Could the original WWII Willys Jeep be built and sold today? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by Yezzey@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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The original WWII Willys Jeep was as simple as it gets, no airbags, no seatbelts, no electronics just steel and guts.

It was a light and tough 4x4, easy to work on and you could fix almost anything with basic tools. You could tear the whole Jeep down in less than 5 minutes.

If someone tried to build one today, same size, same style, could it actually pass modern safety and emissions standards?

Or would the rules make a true “modern Willys” impossible?

Curious what engineers, mechanics, and everyone else thinks. It would save people so much money.

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[-] ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Sadly a simply manufactured, safe, and easy to work on with minimal training vehicle has little profit incentive for the manufacturer and therefore not attractive to venture capital. No one will make and support it if it can’t make them as rich as Elon. From a consumer perspective, I am intrigued, but in the western world I think this is a pipe dream.

[-] DaGeek247@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

The slate truck has been advertising itself as open source; ironically partially funded by Elon, actually.

There's also been a couple people saying they'd make one for the past several years, if my internet searches are a thing to go by.

This guy just started a company for managing an open source truck project, and he seems pretty serious about it. He just started though, so we aren't likely to see anything actually come of it for several years. https://mutiny.fm/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G-QgQitWNLY

There's also the tabby evo, which is for sale right now, but I'm not so sure I'd call that a car so much as a gokart that may or may not be street legal. https://www.openmotors.co/product/tabbyevo/

this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025

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