I Built the Only 2026 WWII Jeep

https://www.theautopian.com/i-bet-my-company-on-an-impossible-jeep-build-then-a-miracle-happened/

by martey • 16 days ago

187 64 16 days ago

ggm• 16 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)

ErroneousBosh5• 14 days 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.

normie30004• 14 days ago

get you jammed in gear

Terrifying prospect. What are your options in that situation? Would turning off the ignition have any effect?

pjc502• 14 days 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.

hydrogen78002• 14 days 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.

[0]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20957162

walrus01• 14 days 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.

bombcar2• 14 days 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.

toast03• 14 days 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• 14 days 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.

m463• 14 days ago

Reminds me of stories where someone parks a pristine <some-car> and goes away for some reason, never to return. Then decades go by before the "barn find" is rediscovered.

babakzy• 14 days ago

Cool, maybe worth it!

thomasjb• 14 days 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!

dominicrose• 14 days ago

There's a Wheeler Dealers episode where Edd China takes care of a WWII Jeep.

Cthulhu_• 14 days ago

I love that show

jaffa2• 14 days 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!

RugnirViking• 14 days 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!

hardibro3• 14 days 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.

271835• 14 days 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?

usrusr• 14 days 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• 14 days ago

Is it really a 2026 car if it was made in 2026? (New cars in 2026 are manufactured and sold as 2027)

dofm• 14 days 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.

fusslo• 14 days ago

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.

robbak• 11 days ago

From what I've seen of break-in oil, this books typical. Especially as what he did on that trip is everything you should not do to a freshly built engine.

bushwart• 14 days 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.

pic: https://images-stag.jazelc.com/uploads/theautopian-m2en/Scre...

cduzz2• 14 days 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.

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?

MisterTea• 14 days ago

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.

cduzz2• 14 days 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.

271835• 14 days 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.

Shalomboy• 14 days 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• 14 days 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.

thisisauserid• 14 days 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?).

bombcar2• 14 days 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.

jbailes• 14 days 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.

steve-atx-7600• 14 days ago

Good skills to have for mad-maxing it thru the desert after the ai apocalypse :)

hvs• 14 days 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).

andrewblossom• 14 days 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.)

qup• 14 days 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.

toast03• 14 days ago

See if you can find a copy of 'How to keep your Volkswagen Alive' by John Muir and have a read through.

Find an older VW (or similar) and that's the basics and a bit more. Definitely replace the fuel lines on an old VW, but otherwise drive it and let it tell you what needs doing. IMHO, fuel injection is nicer than carburetion, but you some early injection systems have a bad reputation; Bosch L-jetronic seems pretty reasonable. Some people really like carbs though, so up to you.

Lots and lots of forums, some of them helpful even.

When it's an extra car that you have for fun, you don't have as much of the 'needs to work asap' stress and you can also get one that's more questionable cosmetically to save some money.

stronglikedan• 14 days ago

"the only" is hardly ever correct. you built the only one that you know of

MontagFTB• 14 days 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.

elzbardico• 14 days ago

Incredible project.

And how much I love that this is an article instead of an youtube video.

I Built the Only 2026 WWII Jeep

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