Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!
Troy asks: I listen to you on Wednesdays on the Bill Meyer Show from KMED, Medford, Oregon. I’m not much of a motor-head, however, I’ve received some experience fixing my own cars. The most “advanced” car I’ve owned was a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid, and it led me to the strong desire to design my own car. A car that is “zombie proof”, i.e. easily repairable, simple, and reliable.
Recently, I’ve been part of a community of almost 10,000 freedom loving folks that stemmed from the Bitcoin community. They value independence, decentralization, and the ability to “do it yourself.” I’ve seen some of them say things like, “We need an open source car!” If you’re not familiar with open source software, it’s software where the code/blueprint can be seen by all. I’ve always described closed source software as “programs with the hood welded shut.” Since most cars don’t have the hood welded shut, I consider most cars to be open source, but what they’re really asking for is a car design that’s shared by the public.
These are the type of people that highly value items they can build themselves, even if they prefer to buy them pre-built. So, I’ve been thinking that one way around the current BS paradigm that took away wingway windows, encourages “driving devices” and requires 12 air bags per passenger is to have kit cars, but not fancy ones. The design specs, parts list, etc would be available for anyone to use. I’m thinking to start with the most ubiquitous and reliable existing engines and parts until people start designing and making their own components.
It seems like all kit cars are replicas of sports cars, or classic vehicles. The only outlier I can think of is the Mahindra Roxor, but the price tag doesn’t seem to match a “basic transportation” type of vehicle. My current car is a 1990 Camry, and I want something at that level, or even more basic. Do I really need power steering on such a small car? I’d love to have a manual transmission instead of the electronically controlled auto transmission. I’d love to have a utility truck … you know, the thing trucks were originally designed for; before they had leather seats and CD players.
Do any kits exist in the “I JUST WANT SOMETHING PRACTICAL AND SIMPLE” arena? If not, do you have any recommendations for someone that would like to make a kit available to others? I’m already familiar with making Private Membership Associations. A private club of drivers, building cars they actually want, might be a lofty dream, but it’s one that I think about a lot. Any advice you could offer, or resources to point me to, would be greatly appreciated!
My reply: There are federal (and state) laws and regulations defining what a “street legal vehicle” is – whether it is a car or a motorcycle or truck and so on. There are different and varying regs regarding vehicles that are designated differently, such as “off-road use” only (e.g., dirt bikes). All mass-market vehicles – meaning, vehicles manufactured in numbers above a certain production threshold must “comply” with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) as well all DOT and EPA regulations. However, there are exemptions and exceptions for small-volume “kit” cars (e.g., Cobra and Lotus 7 replicas) as well as for those “brand new” ’60s muscle cars you may already know about.
So, it is possible – and legal – to put together a kit car (or a homebuilt) that is the kind of car that suits you. The titling and registration process is more of a hassle, but it’s doable.
The difficult part is doing it at scale. If it ever got to be something that was more than a very small niche thing, the government (state and federal) would almost certainly get very heavy handed about it. There would be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth – as well as Hut! Hut! Hutting! As an example, I point to what has been done in some states to people who got caught installing “cheat” devices on their vehicles.
That said, I think noncompliance is the answer, ultimately. Put another way, we will not comply our way out of this. On an individual level, we can simply find ways to evade and avoid “the rules.” As an example, I have removed the catalytic converter from my old truck because the thing was clogged and I didn’t want to spend the money on a new one. Who’s gonna know? I can “get away” with it in my area because there are no emissions testing requirements.
I am also planning ob removing the air bags, because they’re old and I do not trust that they will not just randomly explode in my face. But also because I just don’t want air bags in my vehicle.
Other possibilities include getting a newer (non-rusted) Hecho en Mexico Beetle into the country and registering it as an old one using the VIN from a parts car. As far as I am concerned, anything goes insofar as doing what we can to recover our freedom. So long as we’re not hurting anyone nor causing harm in any quantifiable way – except as regards affronting the authority of the government – I say tally ho!
. . .
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Problem is, there are no kit cars on the market (As far as I know) which would actually be practical for daily transportation. Virtually all of them are either outlandish designs or replicas of sports cars, like the various Cobra replica kit cars (You don’t get in one of those…you put them on, like a pair of pants).
And certainly no trucks or utility vehicles.
But be sure to build a kit or custom whenever you want to do it. When we moved ashore in 2003 I really wanted to build a kit car based on a salvage Mustang chassis. There were several that really looked great and there were tons of Mustang feeder stock piled up in salvage yards at good prices.. I was 64 years old at the time and worried that I might not live long enough to finish it, let alone drive it much. Do the math.
Believe it or not, it is actually easier to build and fly your own airplane than your own street car. As long as the airplane is classified “experimental” and it is a one-off build not for commercial sale, yes you can build your own. You still need to be a certified airman and have the plane registered, though.
Even better is a “Part 103” utralight, as long as as the aircraft has a weight of less than 250 lb. and a top speed of less than 55 knots, you can built it and fly it without a license or registration.
A dream of mine, waiting to be fulfilled, X.
I think I’m going with a gyrocopter. Still somewhat distant, but you must have aspirations.
Sad that a DIY plane is easier to accomplish than a DIY car, though.
The EU is talking about….
Banning any repairs….body or mechanical…. of vehicles more then 15 years old.
Another way to get rid of the old ice vehicles…..force the slaves into very expensive, defective, unreliable, impossible to repair, unsafe, battery vehicles…..
Then soon after….no slave mobility period…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-4EFLeTrP4
There was a person doing what you say Eric, putting old VIN plates on newer trucks. Customs figured it out and crushed them all. Even ones with DMV titles and valid registrations.
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1086521_u-s-customs-crush-illegally-imported-land-rover-defender-video
Hi Terry,
Yup. But if enough of us were to do this sort of thing, enforcement would be nigh impossible shy of an outright police state.
As if we don’t live in one already?
“Other possibilities include getting a newer (non-rusted) Hecho en Mexico Beetle into the country and registering it as an old one using the VIN from a parts car. As far as I am concerned, anything goes insofar as doing what we can to recover our freedom. So long as we’re not hurting anyone nor causing harm in any quantifiable way – except as regards affronting the authority of the government – I say tally ho!”
This was been done by someone with a small number of Land Rovers. Basically what he did was take a VIN plate from a legal but no longer existing truck, long since rusted back from wince it came. He riveted that to a newer Defender that for all intents and purposes was the same thing mechanically, slightly updated. CBP figured it out, seized and crushed them. These were already titled and registered, not on the dock. Turns out the reason they could find them was the documentation from DMVs. Say nothing.
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1086521_u-s-customs-crush-illegally-imported-land-rover-defender-video
I love his idea. Outside of a few kit cars as mentioned, there are no real options to build your own basic car.
The other option is to find an old car and restore it, but that ends up being a lot of money spent.
It’s usually cheaper to buy what someone else has rebuilt, but nobody rebuilds Pintos, so they ain’t cheap either.
“The other option is to find an old car and restore it, but that ends up being a lot of money spent.”
You don’t have to restore it to “show car” quality. Just to get an old car reliable for daily driving can be super cheap. Just make sure you start with a good solid vehicle.
Achtung, Eric!
https://flic.kr/p/2qE1ixR
Yours free of charge. Make some shirts. I recommend this on the back, with your logo on the front pocket area.
A lot of hoops to jump through. Just look at my state requirements;
https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/vehicles/title_and_registration/apply_custom_rod.html
After all the above is done and the paperwork has been approved the Secretary of State Police will contact the applicant about scheduling an inspection.
US Government’s SHOCKING Proposal to BAN all Vintage Cars in 2025!
No fun allowed….jam them into battery cars….then no slave mobility period….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpNXGCa_hBM
If that actually happened, I (and millions of others) would just continue to drive our older vehicles anyway, presumably unregistered. What are they going to do, arrest all of us?
Exactly. A mass non-compliance event would ensue, and they would backtrack.
Like gun owners, they will terrorize. They will loudly and publicly destroy one innocent life at a time, blatantly disregarding all law and custom to the contrary, until the people are cowed and afraid. They won’t stop the resistance, but it will remain deep underground and no threat to their illegitimate powers.
I’m not saying not to do it, in fact quite the contrary, but have your eyes and ears wide open at all times, and keep quiet about your activities. We are very much in a communist state which acknowledges no limits upon its power, and is absolutely ruthless and evil because it knows what it does is wrong and illegitimate.
Troy is a man after my own heart! Decentralization and DIY are key to our liberation.
As I’ve said before, one thing that might do us justice is “Vehicular Sanctuary States”, which ignore the federal rules and don’t assist the goons with their enforcement.
Of course, the Orange Man and his entourage could dismantle the DOT and the NHSTA and so forth, but I will not suffocate on my hopes.
Hoisting that Black Flag may very well be the only way.
Also, “We we will not comply our way out of this.” would make for a great shirt, Eric!
Make it and I’ll by one or two!
Correct! I’ve been thinking the same thing for years, which is, what happens if I drive a non-DOT vehicle (like a side-by-side, for example) on the main roads where I live? I live in a rather rural part of WV, and thus far, I’ve never seen the police stop people who do just that. I expect more of that, along with a Cuba-like automotive landscape (in which old vehicles are used perpetually), unless there is a change in course in the ever-restrictive automotive rules
Re Comliance: In my travels and experience, it seems apparent that deep blue states have massive regs that will not allow you to register any form of a kit car. Been there, tried to do that.
The red states IDK, but the deep red states (not many) allow use of UTV type vehicle to be driven on DOT roads with some restrictions. In the one example I am familiar with, you stll have to register it, but they give you a ‘special use’ tag. In that case it just means you can drive it on any road under 45mph posted. I’ve seen them on many roads with higher speed limits and never have seen them pulled over.
His mention of the Roxor is interesting. I have always thought this style vehicle is our way forward for no-frills, no-EPA, no-DOT, basic transportation. $20K +/-
“We need an open source car!” — Troy
Excellent idea. Possibly something more car-like could fit within the definition of a UTV:
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/Permits/UTV_flier.pdf
A UTV’s width limit of 65 inches is a bit constraining. For comparison, though, the original VW Beetle was about 62 inches wide.
Most challenging part of an open source car is defeating or sidestepping all the proprietary-chip, black-box engine and body control modules. Conceivably an off-the-shelf Raspberry Pi could replace a proprietary chip. Making all the CANbus signal inputs work with a Raspberry Pi would raise a whole host of interface issues, though.
‘Look at this tangle of thorns.’ — Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Hey Jim,
I’ve often thought about replacing vehicular computers with a Raspberry-Pi, and perhaps an Arduino, myself. Where there’s a will, there is a way. But if one could make such a system programmable, adaptable and universal, giving the owner ultimate control over the vehicle, my god would that be quite the enterprise.
It is quite do-able, but it is a LOT of work and some reverse engineering. Definitely a project for a dedicated open source community. And it’s work product would probably have to be kept on an offshore platform, preferably in multiple mirrors in different jurisdictions.