1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving' • Hacker News Board

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#11

Post by flutas » Mon, May 04, 2026, 4:50 PM UTC

sublinear wrote: post #2

> It demonstrates that Tesla’s hardware and software stack is more portable than the company’s licensing struggles would suggest. Unless I missed something, this is a completely unsupported claim by the article. Passion projects and retrofits are nothing at all like manufacturing.

It's specifically talking about the "FSD" model under the hood being able to run on this retrofit even though the cameras don't align 100% like they originally would.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#12

Post by beedeebeedee » Mon, May 04, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

sublinear wrote: post #2

> It demonstrates that Tesla’s hardware and software stack is more portable than the company’s licensing struggles would suggest. Unless I missed something, this is a completely unsupported claim by the article. Passion projects and retrofits are nothing at all like manufacturing.

The article claims that the whole project only cost $40,000, and then compares that to electric conversion offerings that cost $75,000 (and mentions that the global conversion market in 2024 was $5.9 billion). I think the implication is that there could be a large market for FSD conversions that goes beyond passion projects because it is not only possible but affordable.

I would be surprised however if this project only cost $40,000, when you factor in the cost of labor and maintaining a facility to do this work.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#13

Post by LurkandComment » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

I've been waiting for someone to do something like this as long as I've known electric cars to be a thing. I hope they just start making them like this.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#14

Post by drdebug » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

Nice work, but is it just me or does this take away from the car’s original spirit?

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#15

Post by t1234s » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

I wonder if tesla will see this and try to invalidate the VIN from using FSD

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#16

Post by zthrowaway » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

As a classic car owner/hobbyist, this disgusts me. But thankfully there are at least 200k other restored/restorable 60s Mustangs out there.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#17

Post by ryan42 » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

Here's one of a fully custom Toyota 4x4 truck getting a Tesla Model 3 motor that I enjoyed. I would love to have a small electric pickup like this, but I don't want to invest $100k to get it done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siEhd4Z-6Ts

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#18

Post by actionfromafar » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

Oh, a good looking Tesla.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#19

Post by hnav » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

zthrowaway wrote: post #16

As a classic car owner/hobbyist, this disgusts me. But thankfully there are at least 200k other restored/restorable 60s Mustangs out there.

Good news is that you can get a brand new 66 shell stamped in Taiwan for about 20k.

Re: 1966 Ford Mustang Converted into a Tesla with Working 'Full Self-Driving'

#20

Post by AngryData » Mon, May 04, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

From the article it sounds like the inverse, they took a Tesla and stuck a classic car exterior shell on it, not transplant the electric car parts into a mustang frame. It is still kind of neat but is not the same thing to me. You don't normally upgrade a classic car by chopping out the entire frame and sticking the body panels onto a modern car.