Why doesn't Toyota use stainless steel bodys like Delorean?

What for? Then they would be more expensive.

Tom

Couple of reasons:

1) Stainless steel would be far more expensive. 2) If it gets ANY damage, you can't simply pop it out without leaving scars. Only minor dents or dings can be popped and buffed out, but even those leave a noticable marring on the surface. 3) American's at least (I can only guess Canadians too) want color variety. Its a little more pricey to paint SS, and if you do it has to be done just right to get it to look good. 4) Painting SS is a dead give-a-way to damage (probably severe too).

Not "still", again. The company went out of business and it's assets were sold. As was the name. This company has found a nice little niche supplying the collector market.

As I recall, the cars weren't all that good.

Cost and no real advantage. Stainless steel is hard to work with, impossible to paint and expensive to make.

Gary

Latest Wired magazine suggested that Toyota will make aluminum cars. Better than stainless! Much lighter and doesnt rust.

Aluminum doesn't "rust", so you'd think it would be great - but it's not a better material for car bodies by a long shot.

Aluminum has other even nastier corrosion failure modes when it's not protected and in the presence of water and certain salts and environmental contaminants. I've seen it turn to jelly and crumble to piles of white oxide 'boogers'.

Plus it's a pain to stamp aluminum into car body panels because it has a lot higher spring-back than mild steel making die design a big problem, and a much lower fatigue strength meaning it can only be worked once and only so far, and it'll crack if you bend it again before annealing.

Aluminum is lighter than steel by volume, but not as stiff - to get the same stiffness of sheetmetal parts, you lose the weight advantage. You can make a true triangulated tube space frame vehicle lighter with aluminum - but they are highly labor intensive and would make the car far too expensive, compared to body-on-frame or unibody designs.

And aluminum is next to impossible to spot weld, meaning major modifications to car production lines and designs. I suppose you could teach those production line welding robots to TIG weld, but it would up the ante considerably. Plus you'd need lots of compressed Argon and Helium shielding gases.

Stainless has the added spring-back problem when compared to mild steel too, and it's harder than hell to machine and cut because it work hardens easily - but using the right grades of stainless for the chassis and all body panels would also eliminate rusted cars forever.

If you could afford to buy one, that is.

Detroit or Japan isn't going to build a lifetime car, there's a huge disincentive to doing it. They make their money selling new cars that last an average of (guessing) 15 years, including accidents. Imagine how far their sales would drop if every car they sold was built with all-stainless structural parts and lasted an average of 50+ years.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Big Three own stock in salt companies.

-->--

"Bruce L. Bergman" schrieb:

Bruce, nice explanations. Some hints I'd like to give ya:

- LandRovers have aluminum bodies (ok, so much for the funny side)

- the new BMW 5 series has a complete aluminum front that is directly welded/clinched/bolted to the steel main body. Treatment and production is no issue.

- The Audi A8 is made of complete aluminum. Works.

BR,

Axel

invalid, and use a net.

I work on 40+ year old aircraft for the Air Force as a Crew Chief and can back up Bruce's claims to aluminum corroding severely. Paint helps as long as it's perfectly adhered and has no chips, which we all know is impossibly to have in a daily driven vehicle. The corrosion starts much like rust but isn't as obvious. You'll get a light powdery substance on the exposed metal but under the paint a few inches the metal could corrode so bad it almost turns into (hard to imagine but think on a much smaller scale) a flakey croissont (sp?) texture. I personally have seen HOLES magically appear in the upper horizontal stabilizer surface of my aircraft. While I think aluminum might be great for high-end sports car driven occasionally I think the world public would be dissapointed in the long term service of vehicles built this way. Granted aircraft take higher stresses, and being in Special Ops are fairly abused in the last several years especially, I think the cost of production at the factory would double and it wouldn't last as long or be as strong as a steel bodied vehicle.

Here's a link to some pics of the aircraft I work on..... most don't look so good right now, some look better!

Mac

2004 Tacoma Doublecab Prerunner

The original owner, Mr. Delorean, went to prison. Was it securities fraud?

Some actually were, a friend of mine had one in the mid-80's. As I remember, his had a Volvo drivetrain, but I could be wrong.

But wicked easy to keep clean. The example I'm familiar with was easily cleaned with a Brillo pad, just like cookware.

Barry

Toyota is doing it to cut on weight of their hybrid vehicles. The Hummer H-1 is aluminum (I think the frame is steel though).

According to this article Toyota is eliminating the traditional combustion engine within the next 20 years. I guess they are very serious about the hybrid model. Time will tell.

Your age is showing. Deloreans were made in 84 and 85. They had a brushed Aluminum skin.

Stainless Steel is very expensive. Some other manufacturers like Isuzu use Tin for body panels.

DeLoreans had stainless skins, not aluminum.

Nobody uses tin--it is steel.

Ken

Joseph W> Your age is showing. Deloreans were made in 84 and 85. They had a brushed

Telephone a local metal supplier and ask the price per pound (or kilogram) of stainless steel sheet vs. steel sheet. You'll know the reason.

Ken

Sidney wrote:

Deloreans were most definitely stainless steel, NOT aluminum.

Barry

Funny how that works. He was charged with cocaine smuggling after being apparently entrapped, but cleared of all charges in 1984. Then the FBI went after him for securities charges, defrauding investors - cleared of all that. I believe the Federal drug charges were a big part of the problems the company had. I don't believe he ever went to prison, but, he may have well as. His reputation was ruined. Must have made some enemies somewhere?

My folks have one with 2000 miles on it. That one does have a Volvo drivetrain. Not alot of power, but I didn't take it over 90 to see how fast it would go. They also made turbo models, but I'm not sure if they're Volvos.

The thing that impressed me is the door design. They look like they need all kinds of room to open upwards, but only need 18".

One thing I did notice was that as soon as you park one it's sure to draw people to look and ask questions.

I can personally tell you the H-1 is most definately NOT aluminum. It is most definately STEEL thru and thru!

No he didn't. He was charged, tried, and acquitted of attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.

They might have, I don't recall. Since the engine is arguably the most expensive part to develop and build, it made sense for him to outsource it.

Gary

Yup. Aluminum is commonly used in Scuba cylinders.

Why, I don't know.

An 80cf cylinder carries a working pressure of 3000psi, and weighs about 32 pounds empty. A steel cylinder that contains 120cf of air and runs at 3500psi weighs only 38 pounds. It is the same diameter, and only about 3" longer than the aluminum 80.

Aluminum cylinders are susceptible to sustained load cracking, and generally are considered to have a lifespan of 10 years.

Steel cylinders, properly cared for, will last a lifetime.

--- Rich

The Deloreans were nicknamed "Snowmobiles".

I honestly don't remember if he went to prison for securities fraud or drug charges.

--- Rich