Recreating Classic Cars with CAD: Tucker Torpedo Project Update

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It’s been awhile since the last blog and much has been accomplished on the Torpedo. Here’s an update on those accomplishments.

If you want to start reading from the beginning, or any of the others you can navigate here:
Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6   Part 7 Part 8

In the last blog I mentioned the next major milestone Rob Ida was to undertake was marrying the body to the chassis. Rob succeeded in this milestone at the end of July when the body structure was lifted off the wooden buck and onto the chassis for the first time. So now the Torpedo has wheel and tires underneath it and is starting to look like a real car.

Since then Rob has finished the fabrication of the body panels and has turned his attention to some of the mechanical systems, like the turntable for the driver and passenger seats. The turntable is needed mainly for the driver’s entry and egress. Since the driver is positioned in the center of the car and not on the left side, getting into the driver’s seat would be a challenge considering the bubble roof of the Torpedo. The turntable is used to position the seat at the door opening. The driver would sit in the seat and the turntable would rotate back and position the driver in front of the steering wheel as seen here in this SOLIDWORKS animation.

Here is Rob checking the turntable for any problems.

 

He also checks to determine if the turntable fully operational.

 

Another major landmark was achieved on October 4th when the Torpedo was unofficially unveiled at the AACA Museum in Hershey, PA. Even though the Torpedo isn’t finished yet, the Museum wanted to feature the Torpedo in its Tucker-Cammack Collection during a charity event entitled “Night at the Museum.” Here’s a walkaround video of the Torpedo at the event.

 

Another detail to note is the steering wheel designed by Sean Tucker. An earlier blog included this rendered image of the steering wheel and now next to it the real thing. The wheel was machined from a billet piece of aluminum by Bob Ida, Rob’s Dad. This too is a work in progress and will look just like the SOLIDWORKS design when it’s finished.

In the next blog I’ll focus a bit on the people behind the scenes making the Torpedo happen.

Mike Sabocheck

Mike Sabocheck

Mike Sabocheck is a Technical Sales Director with Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS. Mike has been with DS SOLIDWORKS for 21 years. Prior to SOLIDWORKS he worked for Xerox for 17 years and then for Intergraph. His specialties are applying SOLIDWORKS to different design and manufacturing processes.