Automotive Restoration

Digitizing Legacy Bodywork for Future Development

An unobtainable Audi 90 front bumper captured as an accurate digital base for remanufacturing, new parts and upgrades.

Audi 90 front bumper covered in reference targets during a structured-light 3D scan

Client: Tony's Classics
Deliverables: Cleaned, generated STL, Measurements for the client's projects

The problem

Parts for a classic Audi 90 are effectively impossible to find or buy new. To redesign and remanufacture the front end, Tony's Classics needed an accurate digital copy of the original bumper.

Constraints

A large, glossy, one-of-a-kind part that had to be captured whole, with every contour, mounting point and body line intact.

Development approach

Prepped the bumper with scanning spray and reference targets, captured it in a single file at 0.3mm — the resolution chosen for a part this size — then cleaned and generated the STL and provided measurements for the client's design projects.

When a part hasn’t been made in decades, you can’t order it — you have to recreate it. And you can’t recreate what you haven’t measured.

We prepped the bumper with a light coat of scanning spray to kill glare, then applied reference targets across the surface so the scanner could lock onto its position. The whole bumper was captured in a single file at 0.3mm — enough detail to rebuild every contour, mounting point and body line.

We cleaned the scan into a usable STL and provided measurements for the client’s projects. The result is a base model the shop can design new parts against, fit upgrades to, and use to remanufacture a front end that no longer exists anywhere else.