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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | A P R I L 2 0 1 9 2 3 structural adhesive system was firmly established by 1988. The collaboration with Bertone brought another important benefit. As a world-renowned design house, it had ready access to major automotive events, leading to a public reveal at the 1987 Geneva International Motor Show. A slick promotional pamphlet was also released at the time, complete with the requisite “models effortlessly holding the feather light body” picture (Fig. 4). To further test durability, one ve- hicle was shipped to the U.S., prepped, and entered in the 1987 running of the Longest Day of Nelson, the showroom stock, 24-hour endurance race that ac- cepted production prototypes. The ve- hicle never actually raced, but instead demonstrated impressive real-life crash performance during practice. In addition, 1987 was an important year for another reason. As part as their trip to the 1987 SAE Congress in Detroit, Spen King and David Kewley had met Hulki Aldikacti, the Pontiac Fiero’s chief engineer. As a unibody struc- ture with unstressed plastic skins, the Fiero was a steel production realization of the ECV3 concept, making it an ideal ASVT test bed. The idea became reality within a year in the form of two aluminum prototypes of the Fiero. But again, corporate interest in aluminum structures was still several years away. Alcan viewed the au- tomotive ABS market as a key opportunity to balance against an eventual reduc- tion in the growth rate of the can mar- ket. The initial strategy had been to introduce the technology via boutique car companies, but the response had not been positive. Getting the technol- ogy out of the lab and into a high-vol- ume application became a top priority during 1987. Hugh Wynne-Edwards, Al- can’s vice president of technology, and Germaine Gibara, president of Alcan Automotive Structures (AAS), met with Spen King. They eventually concluded that Alcan would not be able to attract an automotive customer without prior demonstration of the automotive man- ufacturing aspects of the technology. In January 1988, Mike Kelly, a veteran automotive manufacturing leader and former director of Gaydon Technology, joined AAS to address that aspect of the project. HONDA EXPLORES ALUMINUM In Japan, Honda’s new Acura brand was facing an image problem similar to Audi. Honda had concluded that an aluminum-bodied, mid-engine super car would help cement its technological credentials. So, engineers at Honda’s R&D Center in Tochigi were working on their own aluminum body structure. By mid-1986, they had already built their first development mule and had fin- ished an aluminum replica of the dimin- utive CR-X two-seater. Their project was being entirely developed in collabora- tion with Japanese aluminum suppli- ers, who provided Honda with their first 6xxx sheet alloys and improved extru- sion alloys. The focus was on a stamped and welded structure using RSW aug- mented by a limited number of extru- sions. The short timeline prevented any long-term development projects such as structural castings or adhesives; con- tinuous joints would be made using TIG or MIG welding. MOVING TOWARD ALUMINUM BODIES By the late 1980s, there were three distinct projects aiming to de- liver a modern aluminum automotive body structure. Two car companies were working with their favored alu- minum partners toward production of range-topping vehicles, and one alu- minum company was searching for an automotive customer for its revolution- ary concept. See what happened next as we explore the first modern alumi- num-intensive vehicles in Part VII of this article series. ~AM&P For more information: Laurent Chap- puis, president, Light Metal Consultants LLC, 8600 Church Rd., Grosse Ile, MI, 48138, lbchappuis@icloud.com . Acknowledgments David Kewley for history of the ASVT system; Mike Kelly for details on AAS and the early builds; John Hill and Susan Ward for adhesives development details; and Mike Wheeler for his remi- niscence on Banbury Labs. Fig. 4 — Alcan/Bertone promotional brochure. The models are only holding a front-end section of the BIW. Alcan/Bertone aluminum vehicle prepped for the 1987 Longest Day of Nelson race. Source: Road & Track, October 1987.