Looks like a new project tomorrow

I have recently come under the influence of various tempters who have stoked my long-dormant desire to acquire or build some kind of 4 wheel drive vehicle. I had been thinking along those lines on and off for quite some time, but never have done anything about it yet. Awhile back I was looking at this neat little rig:

Now, the yellow buggy pictured above uses surplus a surplus military 4 cylinder motor and drive train parts. In addition to these little buggies, the company got a contract awhile back to design and build a custom vehicle for the USMC, specifically designed to fit inside a V-22 Osprey. Soon after, CNN claimed that we were getting ripped off, and listed as evidence that the company was selling a jeep style vehicle to civilians for $7,500. Now, the company's website is down, but I don't know if they lost their contract and went out of business, or they are busy working on fulfilling that contract, and simply have not time for, and therefore are not pursuing, civilian sales

I don't know all the details, but I do know that when I looked at their website sometime back, the $7,500 jeep style vehicle was a kit, which included a new body, and used, government surplus engine, transmission, axles, brakes etc.. And that did not include assembly, paint, and I am not sure whether it included tires, or some other parts. The vehicle pictured above was available in a similar package, I don't remember the exact price, but there were several models, and all were also available for more money as complete, turn key vehicles.

I don't know what exactly the marines were buying, but if they were buying new, diesel engines (the US military buys strictly diesels, to simplify supply), new transmissions, new axles, new disk brakes, a completely assembled and painted vehicle with all parts, and probably some spare parts, I could see the price climbing quite high in short order. I know that when I have looked at new, custom built parts before on the net, and in catalogs and magazines, prices can be rather high. For example, see this Dynatrac rear axle

Not to say that I am positive there isn't some padding in the bill somewhere, but I suspect either incompetence or dishonesty in the comparison of the USMC vehicles with the $7,500 kit car which consists of some new sheet metal, and some surplus used parts which were probably bought at the scrap iron price, with a minimal amount of refurbishment done.

Anyway, a friend's Benz wound up totaled, and since it has a diesel, I figured the engine would work well in something like the above pictured rig, and I can get the engine and transmission for the scrap price. I heard that a rebuild is cheap if you have a core, but I have also heard that the particular motor has been known to run a half a million miles, but anyway, getting an engine is a definite step that starts a project. It might be five years before I get done (I hope not, but I know better than to think it will happen in the next few weeks), but a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, right? So, time for bed now, and tomorrow, disassembly of the Benz, assuming everything goes well.

Now, what I really need is some workshop space.