That's an insane amount of work. An amazing adventure and a saint of a wife!
I'm wondering if there'll be any follow up:
Thats a lot of metal in the engine oil. Whats the source? is there a fix? or is it just 'breaking in' a new motor?
Did he ever solve the overheating problems?
Did he ever finish the headlights and other small items?
and now what does he do with all the duplicate/spare parts?
I've done a couple extremely high stress road trips, so I fully empathize with him passing out every time he had to pull over. What a fun read; I love these ultra-long-form articles.
dofm 5 hours ago [-]
"o my god I lob a yeep"
Super article. Something to actually read, great photos. "How I Got Myself In This Predicament" is just the sort of subheading I like to read.
ggm 2 days ago [-]
The important point is "from as much ebay parts as possible" because I suspect there are still "jeep in a crate" boxes where all you have to do is remove the Cosmolene (this is undoubtedly not all you have to do btw)
pjc50 9 hours ago [-]
There's a long running treasure hunt for some still-crated Spitfires that were supposedly shipped to Burma at the exact end of the war and then buried when no longer required.
The amount of equipment left over from WW2 was staggering.
hydrogen7800 6 hours ago [-]
This is one of those perennial aviation legends[0] that are still alive, like Amelia Earhart's wreck. Always another rich guy funding a search with promising results.
My late great uncle was in the RAF during WW2 and was at the liberation of Belson.
I remember him saying that the RAF buried Spitfire engines, so it's definitely a real practice.
AsmaraHolding 5 hours ago [-]
The terms of the lend lease agreement meant that Britain only had to pay for the equipment it kept after the war. So in some cases they were pushing aircraft of the deck of carriers into the sea so they didn’t have to pay for them.
kryogen1c 2 hours ago [-]
>in some cases they were pushing aircraft of the deck of carriers into the sea so they didn’t have to pay
You may be shocked to learn that practices such as this exist in the modern US military as well.
hydrogen7800 4 hours ago [-]
Spitfires were British planes, so not part of the American lend lease program. Maybe if they were build with American loans, though?
AsmaraHolding 4 hours ago [-]
Sorry, I wasn’t meaning to say that they were spitfires in particular that they pushed into the sea. I believe they were actually F4U Corsairs in that case.
walrus01 9 hours ago [-]
On a slightly newer time scale there are always firearm collectors searching for something impossible to acquire now, but which might have been acquired at some point in the past and squirreled away in its factory original box in the cosmoline. Like somebody who might have purchased an imported Egyptian Maadi AKM (locally made AK47 variant) in 1982, then never unpacked it for whatever reason.
People collect these things just because, almost like pokemon cards, another example would be the rarity of finding a specific year of East German Makarov in pristine/factory new condition.
toast0 3 hours ago [-]
Several years ago, I bought a new in box 1981 road bike. Story from the seller was an old chicago bike shop went out of business and there were some old bikes and parts in the back. The frame is big, I'm 6 foot and I barely fit. Probably they sold the bikes with regular size frames and put this in the back, and then styles changed and they forgot about it. The brake pads wore out super quick, but everything else worked fine. I went through the tubes too, but that happens. No big collectors, so the price was reasonable as a bike to use... more than a similar used bike, but much less than a similarly nice new bike.
alex0015 2 hours ago [-]
15 years or so ago when I was more into guns I spent a _lot_ of time on historical firearm sites looking for Martini-Henry rifles. There were still a trickle of them turning up straight from caches in Afghanistan (maybe other countries too). I never bought any because I was just a teenager, and now prices have more than doubled, of course.
bombcar 4 hours ago [-]
And these things do exist - I know, because I have some (nascent, perhaps) - new in box LEGO sets wrapped and deep in a storage unit, spare parts still in box in the garage, etc.
ErroneousBosh 10 hours ago [-]
You can build a Citroën 2CV from scratch with entirely new parts - almost - because someone somewhere makes what you need.
About the only mechanical component you can't buy is the gearbox "bucket", presumably because nobody ever breaks those. You can actually get various gearbox upgrades for them which is worth it if you daily one, because the mainshaft nut can slacken off and get you jammed in gear.
normie3000 6 hours ago [-]
> get you jammed in gear
Terrifying prospect. What are your options in that situation? Would turning off the ignition have any effect?
27183 6 hours ago [-]
Just stomp the clutch and shut it off
4 hours ago [-]
ErroneousBosh 1 hours ago [-]
Press the clutch, brake to a stop.
Unscrew the bolts holding the top of the gearbox where the selector mechanism goes, lever the main gear back into place with a long screwdriver, and then use the screwdriver to tap the mainshaft nut around until it's reasonably tight again. Then drive it home where you can fix it properly.
At least, that's what I did.
RugnirViking 8 hours ago [-]
I wish he shared what it cost him overall. I can already see from some of the numbers and some guesswork that it must not be a flattering sum, but I still want to see it!
hardibro 6 hours ago [-]
Howdy! This is Matt from The Autopian. I talked to David about this and we'll have it for you soon. We've been doing the math and it's kinda hilarious. Obviously, we were proving a point with this video but it's not... the most efficient way to do this.
27183 6 hours ago [-]
Another big point of curiosity for me is registration--it clearly doesn't have a CA number plate, but there was a big red "3" on a laminated card in the spare.. what is that?
How do you go about titling and registering a brand new body + frame?
toast0 3 hours ago [-]
> it clearly doesn't have a CA number plate, but there was a big red "3" on a laminated card in the spare.. what is that?
That's a temporary operating permit, colloquially called a moving permit. I've not built a car, so I dunno what happens there... but I've gotten moving permits for cars that have expired registration and need an emissions test to get registered. Can't have wheels on the public road unless it's registered or you have a movimg permit.
Afaik, all of our states have a process to get a VIN for a car without one... although it's common to take a VIN from a similar donor vehicle because it's less effort and vehicle safety and emissions requirements are de facto tied to the model year on the title. Legally, they're tied to the year of manufacture --- emissions ties to the year of the engine, not sure about safety.
You see all sorts of shenanigans if you look though. VW ended sales of Beetles in the US by the early 80s but still manufactured and sold them in Mexico through the 90s... it was not uncommon to send your US titled beetle to Mexico for "repair" and get back something very different. Sometimes just an engine transplant, sometimes only some key component from the US vehicle like the frame or the floor pan would remain, sometimes just the VIN plate. Putting a newer engine legally triggers newer emissions standards, but if you don't tell anybody and nobody notices, you can get away with it for a long time.
hardibro 5 hours ago [-]
That was also a fun story! I had to do the insurance for it and CA is actually surprisingly a great state for this kind of stuff.
AnimalMuppet 5 hours ago [-]
California has a tradition of being car-friendly. Probably not the first time someone did something like this, and they might have some idea of how to handle it by now.
hardibro 5 hours ago [-]
We'll try to get the price up today or tomorrow and the registration story up next week.
You end up with a special "Q" (as in James Bond?) number plate. There's a whole bunch of different processes depending on how Car of Theseus the vehicle is. Apparently this has recently been streamlined for rebuilds of classics from original parts (which is _not_ what the Jeep is). The system is still intended to prevent the re-use of crashed or otherwise written off frames, though.
officeplant 4 hours ago [-]
Typically in the US you get a donor firewall from a registerable vehicle that has the VIN plate. This is pretty common for things like civilian jeeps, chevrolet C10 pickups and a few other American cars/trucks that have complete bodies you can buy in the aftermarket.
For military equipment you usually need the original frame (or part of it with stamps) because it has serial numbers stamped on it for the DMV to go by when registering.
27183 4 hours ago [-]
Yeah it sounds like they had a rusted out donor vehicle, so they may have been able to get the necessary numbers from it. Will be interesting to read all the details of how they went about it.
Shalomboy 5 hours ago [-]
I love the Autopian, glad they're on the HN front page. David Tracy's Jeep antics have kept me up at night worrying for at least 10 years now.
brendoelfrendo 2 hours ago [-]
Embarassed to say I didn't realize that Tracy had a new gig over at Autopian. Really pleased this article made it here because now I can see what he's been up to! This is a great place to start.
bombcar 4 hours ago [-]
This kind of story makes you realize what a true marvel the modern production line is - so many moving parts that have to line up just right each time to be able to produce vehicles as fast as we do.
MontagFTB 2 hours ago [-]
This article was tremendous. My dad and I rebuilt an old GPW as my car in high school. His brother bought it as his car for high school a generation earlier. This article and the video are a love letter to that old car- a quirky, heavy, underpowered, beautiful legend.
usrusr 7 hours ago [-]
Is it truly a 2026 car though, if it does not come with an ungodly amount of attention beep nagware that cannot be permanently disabled?
theandrewbailey 5 hours ago [-]
Is it really a 2026 car if it was made in 2026? (New cars in 2026 are manufactured and sold as 2027)
bushwart 5 hours ago [-]
Wonderful project. But alarm bells went off in my head when I saw the picture of the helper, wearing gloves, holding a part to be drilled while the author held the drill centimeters away from the helper's gloved hands. I hope that was just for illustration purposes.
It doesn't set off alarm bells in my head. That bearing material is very soft and easy to drill. clamping it is not simple as it's easy to deform. I would have done the same and went nice and slow starting with a center drill and moving to a standard jobbers afterward.
cduzz 1 hours ago [-]
And I would have put the bearing shell over a pvc pipe and used a hand drill or just spun the drill bit between my fingers, assuming it is just bearing material.
27183 2 hours ago [-]
The things about that picture giving me hives are 1. drill not perpendicular to the work 2. bearing cups are unsupported so the downpressure is spreading them 3. when the bit punches through it's going to mar the table. They noted glittery bits on the first oil change, might be prudent to run an oil analysis and see what's up.
cduzz 5 hours ago [-]
Those kids (the autopian team) specialize in generating engagement doing things that are pretty unsafe...
Another example would be the dude who used a chainsaw on some lead acid batteries, for reasons.
That dude's also an owner of the company, so maybe giving himself lead poisoning for clicks is worth it?
hvs 3 hours ago [-]
One of my great regrets in life is not knowing anything about how to rebuild an engine (and various other car parts). It's not exactly a cheap hobby, so it's probably for the best, but I have the feeling I would love working on cars (my wife probably not so much).
qup 2 hours ago [-]
I started last year. I had most of the tools already. I picked 90s ford trucks as my platform: cheap, plentiful, variety of models, known to be reliable, easy enough to work on with simple tools, parts still readily available, lots of YouTube material for any job I need to do.
I bought a couple and I've already had to do a lot of work.
It turns out, it's not that difficult. The systems are simple, each on their own, with few exceptions. When you isolate systems, you can just learn one at a time without pressure to be a whole mechanic. I still reserve the right to send it to the shop if needed.
I haven't had to rebuild an engine yet, but I've been all around the wheels, tires, axels, AC, fuel system, timing, vacuum lines, trailer wiring, brakes, coolant system, and of course I service all my own fluids.
I put it off way too long. My advice is to start now, if you think you'll like it. And you can start with mowers...a whole lot of the tools and concepts transfer.
andrewblossom 3 hours ago [-]
It doesn't have to be a super expensive hobby. Plenty of old cars need some love, and you can buy them (and their replacement parts) quite inexpensively. In my experience, if you're willing to learn, break a few tools and old parts, get dirty, and persevere, you'll more than likely succeed, and your bank account won't be too broken at the end of it.
(Owner of two old german cars, one which has seen a partial engine rebuild, the other significant chassis welding. No formal training doing either.)
dominicrose 9 hours ago [-]
There's a Wheeler Dealers episode where Edd China takes care of a WWII Jeep.
Cthulhu_ 8 hours ago [-]
I love that show
jbailes 4 hours ago [-]
Wow. This is super neat. After having gotten my hands dirty on a 30+ year old car, I can definitely see why it would be desirable to have a relatively new frame to start from vs. a WWII Jeep.
jaffa2 9 hours ago [-]
a decent long form article with pictures, a story, well written, and something of interest. I will read this fully later as it will require some time. Good work!
thisisauserid 4 hours ago [-]
Just like they eventually added to WWII Jeeps, it needs a huge anti-decapitation pole on the front (maybe a really cool (and huge) hood ornament?).
steve-atx-7600 4 hours ago [-]
Good skills to have for mad-maxing it thru the desert after the ai apocalypse :)
thomasjb 10 hours ago [-]
I can see the appeal, not having to deal with much rust or bolts breaking (the 2 things which cause the most trouble for me in working on vehicles). 800 miles across the desert is some way to run it in though!
stronglikedan 3 hours ago [-]
"the only" is hardly ever correct. you built the only one that you know of
elzbardico 2 hours ago [-]
Incredible project.
And how much I love that this is an article instead of an youtube video.
baerbelblue 5 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
babakzy 10 hours ago [-]
Cool, maybe worth it!
Rendered at 18:01:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
I'm wondering if there'll be any follow up:
Thats a lot of metal in the engine oil. Whats the source? is there a fix? or is it just 'breaking in' a new motor?
Did he ever solve the overheating problems?
Did he ever finish the headlights and other small items?
and now what does he do with all the duplicate/spare parts?
I've done a couple extremely high stress road trips, so I fully empathize with him passing out every time he had to pull over. What a fun read; I love these ultra-long-form articles.
Super article. Something to actually read, great photos. "How I Got Myself In This Predicament" is just the sort of subheading I like to read.
The amount of equipment left over from WW2 was staggering.
[0]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20957162
I remember him saying that the RAF buried Spitfire engines, so it's definitely a real practice.
You may be shocked to learn that practices such as this exist in the modern US military as well.
People collect these things just because, almost like pokemon cards, another example would be the rarity of finding a specific year of East German Makarov in pristine/factory new condition.
About the only mechanical component you can't buy is the gearbox "bucket", presumably because nobody ever breaks those. You can actually get various gearbox upgrades for them which is worth it if you daily one, because the mainshaft nut can slacken off and get you jammed in gear.
Terrifying prospect. What are your options in that situation? Would turning off the ignition have any effect?
Unscrew the bolts holding the top of the gearbox where the selector mechanism goes, lever the main gear back into place with a long screwdriver, and then use the screwdriver to tap the mainshaft nut around until it's reasonably tight again. Then drive it home where you can fix it properly.
At least, that's what I did.
How do you go about titling and registering a brand new body + frame?
That's a temporary operating permit, colloquially called a moving permit. I've not built a car, so I dunno what happens there... but I've gotten moving permits for cars that have expired registration and need an emissions test to get registered. Can't have wheels on the public road unless it's registered or you have a movimg permit.
Afaik, all of our states have a process to get a VIN for a car without one... although it's common to take a VIN from a similar donor vehicle because it's less effort and vehicle safety and emissions requirements are de facto tied to the model year on the title. Legally, they're tied to the year of manufacture --- emissions ties to the year of the engine, not sure about safety.
You see all sorts of shenanigans if you look though. VW ended sales of Beetles in the US by the early 80s but still manufactured and sold them in Mexico through the 90s... it was not uncommon to send your US titled beetle to Mexico for "repair" and get back something very different. Sometimes just an engine transplant, sometimes only some key component from the US vehicle like the frame or the floor pan would remain, sometimes just the VIN plate. Putting a newer engine legally triggers newer emissions standards, but if you don't tell anybody and nobody notices, you can get away with it for a long time.
You end up with a special "Q" (as in James Bond?) number plate. There's a whole bunch of different processes depending on how Car of Theseus the vehicle is. Apparently this has recently been streamlined for rebuilds of classics from original parts (which is _not_ what the Jeep is). The system is still intended to prevent the re-use of crashed or otherwise written off frames, though.
For military equipment you usually need the original frame (or part of it with stamps) because it has serial numbers stamped on it for the DMV to go by when registering.
pic: https://images-stag.jazelc.com/uploads/theautopian-m2en/Scre...
Another example would be the dude who used a chainsaw on some lead acid batteries, for reasons.
https://www.theautopian.com/how-i-used-a-chainsaw-to-remove-...
That dude's also an owner of the company, so maybe giving himself lead poisoning for clicks is worth it?
I bought a couple and I've already had to do a lot of work.
It turns out, it's not that difficult. The systems are simple, each on their own, with few exceptions. When you isolate systems, you can just learn one at a time without pressure to be a whole mechanic. I still reserve the right to send it to the shop if needed.
I haven't had to rebuild an engine yet, but I've been all around the wheels, tires, axels, AC, fuel system, timing, vacuum lines, trailer wiring, brakes, coolant system, and of course I service all my own fluids.
I put it off way too long. My advice is to start now, if you think you'll like it. And you can start with mowers...a whole lot of the tools and concepts transfer.
(Owner of two old german cars, one which has seen a partial engine rebuild, the other significant chassis welding. No formal training doing either.)
And how much I love that this is an article instead of an youtube video.