I was browsing around an online parts catalog for toyotas and I was wondering if it's possible to assemble your own car? Like you buy the chassis, an engine, wiring harnessses, electronics, body panels, etc, and put them together. Body panels would be all primed so you can choose your own paint job, you can rule out any defects you see while assembling it and you can build your own custom packages. Possibly it might be more cheaper because you don't have someone to assemble it at an assembly plant.
Possible to assemble your own car?
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wirelessF- have you seen the markups on parts prices? Even if you got dealer pricing, you would still end up spending WAY more than the price of a new car after buying all the parts. Start adding up part prices- even at the best prices you can find- and you'll see what I mean.
" Possibly it might be more cheaper because you don't have someone to assemble it at an assembly plant."
ouch! Cheapest way would be to by a new one and disassambel
to get the parts...
While im mechanically inclined and do almost anything im not sure
that a car built by me from the ground would be even near as good as an assemblyline built car!
ouch! Cheapest way would be to by a new one and disassambel
to get the parts...
While im mechanically inclined and do almost anything im not sure
that a car built by me from the ground would be even near as good as an assemblyline built car!
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A YJ Wrangler or CJ you could pretty much assemble from OTC parts and come out not too bad. From the frame up.
We checked the prices in 1979 @ a Yamaha shop, to build a $4K bike would cost approximately 30K. I imagine it would be close to the same mark up for a car.
Originally Posted By: wirelessF
Possibly it might be more cheaper because you don't have someone to assemble it at an assembly plant.
nope. new cars are a DEAL compared to ala carte pricing of the parts. a new car has literally tens of thousands of parts, each w/ its own part #, not all of which are actually available OTC. new cars require all kinds of specialized tools and automated assembly, I shudder to think of the difficulties to be encountered when attempting this.
now, if you wanted to build up a classic car from repro and OEM parts, sure, that market has existed for quite some time. '32-'34 Fords, '55-'57 chevy, Camros and mustands can all be built 'brand new'.but again, it won't be cheaper; IIRC, I read that a 'new' '69 camaro will run at least $40-50K.
Possibly it might be more cheaper because you don't have someone to assemble it at an assembly plant.
nope. new cars are a DEAL compared to ala carte pricing of the parts. a new car has literally tens of thousands of parts, each w/ its own part #, not all of which are actually available OTC. new cars require all kinds of specialized tools and automated assembly, I shudder to think of the difficulties to be encountered when attempting this.
now, if you wanted to build up a classic car from repro and OEM parts, sure, that market has existed for quite some time. '32-'34 Fords, '55-'57 chevy, Camros and mustands can all be built 'brand new'.but again, it won't be cheaper; IIRC, I read that a 'new' '69 camaro will run at least $40-50K.
It is possible, but will still cost as much as or more than a factory built car, PLUS your labor!
http://www.factoryfive.com/
http://www.factoryfive.com/
Of course you could shop junkyards and build yourself a "new" car.
I have friends that have scavenged engines and transmissions from old cars and they are sitting on them until their current ride has serious issues. Then they just swap the "not good" for the "good" and call it a day.
The man I speak of pulled everything off of his F-150 his girlfriend wrecked when she ran a red light and a car took off the rear end of the truck. The front half was still good, the back half was in a million tiny pieces, and some rather large ones too.
But if you don't have the experience, hoists, and spare time. It probably isn't that great of an idea. Some guys just like to tinker.
I have friends that have scavenged engines and transmissions from old cars and they are sitting on them until their current ride has serious issues. Then they just swap the "not good" for the "good" and call it a day.
The man I speak of pulled everything off of his F-150 his girlfriend wrecked when she ran a red light and a car took off the rear end of the truck. The front half was still good, the back half was in a million tiny pieces, and some rather large ones too.
But if you don't have the experience, hoists, and spare time. It probably isn't that great of an idea. Some guys just like to tinker.
Originally Posted By: Smoky14
We checked the prices in 1979 @ a Yamaha shop, to build a $4K bike would cost approximately 30K. I imagine it would be close to the same mark up for a car.
I saw an article about this in terms of cars a while back. The cost of the parts was approximately three times the cost of the car.
We checked the prices in 1979 @ a Yamaha shop, to build a $4K bike would cost approximately 30K. I imagine it would be close to the same mark up for a car.
I saw an article about this in terms of cars a while back. The cost of the parts was approximately three times the cost of the car.
I have read in various Hot Rod and Car Craft articles that in Taiwan, a company builds every body piece of a 1967-1969 Camaro.
The VIN plate is kind of hard to come by, to get license plates you need to prove you have a safe car that meets emissions etc.
Inspired by Pablo I built my own moped for less than I could have bought one, out of mail order motor parts and a $99 pedal bicycle from Walmart. In my state it's legal to ride w/o registration b/c it's under 50 cc.
But if I had to buy the bike frame, inner tubes, cables... even that would have added up over the top.
Inspired by Pablo I built my own moped for less than I could have bought one, out of mail order motor parts and a $99 pedal bicycle from Walmart. In my state it's legal to ride w/o registration b/c it's under 50 cc.
But if I had to buy the bike frame, inner tubes, cables... even that would have added up over the top.
Originally Posted By: artificialist
I have read in various Hot Rod and Car Craft articles that in Taiwan, a company builds every body piece of a 1967-1969 Camaro.
I think a US based company does that as well. You can essentially buy a complete rolling chassis and build from there. I have no idea how the emissions and crash requirements effect what is technically a "new" car. Shelby got around that though.
I have read in various Hot Rod and Car Craft articles that in Taiwan, a company builds every body piece of a 1967-1969 Camaro.
I think a US based company does that as well. You can essentially buy a complete rolling chassis and build from there. I have no idea how the emissions and crash requirements effect what is technically a "new" car. Shelby got around that though.
Judging by the OPs user name, he's trying to compare automotive industy to the computer industry, where generally speaking, you can build a computer much cheaper by buying all parts separate.
In electronics, most of the money is spent in R&D and not manufacturing, so once you have your design ready, the manufacturing costs are very low, even without going to China, pharmaceutical industry is similar.
Automotive parts, on the other hand, are not cheap to manufacture, require more toolong and big assembly plants, raw materials are also expensive, iron, aluminum etc. is much more expensive that silica.
To summarize, you can build your own PC to save money, when it comes to cars, buy one and keep it well maintained (that part you can do yourself and it will save you money) and keep it as long as you can.
In electronics, most of the money is spent in R&D and not manufacturing, so once you have your design ready, the manufacturing costs are very low, even without going to China, pharmaceutical industry is similar.
Automotive parts, on the other hand, are not cheap to manufacture, require more toolong and big assembly plants, raw materials are also expensive, iron, aluminum etc. is much more expensive that silica.
To summarize, you can build your own PC to save money, when it comes to cars, buy one and keep it well maintained (that part you can do yourself and it will save you money) and keep it as long as you can.
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Judging by the OPs user name, he's trying to compare automotive industy to the computer industry, where generally speaking, you can build a computer much cheaper by buying all parts separate.
but really how much can you save? I work w/ a few guys who have the know-how to build PCs, but they say it isn't hardly worth it anymore, since the big suppliers over such good pkg deals.
Judging by the OPs user name, he's trying to compare automotive industy to the computer industry, where generally speaking, you can build a computer much cheaper by buying all parts separate.
but really how much can you save? I work w/ a few guys who have the know-how to build PCs, but they say it isn't hardly worth it anymore, since the big suppliers over such good pkg deals.
Yeah ,you can buy $400,000 dollars of parts to build yourself a $35,000 Toyota.
Also Ford was bragging about how it took 24 person-hours to assemble a new (old body style) taurus on the line in Atlanta just before they shut it down.
That surely doesn't count subassemblies made by contractors; IDK if it counds engine assembly time... but the point is, they can do it lots faster than you!
A kit car like a dune buggy that runs on a VW beetle powertrain is about the easiest DIY thing on 4 wheels.
That surely doesn't count subassemblies made by contractors; IDK if it counds engine assembly time... but the point is, they can do it lots faster than you!
A kit car like a dune buggy that runs on a VW beetle powertrain is about the easiest DIY thing on 4 wheels.
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