The Urbee Hybrid plastic car was also created to showcase the development modern technologies. This car was the first car, most of the parts of which (including the body) were printed on a 3D printer.



The BMW i3, which will go into mass production in 2014, will not only be the world's first serial electric car premium class, but also a car in which a significant part of the body parts will be made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. The creators of the machine expect that in the future this technology will gain immense popularity around the world. After all, such a body is lighter than a completely metal body, and even immune to minor mechanical damage.



As mentioned above, the first mass-produced plastic car was the Chevrolet Corvette sporcar. Company Alfa Romeo continues these glorious traditions. She released sport car Alfa Romeo 4C with full carbon fiber body. This structural element weighs only 63 kilograms, and the car as a whole weighs 895 kg.



also does not graze hinds in the creation plastic cars. The start of mass production of the "people's car" with the funny name Yo-mobile is already on the way. Its body will be made of plastic and polypropylene. Some panels will be interchangeable. So owners will be able to change them after major accidents or simply change the color of their car if they wish.



Some wits, criticizing plastic cars, call them toys and joke that such vehicles generally can be assembled from LEGO. As if mocking them, two young engineers, an Australian and a Romanian, jointly created full size car from more than half a million elements of the designer. Interestingly, instead of the engine internal combustion this LEGO car has .

When developing most car models, designers are guided by general principles: compactness, lightness, efficiency. Special meaning given to weight reduction, because the weight in one way or another affects all the performance of the car, especially fuel consumption.

The Porsche 959 has aluminum alloy doors and hood, polyurethane bumpers and an epoxy compound reinforced with Kevlar and fiberglass fibers.

However, no matter how hard the engineers in the fight against extra pounds, the introduction of various new devices - catalytic converter exhaust gases, anti-lock, anti-slip and other systems, air conditioning, power steering, power windows, etc., nullifies all their efforts. If the “first” VW Golf in 1974 weighed a little more than 750 kg, then its successor gained almost a centner in weight. Golf III in 1992, it was already pulling a ton, and the fourth generation of these cars added another 200 kg to the result of its predecessor. Where can economical fuel consumption come from if, in order to give acceptable dynamic Golf characteristics“number 4” required much more powerful (and again heavy) motors?

The fact that the body of the McLaren F1 is made of composite materials can be seen from the results of the accident, which gave this "treasure" worth $ 1 million by its owner

The way out is seen in more wide application plastics and light alloys. Back in the mid-1980s, analysts predicted that by 2001 the share of steel parts in the total mass of a car would drop to 50-55%. But this did not happen, although it should be recognized that against the previous fifty kilograms of plastics, which were mainly used for the manufacture of interior components and electrical insulating parts, today the number of non-metallic parts in weight ratio exceeds 100, and on some models even 150 kg.

EVERYONE VERY WANTS, BUT YET CAN'T VERY

Plastics have a hard time making their way. One of the first parts made of plastic was the bumper, but plastic bumpers did not owe their appearance to cars. technical merit, and the entry into force of US low-speed collision damage regulations. And only when american cars In 1968, 40,000 fine-meshed polyurethane bumpers were installed, engineers “remembered” that resilient plastic bumpers also have advantages in reducing weight, give full freedom for design creativity, improve aerodynamics and, finally, are easily repaired after damage. In 1974, plastic bumpers received already 800 thousand, and in 1980 - more than 4.5 million cars manufactured in the United States.

You won’t surprise anyone with plastic lining of the interior for a long time. However, today vegetable raw materials are increasingly used as a bulk filler for these parts.

What are the barriers to wider and faster adoption body parts from plastics on cars? Indicative in this regard are the studies that Opel conducted in preparation for production. sports coupe Caliber. It was assumed that the Calibra body would be built on the basis of a steel space frame, which is lined with plastic panels. This would allow, according to automotive fashion, to make significant adjustments to the body design every three to four years, without fundamentally changing the entire technological process machine manufacturing. However, upon careful analysis, it turned out that at the scale that was planned to produce Calibra, the cost of manufacturing a plastic version of this car would be 15% higher than versions with an all-metal body. Plus, there were serious difficulties with the disposal of automotive scrap.


Almost forgotten today, the Gordon-Keeble (left) with a fiberglass body made a lot of noise in 1964. It could have been great, but the high production costs associated with maintaining a high-class racing team ruined it. But the plastic Chevrolet Corvette (on the right) produced at the same time proved its right to exist.

However, the recycling of plastic is a solvable matter, and in fact a lot, if not all, depends on the volume of car production. If the level of production of a model does not exceed 2-3 thousand pieces per month, then due to the high cost of manufacturing stamps, sheet metal used to manufacture a body turns out to be more expensive than plastic panels. That's when it makes sense to bet on plastic, but with more mass production economic advantage appears at the steel sheet. And although examples of plastic Trabant, Renault Espace and Chevrolet Corvette, produced in the hundreds of thousands, seem to prove the opposite, while still it is more about exceptions to the rule.

Imperfect technology of molding large-sized plastic panels, as well as parts with increased structural resistance in accordance with shockproof standards, does not allow expanding the use of non-metallic materials. Models Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, which can rightfully be called plastic, were produced piece by piece, which justifies the use of expensive and difficult-to-manufacture composite materials in them. Such cars have become legendary, but they cannot serve as an example for large-scale production.

IS A PLASTIC ENGINE POSSIBLE

IN engine compartment The car leaves even fewer opportunities for enthusiasts to use plastics. Therefore, the year 1974 is still remembered as a revolution, when Volkswagen used fiberglass-reinforced nylon for the first time on the Passat model for the production of radiator tanks. Then came the turn of fans made of thermosetting polymers - because they weigh less than metal ones, they are performed in one stamping operation, they do not require subsequent machining and balancing. Today, many parts located under the hood of a car are already made of plastic, but their weight fraction from total weight plastics used in the automotive industry still does not exceed 15-20%.

Ferrari F40 and its body made entirely from a combination of Kevlar and carbon fibers

Of course, it is difficult for plastics to compete with traditional materials in the field of load-bearing parts. And the problem is not in terms of strength, but in the same high manufacturing cost. But there are positive experiences. rear Chevrolet suspension The Corvette is equipped with a transverse plastic spring, which successfully copes with its duties and at the same time weighs only 3.6 kg instead of 19 kg if it was made of steel.

However, is a plastic engine possible? The American firm Polimotor answered this question in the affirmative. Cylinder head and block, oil pan, intake manifold and a number of other parts of the 4-cylinder power unit, developed by Polimotor, are made of phenol plastic, a plastic that has high resistance to compression and bending even at temperatures above 2000C and is able to maintain chemical stability in the presence of gasoline, oil, ethylene glycol and water. From metal in this motor, only cylinder liners, crankshaft and camshafts, exhaust valves and timing springs. The use of plastic has resulted in a 60% weight savings and a 15% reduction in running engine noise. About mass production plastic engine it's too early to say, but the very fact of the existence of such a motor inspires a certain optimism.

PLASTIC BEAR

Last summer, the media reported that BelAZ had acquired a license from the Russian ACM Holding (formerly the Ministry of Automobile and Agricultural Engineering) to manufacture the Mishka microcar. The Mishka design is based on a prefabricated-modular scheme, in which plastic panels are hung on a low-alloy steel frame. The car has a removable rear cap, which, at the request of the owner, provides a quick transformation right into the garage of a four-seat station wagon, which is basic version“Bears”, in a pickup truck, van, convertible or landau (isn't this, by the way, what Opel wanted when developing the Calibra?).

In the structure of the “Mishka” body, plastic panels are hung on the steel frame

At one time, justifying the economic feasibility of the Mishka, ACM Holding calculated that the project would be profitable with an annual production of 10,000 of these vehicles. Such a volume is quite consistent with the above 2-3 thousand pieces per month, which allows us to believe in the payback of "Mishka". However, the question of whether even such a small number of "clubfoot" is able to overpower the Belarusian automobile market, we leave open, although it depends on whether Belarus will be able to produce its own passenger car, and besides, a plastic one.

Sergei BOYARSKIKH

In 1942, the world's first plastic car was created. As planned by Henry Ford, this car was supposed to be lighter and cheaper than a car with a metal body. Due to objective reasons, such cars did not become popular, but this does not prevent auto manufacturers from presenting plastic concepts. And in today's review, we will show you eight of the most interesting plastic cars.

(8 photos of plastic cars)

The world's first plastic car - Soybean Car.

During the Second World War, a huge part of the metal produced in the world went to the military. This was the root cause for the appearance of the first plastic car - Soybean Car. Naturally, most of the parts of this car were made of metal, but the device included mostly bioplastic elements, which reduced the weight of the car by four times.

First mass-produced plastic car - Chevrolet Corvette (C1)

In 1953, the first plastic car, the Chevrolet Corvette, was mass-produced. The basis of this car was metal, and the body part was made of fiberglass. In total, 300 copies of such a car were created.

The first plastic car in the history of Russia - HADI-2

In 1961, students of the Kharkov Road Institute was car invented made of plastic, which received the experimental name HADI-2. The entire car was approximately 500 kg.

The most famous plastic car in the world is the Trabant.

This car was created in the GDR. Due to the small size and constant breakdowns, this car was German experts who knew a lot about good cars were simply ridiculed. Trabant cars about three million were issued.

Advantage of the German chemical industry - Bayer K67

In 1967, a car created by BMW and the Bayer chemical company was introduced to the public. At the demonstration show, the K67 crashed into the wall several times, while its frame remained without visible damage.

Russian car made of plastic - Yo-mobile

The domestic auto industry is not far behind in the creation of plastic cars. The mass creation of a plastic car with the cheerful name Yo-Mobile has already begun. The body of this car is made of polypropylene and plastic, and some parts can be changed, for example, in case of an accident or just when you want.

Plastic cars from children's LEGO constructor

Many jokers, criticizing plastic cars, call them toys and say that such vehicles can generally be assembled from LEGO constructor. Despite the grins, two young engineers, one from Romania and the other from Australia, together created a full-size car from half a million LEGO parts. It is noteworthy that instead of the engine, this LEGO car has a pneumatic motor.

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