Jonathan Ward released a video about their most recent ICON CJ3B which might turn out to be their last. Jonathan explains although he loves the Willys-Overland CJ-3B a lot there is such small demand for them that he can’t justify the production costs. In fact they officially removed the model from their website about a year and half ago. The time and resources needed to engineer the model along with low volume production has resulted in them costing about three times more than their FJ models and twice as much as their Broncos.
ICON built two more after deciding to use an aluminum body and diesel power plant. ICON started with a full aluminum body made by Aqualu in British Columbia, Canada. They specialize in building aftermarket aluminum bodies in Land Cruiser, Jeep, and Suzuki models. The body then goes on a custom chassis built by Art Morrison.
Power comes from a VW 1.9 L TDI turbocharged diesel inline-four built by Coty Built which is a division of HPA Motorsports. The engine transfers its 165 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque to a AX15 five-speed manual transmission and through a New Process 231 transfer case onto front and rear Dynatrac Dana 44 axles with ARB air locking differentials.
Source: ICON4x4 FB page
where they get the vin when everything is new product part? use kitcar law to be legal? or?
Normally they use an original cab/body that includes the VIN. But in this case where they have built the vehicle completely from scratch they get a Specialty Construction Title which can be thought of as a “kit license”. This type of title was created with the help of SEMA. You can read more about it here https://www.sema.org/news/2009/11/02/sema-california-agencies-solve-titling-dilemma-for-hobbyist-vehicles