Vintage Jaguar restored with HP Jet Fusion 3D printing solution

By now it is quite well known that the automotive industry is one of the sectors that take advantage of additive manufacturing the most. From Porsche 3D printing engine pistons for its famous 911 GT2 RS model to Lamborghini Sian Roadster with 3D printed air vents – these are just some of the most recent cases of 3D printing technologies being used for car parts production. Let’s not forget about BMW – the company opened an actual additive manufacturing campus, a huge center equipped with around 50 industrial 3D printers. So, it’s probably safe to assume that the use of additive manufacturing in the automotive industry is not only here to stay, but will keep increasing quite rapidly. The most recent case is not about new models but about vintage cars: the Jaguar E-Type, that has been out of production for decades, is now being restored with HP Jet Fusion 4200.

Eagle is a UK-based company that has been restoring luxury Jaguar E-Type since 1984. This vintage car had been in production from 1961 to 1975. Eagle re-manufacturers the E-Type to the modern standards of quality. It typically takes around 4,000 hours to restore a single E-Type car. To say that the British car dealer has a good reputation would probably be an understatement. “I think this, by a long way, is the most beautiful car I have ever seen. It might actually be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen”, Jeremy Clarkson for BBC Top Gear.

Image credits: Eagle

The cars that Eagle restores might be classic, but its methods of manufacturing are far from traditional. The company has been using 3D printing technologies for 4 years now. For that purpose, they have been collaborating with Graphite Additive Manufacturing Ltd., a 3D printing service provider based in the UK. However, only recently did they turn to HP, and more precisely, to its Jet Fusion 4200 system.