Of course, the construction of a free road does cost money, which the public must somehow pay. However, this does not imply the inevitability of toll booths. We who must in either case pay will get more value for our money by buying a free road.—Richard Stallman

Past economic models relied much less on proprietary manufacturing and consumer product sales, with more emphasis on manufacturing and repair as services called on by users who considered self-repair and self-manufacture as defaults. Despite modern concerns to the contrary, this approach is not destructive to a commercial free market. If anything, such an economy represents a more ideal capitalist marketplace. The creation of a substantial free-licensed development bazaar will provide an environment in which companies catering to these needs can thrive and become much more competitive with the corporate consumer product manufacturers which presently dominate our economics. Clearly this is a necessary shift if we are to obtain the flexibility and self-sufficiency needed for developing the new frontier in space.

Figure 1a: Covered wagons were built by settlers themselves or contracted from local builders, using blacksmith shops to make the more difficult parts. Enough information to service just about all wagons could be contained in one book, such as Practical Carriage Building shown here[29]

As we consider the needs of new pioneers, it makes sense to draw on the experiences of old ones. During the westward migration of the nineteenth century, American settlers travelled mainly by “covered wagon”—a rugged cart made of wood, with some iron or steel parts, and a canvas covering to protect the occupants, drawn by oxen or horses. There were no “brands” of covered wagons, although there were several common types and sizes. Nor were wagons produced in factories. Instead, they were usually made by the settlers themselves, with the help of manufacturing services from local blacksmith shops. Repairs were handled in the same fashion[1].

As we consider the needs of new pioneers, it makes sense to draw on the experiences of old ones

A wagon is transparently reverse-engineerable, there is very little of its mechanism that is either invisible or non-obvious in its function, at least once you’ve seen it work. So naturally, anyone with some mechanical skill could make parts or whole wagons on their own. Patents were much harder to get back then, and in any case, the construction of a wagon was well-understood and therefore unpatentable. Even if a particular component was patented, this was easy to avoid, since with so few parts, there were relatively few interfaces to constrain designs and alternate methods could be used to do the same job.

Even as late as the 1950s, when the automobile had long since replaced any form of horse-drawn vehicle, and corporations had taken over the manufacturing role, Americans took pride in learning to repair and customize their own cars. For about four generations, America was graced with a new class of skilled amateurs known as “shade tree mechanics”.

To a skilled amateur or professional mechanic, the important aspects of an engine could be easily figured out by disassembling it

Engines of that era were still almost exclusively mechanical devices. You could get repair manuals, which were useful, but to a skilled amateur or professional mechanic, the important aspects of an engine could be easily figured out by disassembling it. Some engine parts were patented, of course, but not as many as you might think. Any patents on the original internal combustion engine design had of course slipped into the public domain by 1950, and high standards for originality were still in place in the patent office, so the market remained very free. It was then, and is still, fairly easy to buy third-party replica parts for these engines. Failing that, most of them could be made in a small machine shop of the type that can be found in towns all over America. The increased complexity of the automobile engine was ameliorated by the rise in standardized fasteners and tooling standards optimized for ease of repair with the small toolkits that were (and still are) widely available[2].

Figure 1b: Cars up until the 1970s were mechanically-tuned, meaning that they could be easily reverse-engineered if need be; repair manuals were printed by manufacturers and third parties; and a fairly inexpensive set of tools was all that was needed to repair them. This encouraged “shade tree mechanics” who maintenanced their own vehicles

Then came the 1970s, with rising fuel prices, concerns about vehicle emissions (and the resulting regulations), and the availability of sophisticated digital electronics. The need for increased efficiency drove manufacturers to use integrated microcontrollers and other “black box” devices in their engine designs, primarily to improve combustion efficiency. At the same time, the American culture was seeing a boom in consumer culture, and new urban values of comfort and convenience began to supplant the old frontier ideals of self-sufficiency and independence. Car owners were going to professional mechanics instead of trying to fix cars themselves, so they no longer cared how difficult the cars were to work on. Manufacturers replaced simple standardized components in their designs with ones that were more convenient to put on in the factory, trading future repairability for lowered factory expenses. Planned obsolescence was introduced, with fixed engineering lifetimes on cars. Hoping to cash in on the public’s desire for novelty, car designs changed rapidly with many proprietary customized parts for the shell of the car. For professional auto shops, these changes were relatively benign since the costs of new and more expensive diagnostic and repair tools could be distributed over many customers.

The need for increased efficiency drove manufacturers to use integrated microcontrollers and other “black box” devices in their engine designs

For the shade tree mechanic, however, these cars are a nightmare. They have many critical parts which cannot be reverse-engineered to work. Instead, manufacturers print “repair manuals” which are high-priced, protecting professionals at the expense of the amateurs who can no longer afford the cost of the intellectual property required to fully understand and repair their own personal vehicles. Many specialized tools are needed, instead of the customary standard set of wrenches and screwdrivers. Globalized manufacturing results in cars with both metric and US units, requiring the mechanic to carry both types of tools. Disposable connectors, not widely available to end-users are used so that assemblies are not always reversibly connected. Worst of all, the “black box” microcontrollers cannot be serviced without specialized interface computers and terminals, generally only available to authorized repair shops[3]. In the end, the tooling required to fully maintenance a modern automobile costs more than the car itself!

Figure 1c: By the 1980s, digital electronic controllers and other “black box” devices had made cars very difficult to reverse engineer, and complete service data became complex, expensive, and difficult for individuals to acquire. Cars were built to rely on complex and expensive maintenance equipment that was only practical for professional mechanics

In the end, the tooling required to fully maintenance a modern automobile _costs more than the car itself!_

Throughout this process, the end-user has been disenfranchised by the centralization of this kind of technocratic power. The essential result is exactly that of closing the source code to the automobile. This trend has continued right up to the present day, and the shade tree mechanic tradition—and the self-sufficiency ideal it represents—is dying because of it. This is extremely bad for those who want to see a new era of pioneering and self-sufficiency on the space frontier. Clearly, a reversal of this trend is needed.

Repair cultures and manufacturing services

There are still cars with healthy repair cultures. The Volkswagen Beetle is perhaps the most pervasive of these. Based on a simple design, preserved almost unchanged for the many years the car was in production, the Beetle is an easy target for salvage and repair. It’s easy to find parts that will match without worrying about so many “designer changes” between year-models (it uses “standard formats”), and there are many replica parts made by third party auto parts manufacturers[4].