15,000 dollars and a wrecked Tesla. That is how the story of Winston begins, a young man who thought he could rebuild this Tesla in his garage, but of course… what Winston could not imagine was that the vehicle had unpublished images of the accident stored in its system.
He was not expecting it, probably no one was, but Winston was working on the car when he connected a USB drive to recover the computer data, and he managed to extract the exact moment when the car collided.
Who is Winston?
Winston, the protagonist of this story, is a Tesla fanatic since he started watching videos from the YouTuber Rich Rebuilds. With the support of his parents, he decided to embark on an ambitious project: restore a Model 3 that had been declared a total loss after a side collision. Without previous experience but with a lot of motivation, he started the repair from scratch and ended up rebuilding the car with a total budget of 25,000 dollars.
The Tesla that still talked
While working on the car’s electrical system, Winston decided to investigate the memory of the main system. When inserting a USB drive, he accessed images recorded by the car’s cameras at the moment of the crash. The cameras showed in detail the moment when the Model 3 was hit by another vehicle, confirming it was a strong side impact.
These images, automatically stored by the Teslacam system, are part of the security system that many drivers don’t know about. They not only serve as proof for insurance companies, but also reveal the capacity of modern electric cars to act as real black boxes.
Winston’s dream and the car’s reconstruction
After buying the car for only 15,000 dollars from the insurer Geico, Winston invested around 9,000 dollars more in parts and 1,000 in fees and taxes. The reconstruction process lasted three months and was documented step by step on YouTube thanks to the channel Wham Baam Teslacam, where many users followed his progress closely.
Although the Tesla had been declared a total loss, Winston had a dream, to turn this car into a functional vehicle for his family, with a surprisingly professional finish, so that it wouldn’t look like just months ago it had been declared a total wreck. All this from his home garage and with his own hands.
Much more than a car
And beyond the anecdote of this young man, doesn’t it seem incredible how technology can store information like accidents or other critical moments. Tesla, especially, maintains its network of cameras and sensors that can preserve videos of the routes, and driving habits (and even of the accidents), something that many are unaware of when buying a second-hand car.
And of course, every story has its spin-off, and Winston has now applied to work for Tesla itself. What started as a home project could become the first step of his professional career, and that would be incredibly beautiful.
And if all cars stored this data?
Cases like this raise questions about privacy, data control, and the limits of access to the information stored in our vehicles. Should second-hand car buyers have access to these files? And insurance companies? Without a doubt, Winston’s story opens a new debate.
This story is not only about a rebuilt Tesla, it is an example about how technology, ingenuity and determination can turn a disaster into an opportunity! Winston discovered how the past of a car can still live in its circuits (and how to repair a Tesla!)
And all of this began with a simple question: what would happen if I plug in a USB?