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> Over the years, nearly everything on the vehicle has been replaced or repaired, and Campbell says the only original part is likely the body, and even that has
by SilverElfin 1y ago
> Over the years, nearly everything on the vehicle has been replaced or repaired, and Campbell says the only original part is likely the body, and even that has had work done on it.
To me this makes it less interesting. I would be amazed if the original parts (outside of what gets replaced for maintenance) lasted that long. But it’s hard to judge how durable the car is when everything has been replaced
- moffkalast 1y agoA literal ship of Theseus, arguably it's not even the same car.
- jose_mr 1y agoBut when exactly did it stop being the same car?
- bot403 1y agoFun fact, on average most (not all though) of the cells in your body are brand new after 7 years. When do you stop being you and take a new name?
- diggan 1y agoAt least we're not going around saying "diggan says the only original part of his person is likely the body/chassi"
- griffzhowl 1y agoThis kind of thing is repeated often, but I don't think it's true. For one thing, how would tattoos last so long then? More relevantly, I don't think neurons are replaced. There must be some material churn in the atoms and molecules that make them up, but even then different for different molecules - e.g. I don't know how much of our DNA molecules get replaced over a lifespan from the repair or other mechanisms.
- jorams 1y agoThe "on average" is doing an awful lot of work. Some cells are never replaced, some organs are replaced every few years or even partially over decades, some organs are replaced every few months (one of which is the skin). Tattoos however, IIUC, sort of "float" between cells, and as those cells are replaced one-by-one the ink is kept in place by the surrounding cells that are still there.
- cobbzilla 1y agoI suppose tattoo ink isn’t all in the cells. I’d guess the ink within intracellular spaces is never removed by the body (or very, very slowly).
- nayuki 1y ago> how would tattoos last so long Answered by Kurzgesagt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGggU-Cxhv0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGggU-Cxhv0
- diggan 1y agoWhen you changed the VIN :)
- moffkalast 1y agoAn easy way to say would be when it's still 50% original, but I think an interesting way to look at it is that it becomes a whole new thing after every major change. First it's his new car, then it becomes his new car with new tires, and then his car with new windshield wipers, and finally his old car with all new parts and some old ones. None of them are the same car. I think in cases where it' a major rebuild, like turning a WW2 Minesweeper first into a ferry, and finally into Cousteau's research ship Calypso this outlook is more obvious. Are these ships all the same despite getting almost a full refit at each stage? I would say none of them are the same ship, but completely separate "things" with some old and some new parts.
- jama211 1y agoIt hasn’t, the law decided a car is it’s shell and that’s it.
- hdgvhicv 1y agoAnd what if you took the other parts and built a separate car from them?
- vntok 1y agoYou've just answered your own question, haven't you? If it's a separate car then it can't be the original by definition.
- hdgvhicv 1y agoIf you completely disassemble a car then reassemble it, is it the same car? What if you disassemble all of the car except the wheels and reassemble it but with new wheels? How about if you also exclude the seats too. At what point does the answer change? That’s the whole point of the ship of theseus.
- sonorous_sub 1y agoNo man ever slides behind the wheel of the same Tercel twice.
- danans 1y ago> No man ever slides behind the wheel of the same Tercel twice. Pantercel Rhei
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- e4325f 1y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY
- HKH2 1y agoNot literal.
- Glawen 1y agoAgree, it is not that impressive knowing that. Many 80s 90s Mercedes achieved that, and some with original engine
- jillesvangurp 1y agoThis kind of mileage is unusual with cars but it's pretty normal for semis. But even with those, engines get overhauled and there's lots of cumulative maintenance over the years. There are still trucks build in the sixties in service in some places. With EVs, we might get some battery packs and drive trains actually lasting this long. Maybe not with nmc batteries. But some lfp batteries seem to have enough charge cycles on paper that they really could last that long. 5000 charge cycles at 300 miles per charge adds up to about 1.5M miles. Of course lots of other things might fail. But at least electrical motors are known to be pretty durable. That's not a common failure point on EVs as far as I know. But there's plenty of other stuff in EVs (electronics, cooling systems, suspension, etc.) that can break. Of course, it will be a while before we'll see EVs that have driven that far as those type of batteries have only been on the market for a few years and even with 100K miles driven per year (which is a lot), it would take 12 years to get to 1.2M. This Toyota took quite a few decades to get there. According to the article, this car actually wasn't particularly durable (the words 'rust buckets' were used). But if you just keep patching it up, of course it will run fine. And greasing up all the bits that would normally rust seems smart as well.
- teiferer 1y ago> With EVs, we might get some battery packs and drive trains actually lasting this long. I doubt it. The components in modern cars are not made to last as long. Neither is the software. Ever tried a 15 year old Iphone? A Tesla won't feel much different. Everything is meant to be consumed nowadays, and eventually, sooner rather than later, replaced.
- benjiro 1y agoAnd you get the luxury of paying 50% more, for that privilege (vs a ICE engine). I said it before, give me that BYD (reverse) hybrid engine, that does 1080km on a single tank. Unfortunately, battery tech despite all the lab "super improvements" are not seeing any major gains in the field. And a lot of money has been going into that.
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- jama211 1y agoTbf they said “nearly” everything. Probably it’s the same engine block, transmission housing, etc. And of course the shell, which is the most important. And I bet loads of interior too so where you sit feels very familiar.
- diggan 1y ago> Probably it’s the same engine block, transmission housing, etc. If someone says "the only original part is likely the body", then that makes it sound like they've replaced pretty much everything except the body itself, including everything about the engine and transmission.
- mrtbld 1y agoThe odometer most likely have not been replaced too
- epolanski 1y agoI mean, it depends on the kind of work to be honest. Has he ever had to replace the whole engine or something? Because if you get chain timing issues on a 2010 BMW diesel, you ain't repairing that, it's more expensive than a new car.
- diggan 1y ago> you ain't repairing that, it's more expensive than a new car. Sometimes we're more connected/sentimental about specific physical items, than the prices themselves. I kind of feel like you have to be a special sort of person to own a BMW, so wouldn't surprise me that same "special" person would pay more to repair their specific car than replacing it with an identical one but without that issue.
- eptcyka 1y agoDoubt there’s a BMW enthusiast that will go out of their way to repair a 2010s diesel.
- hbs18 1y agoYou're blowing it out of proportion. A repair like that costs between 1-2k euros. Even non-enthusiasts are repairing that, at least those outside of wealthy western Europe.
- Our_Benefactors 1y agoFor a manual 335d people would yeah.
- userbinator 1y ago1M km (Tm?) is less than 750k miles, for those more familiar with customary units. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irv_Gordon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irv_Gordon had a Volvo with over 3.25 million miles (5.2Tm), although it's also had 3 engine rebuilds.
- mykowebhn 1y ago"Customary units"? I hate to break it to you, but most of the world uses the metric system. And the conversion is actually fairly simple. 1M km is 600k miles, so you were in the ballpark.
- kelnos 1y agoI hate you break it to you, but "customary units" is what they are called, regardless of the (lack of) prevalence of that custom.
- kashunstva 1y agoInteresting use of the term _customary_! To add to the complexity of this, weren’t the customary units of length and mass were defined in the U.S in the late 1800’s by reference to international metric standards - the Mendenhall order?
- technothrasher 1y agoTypically they're called "US customary units" outside of the grand old U. S. of A, who refused to adopt any sort of metric system way back in the 19th century because they were "ungodly".
- sillystuff 1y agoPerhaps "ungodly" explains current refusal, but original reason U.S. does not use metric is pirates stole the metric standards as they were being shipped over from France. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/28/574044232/how-pirates-of-the-caribbean-hijacked-americas-metric-system https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/28/574044232...
- burnt-resistor 1y agoIt's all about getting creative with junk yards and third-party NLA substitute part sellers.
- energy123 1y agoLegend says he even replaced the odometer
- mattbrewsbytes 1y agoI don't think anything with mechanical moving parts is going to last that long, with regular usage, and have original parts. The fact that the owner can keep it going is a testament to the maintainability of combustion engines that don't have high tech computers in them.
- Aurornis 1y ago> The fact that the owner can keep it going is a testament to the maintainability of combustion engines that don't have high tech computers in them. New engines with modern ECUs are every bit as maintainable. The ECU doesn’t make an engine less maintainable. Modern engines would have more moving pieces such as variable valve timing but otherwise they’re very similar in concept and maintenance.
- mattbrewsbytes 1y agoOne part of maintainability is cost. And a simpler mechanical engine without proprietary ECUs is going to be cheaper to maintain, provided parts are available. If someone encounters issues with an ECU and it needs replacement at $1k-2k they might just consider the costs and that being a down payment on a new vehicle vs. repairing. Labor costs more than parts for complicated electrical/computer/engine problems. Electrical issues in modern vehicles don't appear to be easy to troubleshoot, sometimes require proprietary tools. A simpler mechanical engine could be DIY repaired and running, check out the "low-buck garage" youtube channel and the $2 Jeep series as an example. I'm not advocating something like going back to computer-less, inefficient, stinky, loud cars, just pointing out that when we add computers to things, it makes them less maintainable to the average person.
- jmb99 1y ago> I don't think anything with mechanical moving parts is going to last that long, with regular usage, and have original parts. I know of at least two cars with 800k km with original engines. Both GM small blocks (Gen 2, multiport fuel injection so computer-controlled). Neither engine has been opened since they rolled off the floor in the 90s. They’re not particularly efficient (only about 270HP out of 5.7L) but if taken care of, they probably will go forever. Definitely an exception, though. Very little else on those cars is still original. But it can be done.
- TimByte 1y agoI get that, but I think the impressive part here isn't that the original parts are still there: it's that the car has been kept on the road for 40 years and 1.2M km through sheer persistence and maintenance