1997 EV1 Test-buck
(Space-frame & Tune-in body)
This is the collection's '97 pre-production 'Test-buck'. Test-bucks were
factory built space frames that were destined for engineering
testing. Whether that testing focused on measurements, including door jams,
roof lines, trunk openings, sub-frame, body panel and component fitting
and/or structural testing of all sorts. Engineers would order frames built for a
variety of reasons and the factory would build the orders
testing and praticing factory processes, and then forward those frames
to engineers to refine the process. This was a critical function to building one
of the first all-aluminum bonded space frames in an entirely new
manufacturing process c1996.
It is estimated that GM built 50 to 75 test-bucks before starting production
in late 1996, most all were recycled as a product
of testing, but at least one survived as shown here in the Beata Collection.
Eventually this old buck will be finished in OEM blue, for the simple
reason that we have more spare blue panels than any other color, and,
green and red are already taken.
Some hints that lead us to the test-buck legacy include the 1) black
primer roof, as all production '97 EV1 panels came supplier color-coated
for assembly (only the '94 LPF Impacts and '97 pre-production EV1
test panels came in black primer); 2) the partial assembly-status of the
space frame; including no VIN, no battery pack installation, no
hood or trunk SMC supporting structures, and no adheasive in either side-structure
or the windscreen/wiper shroud areas; and, 3) the windscreen, as fitted,
is an early test sample, as the production units were electrically (48v) heated,
and this unit's screen is absent its electronic wiring.
The early space-frame production capacity was a particularly slow process, yielding
only nine (9) space-frames per day in the manufacturing process.
To date, c2022, the collection has about 60% of the parts
necessary to achieve a mostly complete EV1 based on this chassis. Motor,
inverter, wheels, wiring harness, modules, seats, dash, and steering
are in-hand, with body panels and suspension components
our primary search goals.
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