If the car itself isn’t impressive enough, wait until you hear its story.

Nearly half a century ago, a fire department abandoned a 1915 fire truck into the woods and left it there to rot. Fast forward to 2014, when some firefighters of the same department went to the location to find what’s left of the truck and as you can guess, they didn’t find a lot to begin with.

Gary Wales then took it and built a new car out of it, using every original part that could be used and created all the rest out of scratch. He even preserved the patina on the original parts, locking the rust under a clear coat.

The details alone are so many that you could sit looking at it for two days straight and still find out something new. It’s time to go old-school and admire the inspiring work of one of the last artisans in the business.

Prepare for some good automotive geekery in the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.

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