Man builds like-new Tesla Model S for $6500 by salvaging/haggling its parts..

[cdev]

This is an amazing story
Salvaging Your Way to a Working Tesla Model S for $6500

"Sourcing and rebuilding a car is always a daunting project, in this case made even more challenging because the vehicle in subject is fairly recent, state of the art electric vehicle. The journey began by purchasing a black Tesla Model S, that [Rich] affectionately refers to as Delorean. This car had severe water damage rendering most of its electronics and mechanical fasteners unreliable, so [Rich’s] plan was to strip this car of all such parts, and sell what he could to recover the cost of his initial purchase. After selling the working modules of the otherwise drenched battery, motor and a few other bells and whistles his initial monetary investment was reduced to the mere investment of time. With an essentially free but empty Tesla shell in his possession, [Rich] turned his attention to finding a suitable replacement for the insides. [Rich] mentions that Tesla refused to sell spare parts for such a project, so his only option was to purchase a few more wrecked vehicles. The most prominent of these wrecks was nicknamed Slim Shady. This oneThe Donorhad an irreparable shell but with most electronics preserved, and would serve as the donation vehicle. After painstakingly transplanting all the required electronics and once again selling what he did not need, his net investment came to less than 10% of a new car!"


https://hackaday.com/2017/09/20/salvaging-your-way-to-a-working-tesla-model-s-for-6500/

[daqq]

The FrankenTesla!

[jpanhalt]

A good $6000 (USD) wasted.  Look at all the electronic equipment you could get for that!

[John B]

Looks like the perfect opportunity to pull out all that nanny state crap.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Brilliant! But what happens to the two VINs? Which one is kept, which one is retired? Are there rules or do you just flip a coin?

[cdev]

Isn't that on the body, so the one with the frame would be the VIN thats kept, perhaps?

Oooh, I just thought of something totally scifi and creepy.

Just follow along for a bit.

 For awhile I lived in this house on Twin Peaks in San Francisco. (for those who know SF, on Eagle Street, near Kite Hill)

My landlady at that time (in a galaxy very long and far away)

told me that the space I lived in had been occupied MANY years before, by the female co-star of THX-1138

()

while they were filming the film!

 According to (I forget my ex landlady's name now, its been maybe 25 years) she had had really beautiful red hair, which she had to shave off for the film.

Actually, it appears there is a short piece on Youtube thats about that aspect of the making of the  film, "Bald" where she's interviewed about it and they show her hair getting cut off.

I think the character's name is "Leu" (after the amino acid.. "Leucine"?)

Why bring her up?

One has to have seen the film, but , its pretty scary. And it has to do with the subject of this post, sort of. And VINs.

Anyway, (Spoiler alert) the female protagonist..  meets an end much like the white car in the car video.

And THX flees for his life..

Very much worth seeing.  One of my favorite films.. (although I have not seen the directors cut, really need to schedule some quality time soon to watch it again!)

[SkyMaster]

Brilliant! But what happens to the two VINs? Which one is kept, which one is retired? Are there rules or do you just flip a coin?

The VIN is typically stamped on the body; this is the VIN that follow the vehicle.

 

[Brumby]

Before there was the VIN, we had the Chassis Number.  It is attached to the main structural component of a motor vehicle - and whichever was used as the foundation for building the vehicle would be the one used.

The choice is simple - you use the one with the least damage, so the extra wrecks purchased were not likely to be candidates.


Nice score for $6500 .... and a lot of time.

[CJay]

LiIon battery from a wrecked car? Hmm, maybe he should name it Fireball XL5 in anticipation

[amyk]

Brilliant! But what happens to the two VINs? Which one is kept, which one is retired? Are there rules or do you just flip a coin?

Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

[Gyro]

... maybe he should name it Fireball XL5 ...

Now that's an invitation for another thread diversion if ever I saw one! 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055673/ for the young / uninitatated.

[SeanB]

My brother in law bought a BMW 5 series that had been in a front smash ( was spun out and hit a concrete wall during the spinning, all hitting on the same front section of the vehicle), and another that had been written off at his work ( brick truck did not quite make the turn in the parking lot, and drove over the rear of the vehicle), towed them to his home and spent 3 months to prepare them for the joining in the middle, just behind the B pillar. Seamed the roof, chassis and brazes the 2 sections together, and then spent time doing a perfect cover up of the join inside, outside and under the vehicle, so that you could not see that it had been 2 separate vehicles. Also took care in the joining to get the wheel base exactly right so it would not crab ( a common fault in making a 2 donor vehicle) and got the alignment correct. He drove that vehicle, which on his mechanic's pay he could never afford at the time, for over a decade more, the only investments he made were buying 2 tons of scrap steel as the price paid for the wrecks, and sold off the rest of the parts that were not used either, to cover almost all of the costs of the paint and such. Good market for accident parts, and 4 good doors were worth a lot, along with good front and rear glass from the vehicles, along with a somewhat dented motor and gearbox from the one, and a damaged differential from the other, as parts for repairing others, as being a current model at the time there was a price premium for them.