NICE WORK if you can find it.

[mdsalemi]

This story is true. It happened yesterday.

I was sitting in my kitchen at about 12:30 yesterday afternoon, and this email pops up on the laptop where I was working.

Subject: 3D scanning project
Message:
Hello Mr. Salemi,
Our company is involved in a project in which we are scanning vintage  
vehicles to create a 3D animation.
I am in need of a 1963 to 1971 MB 230/250/280 SL for this.
We are offering owner's compensation for their time and vehicle. We  
are located in Farmington Hills, and the scan takes appx. 45 min.
If you have members with this vehicle and could forward this request I would  
greatly appreciate it.  If you have more questions feel free to call me at ...

SERIOUSLY? yes! So I called the nice lady who sent the email. She gave me the address, told me briefly what they were doing, and I showed up at 2:30. I indicated that it was quite fortuitous for her that she puts the word out for a nearly 50 year old German import in the land of American Iron, and in two hours she had the car in the service bay!

The company is a professional engineering firm whose main line of business is litigation support and product failure analysis. Some large domestic auto manufacturer has been sued for a similar vintage roadster (you figure it out!  ) being rear-ended, gas tank rupturing and car exploding. They researched and found a variety of roadsters of the era with similar fuel tank layout and placement, and called them all in. All the cars were scanned with a 3D infrared scanner, and somehow some software will stitch the scans all together into something to support the premise...what the premise is, I don't know. But the guy who did the scanning were PEs--that is, professional engineers.

I left with a nice fat check courtesy of some large domestic auto manufacturer who seems to spend a lot on legal stuff...wink.

Here's a photo of the car being scanned. Note that what is in the engineer's hand is both a receiver (top) and the bottom part is an IR light source. What you cannot see is a handheld "head" in his left hand that is collecting all the data and mapping the car. They did have to spray a powder on the chrome to reduce specular reflections.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Great stuff Mike, well done for you to respond that quick!

[Raymond]

I wonder if they'd be willing to sell the 3D model at some point when the legal case would permit?  Once we had that, we could do some pretty cool CGI for video.

[mdsalemi]

I wonder if they'd be willing to sell the 3D model at some point when the legal case would permit?  Once we had that, we could do some pretty cool CGI for video.

Ray, I also gave him a couple of parts-book line drawings, etc. to help them. He said as soon as the 3D stuff was done he'd send me a copy. I have no idea what this will look like or what form it will be--but if it is any kind of video i'll turn the evidence over to you!

[RobSirg]

Hi Mike,

I might be asking a stupid question here as I haven't yet picked up on your clues. Possibly a USA-Aust translation issue.

It seems you saying the car in question, in the litigation case ( being an American car) is not a Pagoda yet they specifically wanted to scan a Pagoda?

So my obvious ( and potentially stupid) question is - why not scan the exact car make/model that was involved in the accident?

Rob

[mdsalemi]

They wanted to scan a large variety of cars of similar design with similar fuel tank locations of similar vintage to possibly prove that the location of the fuel tank was not wrong or bad on the subject car, and that there was nothing wrong with the specific car or design that is the subject of litigation. While I was there a 1968 Ford Mustang was being scanned; they had done four other cars that day, and the list they had showed about 15 different makes/models.

Though I don't know this for absolute certain, I suspect that the cars being scanned were all sport or sporty cars; all with a fuel tank that is directly under the trunk floor or comprises the trunk floor in some cases, and where the trunk (boot) floor square area/top profile is nearly equivalent to the square area/top profile of the fuel tank.

The subject car was rear ended, fuel tank ruptured, and car exploded. I suspect the case is that the fuel tank location/design is a flaw. The defendants will claim it was a common design and not all cars exploded when rear ended, thus there's nothing wrong. But, I didn't see the actual lawsuit, and I'm not sure that the engineers did either--they are failure analysis specialists.

[RobSirg]

Got it - makes sense now. Good story - thanks.

[badali]

Ford Pinto?  That is the car I remember with this problem...

[Shvegel]

That's what we used to refer to as Making money for shaking hands.  Passed through Novi on my way to look at a 1971 911 Targa for a friend.  Solid chassis but needed too much to bring back to life.  Good drive though.

[mdsalemi]

Well, the fault analysis people came through. I had no idea what to expect, but here they are. Interesting. Remember, these were shot with some kind of infra-red scanner, and stitched together to create a composite.

[JamesL]

Is it my poor eyes that think that the trans tunnel in that last shot is not on the centre line. It seems to go "up" at the right hand end as I look. It may be an illusion cased by the exhaust...

[mdsalemi]

It is what it is. Maybe caused by not be straight on in the scanning.

[280SE Guy]

I think your tire pressure on the left rear is a little low.

[mdsalemi]

I think your tire pressure on the left rear is a little low.

Could be. But how did you know? I straightened the photos--honestly--before cropping! 

[280SE Guy]

Just a keen eye 

[Naj ✝︎]

I think they forgot to put the dye in the fuel tank 

naj

[waltklatt]

Hi Michael,

I'm still not clear on how the infrared works.
Is it based on the density of the material(xray) or the amount of light hitting an object?
How did they do the bottom shot?  Was the car on a lift or something?
Very fascinating and hope to learn more about this method.

Could this be the less intrusive way to see accident damage(measuring frame point of references) and rust extent?
How about doing analysis of internal damage(valve dropping, piston failure, ring gear snapping)?  Would save a lot of time for those who have to do a tear down before getting a conclusion.

Curious,
Walter

[mdsalemi]

Interesting questions, Walt--and I have no immediate answers.
I will pose them to the engineers who did this and see what they'll tell me.