4 ms·

you can build a brand new 1967 car with just the tools in your garage? Wow

chucky_z 10y ago
I mean... yeah, actually, you can -- if you had every (new) part from, say, a 1967 Ford F-series truck, anyone could absolutely, with just a Chiltons and a good set of tools, put together every nut, bolt, and screw from a giant crate of parts to build it.
- pythonlion 10y ago
  That's interesting. I wish I could buy these "kits" today, put it together myself and drive a cheap cool car. Is that was a option then?
  - gsnedders 10y ago
    Kit cars are still a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_car . That said, they are almost all replicas of old cars, and in some countries getting them licensed for use on the road is hard.
    - smarnach 10y ago
      From the Wikipedia article: "A kit car should not be confused with a 'hand built' car or 'special' car, which is typically built from scratch by an individual."
      - gsnedders 10y ago
        The parent, a few up, was talking about getting every part: to me that implies you're using pre-made body-panels, etc., rather than making them from scratch.
  - stan_rogers 10y ago
    It wouldn't be cheap. The safest, cheapest and most efficient "packing crate" for the parts for a single car is the assembled vehicle. (It's somewhat different when you can stack 50 left front fenders.) A kit car (most use fibreglass bodies) would be a much better option. Expect to spend about 1000 hours (much of that building jigs). The second one you build goes much smoother and faster than the first, even if it's a different kit based on a completely different pair of vehicles (the "source", from which most of the drive train parts will be drawn, and "target").
- serf 10y ago
  If you're willing to gloss over the expertise needed to build a vehicle (experiences and know-how) then you might as well gloss over the same on modern platforms. My current day vehicle requires no additional tools or software other than python and pyserial + a USB/OBD2 dongle that can be had for under 10 bucks and my garage filled with the same wrenches that I could have used to work on many previous generations of car offered in the past few decades. With these tools I can touch every subsystem that a factory service mechanic can. One could say "You'd be insane to try to bang out every bit of a communications protocol and interface with the car that way", but I could say "You'd be insane to rely on a novice with zero experience to build a car i'd want to try and drive." I have no doubt that the novice would get something rolling, but suspension / engine / AFR tuning is a skill set that requires experience and education; the novices product would be inferior to the craftsmen. tl;dr: with sufficient gumption there isn't really that much more stuff in your way of being a backyard mechanic -- sure the companies try to dissuade you from doing so, but they have been doing that since the 50s Jaguars and 1000 dollar service manuals. There is just a wider variety of required reading. And to those interested : using your CS skills to 'perform the impossible' on a car is a hoot -- As ECMs and control software become more powerful and more in control of the car, so does the technical wizard!
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    indeed. in some of today's cars it's really astounding how much more power you can make quite easily, if you're into that sort of thing. hit a few keys and turn a few knobs and all of a sudden you're making 50 horsepower more, and living life in the no warranty danger zone. exciting!
    - travanx 10y ago
      Hondata is a great example of using a laptop to tune a car. For those interested in buying parts like assembling a big lego, http://www.factoryfive.com/ http://www.factoryfive.com/ is a good place to check out. Not thinking too much about it, I used letsencrypt on my business site as soon as I read that google would be looking at TLS for SEO purposes. Sadly SEO seemed more important than speed if I was using both to judge if we use TLS or not. If the speed is an issue what does it matter if someone can't find the site?

I mean... yeah, actually, you can -- if you had every (new) part from, say, a 1967 Ford F-series truck, anyone could absolutely, with just a Chiltons and a good set of tools, put together every nut, bolt, and screw from a giant crate of parts to build it.

pythonlion 10y ago
That's interesting. I wish I could buy these "kits" today, put it together myself and drive a cheap cool car. Is that was a option then?
- gsnedders 10y ago
  Kit cars are still a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_car . That said, they are almost all replicas of old cars, and in some countries getting them licensed for use on the road is hard.
  - smarnach 10y ago
    From the Wikipedia article: "A kit car should not be confused with a 'hand built' car or 'special' car, which is typically built from scratch by an individual."
    - gsnedders 10y ago
      The parent, a few up, was talking about getting every part: to me that implies you're using pre-made body-panels, etc., rather than making them from scratch.
- stan_rogers 10y ago
  It wouldn't be cheap. The safest, cheapest and most efficient "packing crate" for the parts for a single car is the assembled vehicle. (It's somewhat different when you can stack 50 left front fenders.) A kit car (most use fibreglass bodies) would be a much better option. Expect to spend about 1000 hours (much of that building jigs). The second one you build goes much smoother and faster than the first, even if it's a different kit based on a completely different pair of vehicles (the "source", from which most of the drive train parts will be drawn, and "target").
serf 10y ago
If you're willing to gloss over the expertise needed to build a vehicle (experiences and know-how) then you might as well gloss over the same on modern platforms. My current day vehicle requires no additional tools or software other than python and pyserial + a USB/OBD2 dongle that can be had for under 10 bucks and my garage filled with the same wrenches that I could have used to work on many previous generations of car offered in the past few decades. With these tools I can touch every subsystem that a factory service mechanic can. One could say "You'd be insane to try to bang out every bit of a communications protocol and interface with the car that way", but I could say "You'd be insane to rely on a novice with zero experience to build a car i'd want to try and drive." I have no doubt that the novice would get something rolling, but suspension / engine / AFR tuning is a skill set that requires experience and education; the novices product would be inferior to the craftsmen. tl;dr: with sufficient gumption there isn't really that much more stuff in your way of being a backyard mechanic -- sure the companies try to dissuade you from doing so, but they have been doing that since the 50s Jaguars and 1000 dollar service manuals. There is just a wider variety of required reading. And to those interested : using your CS skills to 'perform the impossible' on a car is a hoot -- As ECMs and control software become more powerful and more in control of the car, so does the technical wizard!
- beachstartup 10y ago
  indeed. in some of today's cars it's really astounding how much more power you can make quite easily, if you're into that sort of thing. hit a few keys and turn a few knobs and all of a sudden you're making 50 horsepower more, and living life in the no warranty danger zone. exciting!
  - travanx 10y ago
    Hondata is a great example of using a laptop to tune a car. For those interested in buying parts like assembling a big lego, http://www.factoryfive.com/ http://www.factoryfive.com/ is a good place to check out. Not thinking too much about it, I used letsencrypt on my business site as soon as I read that google would be looking at TLS for SEO purposes. Sadly SEO seemed more important than speed if I was using both to judge if we use TLS or not. If the speed is an issue what does it matter if someone can't find the site?