My Recycled PIP

It took almost a year to get it but it was worth the wait! I've been driving it for about 2 weeks now and I'm really impressed. Two weeks ago I filled it up at the local gas station that sells E0% gas after I blocked the lower grill and got 'Torque" and a genuine 'Scanguage' OBD2 adapter working. I took a 175 mile round trip using cruise control and one 'charge' with an average fuel consumption (per the computer) of 58 MPG. Since that trip I've made several round trips into the nearest town, Somerset Ky. A typical round trip to town is about 18 miles and has about 5 miles of freeway. I use EV to the freeway, HV on the freeway, back to EV in town, then HV on the freeway home switching to EV as I get off onto local roads. I'm over 70 MPG (computer) on this tank. WOW It's been mighty cold with several daytime highs under 20f. The warmest day was on the return half of my long trip @50f in heavy rain. My highest observed coolant temp was 195 on a long up hill @55mph on that trip. My car is an assembly of 2 total loss vehicles. The body, VIN, and 'running gear' came from a flood (Hurricane Sandy), 2012 base, NEW CAR that was declared a total loss. The interior, every thing electrical and all unpainted metal came from a rollover total loss. It took roughly 160 man hours to strip both cars and transfer everything. The long wait was for a "suitable" parts car.

 

"How much did you pay for the vehicles?"
TOO MUCH! This was NOT an economically astute endeavor! But what could be "greener" than a recycled PIP? My total investment is right at $24,000. I will suffer on resale value as it is, of course, titled as "rebuilt". I have no warranty or "stealership" support etc. But I sure know what's in it as I did much of the dissasembly-reassembly. And as others have said The Toyota brand is all the warranty I need.

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"The Prius is a fairly complicated car"
I would say the PIP is a VERY complex car!
" and this was a very complicated operation."
It certainly was!
"How did you decide on the 2012 Pip?"
I had been "shopping" for an EV or EV capable hybrid for several years and finally chose the PIP as, to me, the best starting point.
"What kind of work space do you have? " This was done at Autobeyours in Scottsburg Indiana, with considerable help by an amazing team of Prius experts led by Steve Woodruff. Autobeyours has rebuilt literally thousands of Prius vehicles, including a dozen or so flood victims but they really concentrate on gen 2. It does take a good bit of shop space to strip 2 vehicles and keep track of all the pieces, the Autobeyours facility is, however plenty spacious.
"How did you prepare for this project?"
The major preparation was convincing Steve Woodruff to lead & support the project as he as done very few gen 3 rebuilds and this is the first PIP.

 

"Are there pictures of your car on the Autobeyours website?"
Last time I looked, they are all gone, but there were in the past. I don't understand the quest for pictures, it is a totally stock light blue, nice shinny PIP, but I'll try to take, and post, a few tomorrow during daylight. I'm rather sure my project strengthened Steve's aversion to GEN 3 as it was far from profitable! But I'm sure a happy customer!

 

Proving I'm no photographer!