Highest value Long term Spares

[Lord Ripon USA]

I was thinking about what would it take to guarantee a 40 year lifespan for a grenny.

I think it is the electronic modules.

I think I will look into what it would take to secure every computer module on the vehicle and stow them for posterity. Essentially buy a wreck and strip the electronics. Put them in a dry box.

The reason I was thinking about it was because a friend has a Ferrari that is a brick due to ecm death, and The car hasn’t been supported in decades.

Anyone else thinking along these lines?

 

[DenisM]

Similar situation with the Body Electronic Control Module (BECM) on the P38 Range Rover with the Bosch "upgrade" on its efi V8 known as the "Thor" engine. The BECM contains two MOSFET chips which were withdrawn from production years ago....
A damned shame about the Ferrari ... are there no aftermarket control systems which might be able to be adapted?

 

[NQ94]

I was thinking about what would it take to guarantee a 40 year lifespan for a grenny.

I think it is the electronic modules.

I think I will look into what it would take to secure every computer module on the vehicle and stow them for posterity. Essentially buy a wreck and strip the electronics. Put them in a dry box.

The reason I was thinking about it was because a friend has a Ferrari that is a brick due to ecm death, and The car hasn’t been supported in decades.

Anyone else thinking along these lines?

In 40 years we will likely not be allowed to have ICE cars. Collecting the modules and storing will be the easy part, having the software to reflash and code the modules so that they all work together will be the issue. Hopefully the groups creating open source modules now will mature into an industry keeping older cars going.

 

[landmannnn]

I was thinking about what would it take to guarantee a 40 year lifespan for a grenny.

I think it is the electronic modules.

I think I will look into what it would take to secure every computer module on the vehicle and stow them for posterity. Essentially buy a wreck and strip the electronics. Put them in a dry box.

The reason I was thinking about it was because a friend has a Ferrari that is a brick due to ecm death, and The car hasn’t been supported in decades.

Anyone else thinking along these lines?

Maybe. Electronics have come a long way in the last 30 years. Those hand soldered units from the 90's were often poorly built with little protection against moisture and vibration.

Taking a phone for example, if I grab a 10 year old mobile from a drawer it will fire up and work fine, despite having been dropped and mistreated for a good 5 years until it became unsupported.

@NQ94 is spot on, it's the dealer software that is the key.

 

[Lord Ripon USA]

If I can keep a 1984 Radio Shack Model 100 portable running for 40+ years, a Grenadier shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[CRH]

All this modern tech is a big worry for any long term, low volume vehicle. I hope we are still allowed (and able to easily obtain fuel), in the UK in 40 years time, although I can't see me driving then. I might have taken up the pass time of 'pushing up daisies'