Reply With QuoteWhy ruin a perfectly good car by making it into a milk float?
I like the sound of this a lot and have wondered about this over the years. I don’t like the £20k price tag but undoubtedly that’ll come down or off the shelf kits will become available. I know it won’t solve all the classic car issues but for me it seems the older i get the older I want my cars to be. This could be a good solution.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48956000
Why ruin a perfectly good car by making it into a milk float?
It’s getting cheaper then; I read about an electric conversion of an old Porsche 911 a couple of years ago and that was over £50k
It was around £40k when I enquired about a Rover P5.
I’m conflicted by that too. I’m a motorcyclist and ex lotus driver and I love engines and all things with engines, but can’t help but feel that something like an old TR6 or a Healy that could pull 0-60 in 3 seconds or less and do it in relative quiet with improved reliability would be a really good thing.Originally Posted by Steve27752
Last edited by tz-uk73; 9th August 2019 at 13:16.
How will you run a classic car in say 20 years when most of the petrol stations will be closed down through lack of demand and the chances are that petrol will be taxed to high heaven to speed up the conversion to electric or hydrogen.
Methanol?
I saw a on old early ‘90s Maserati converted to electric on Wheeler Dealers. As a Maserati owner it felt like sacrilege but it turned out very well, changed my view completely.
I remember that Episode. I thought they did a nicely sympathetic conversion given the tech available at the time.
A small, nimble car such as the forums favourite MX5 could be a real hoot to drive with an electric engine and its acceleration.
The spitfire on Top Gear was pretty good too.
I didn’t see that - Triumph presumably, not Supermarine :).
I used to have a Mk3, I can see it would be a lot of fun with a torquey electric engine.
DIY kit for Mr.Fusion will be on the shelf in Asda for £49.99 within a decade
Seriously, this has got to be an industry that will boom in coming years.
Now that would be interesting!
Yes, Triumph Spitfire in the “electric” episode. FF had a Subaru pick up with engine and motor whilst Paddy had tarted up Leaf which, to be fair, performed best overall.
If the engine went bang in my 308 I'd consider converting to electric. It would probably be cheaper than a rebuild!
Someone already does. Prices are interesting I believe
https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/
Vincent Rapides and Shadows now cost upwards of £50K.
Would you buy one today in the knowledge that Petrol is going to be hard to get in 20 years from now. Is Methanol really the answer for classic bikes ?
I think this is inevitable for many classics as kit prices come down and petrol prices go up. I have a V8 Range Rover Classic which is a likely candidate and probably makes more sense than converting my series 2 which does around 1000 mile each year, mostly off road.
Food for thought, but I`ll be happy if I`m here in 20 yrs to fret about it! I don`t fancy my chances of making 81, and if I do I won`t be driving my MGB because I won`t be able to get in and out.
The question of taxation is interesting. Currently the UK Govt makes a lot of money from tax on motor fuel. If we all convert to electric cars how is that tax shortfall addressed? Obvious answer is a shift to other forms of taxation, that may happen progressively as the use of conventional fuels diminishes, but I don`t see a scenario where the limited sales of petrol (and diesel) will be subject to relatively higher taxation than the current levels, I don`t think the logic follows.
As for petrol sites closing, the modern sites are now more like mini-supermarkets that also sell petrol, I can see that continuing. Can`t think of any local sites that rely solely on selling petrol, those days are long gone.
Converting classics to electric?......feels wrong to me but it'll happen to some extent.
My brother has a classic car renovation business, and I keep trying to tell him he should be getting into electric conversions. The situation we have now with limited numbers of charging points will be reversed over the next 15 years and it will be ICE cars where there is anxiety about where to get fuel.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Converting classics to electric power is sacrilegious.
It’s utterly pointless to have a TR6 that will do 0-60 in 3 secs as the chassis isn’t set up for that. The whole appeal of classics is the power train and way old tech feels, handles and smells.
I’m sure there will be plenty of electric ‘modern-retro’ vehicles launched in time, some with the risible notion that they may also make a ‘retro’ sound, as if embarrassed by the dullness of channelling electrons as a mode of propulsion.
Seriously, if you’re considering this just don’t bother trashing an artefact of a bygone era. Get the electric car you want and keep a classic with an ICE for high days and holidays.
Post of the month! Thank you.
I recently bought a 6 cylinder Boxster S as the newer models are 4 cylinder and the sporty sound comes more from tuned exhausts and turbos rather than the pure grunt of a normally aspirated 3.4 litre lump with 315bhp.
I shall not be converting my TR6 as I like the straight six more appealing. Bloody crazy idea if you ask me
There’s plenty of room for both electric and ICE.
if it keeps an old car on the road when engine parts are scarce or NLA, that can only be a good thing.
It’s not really about performance for me but it makes good headlines to have your Morris Minor capable of sub 3 seconds 0-60mph.
And at the end of the day, is it any worse than putting a big V8 in a Ford Pop?
I believe fossil fuels will go one way in the next 20 years or so with supply and demand dictating a reduction in the number of places selling petrol / diesel. Yes it will still be available but much much more expensive and seen as antisocial for anything other than historic rallies and vehicles which cannot be converted.
Old motorbikes will be popular as a way of experiencing the internal combustion engine when petrol costs £20 per gallon and is rationed. Big guzzling V8s will become statues of their former selves, unless converted to electric. Diesel will be first.
One of customers is having an old e30 'done' at some point.
If somebody starts making MX-5 Mk1's or Defenders that are electric, I expect they'd be a queue.
Most people do low miles in their classic cars, so mpg and fuel cost are relatively unimportant atm.
Given conversions cost c£40k and you've also destroyed the value of your cherished classic, I'd wager the appeal is limited to people who have no intention of ever wanting to sell their pride and joy.
Electric Classic Cars ensure the conversion is reversible and offer to store the original engine. However no-one who’s had a conversion has ever used this facility. I find that quite telling personally.
Cheers,
Gary
This one cost me £15 as a non-runner in 1967:-
I got it running and sold it for £55 to fund buying a car! It's been over the pond since and I tracked it back to Norfolk recently!
:(
My TT is far from being a classic, but if there was an economical way to convert it to electric and for it still to be practical I'd have it done tomorrow.
Agree totally.
What's the point. Modern cars have better brakes, better suspension, better crash protection, etc.
If you want all of those things and an electric motor, then buy a modern electric car. Or get a coach builder to wrap an electric car in a retro body.
However most classic car owners want the old school experience, complete with iffy brakes, suspension, etc and the mechanical thump of a piston engine. As for petrol not being available - Lolz (not in my life time) plus if politicians attempt to bring in legislation banning hydrocarbon powered cars, then they would be unelected pretty quickly unless they were prepared to instigate some sort of "buy back scheme" - so £20m for a 250 GTO for example. More likely they would simply increase the tax on fuel to a point where it was simply to expensive for the prolls, but that's a very long way off.
So yes, you can buy carbon neutral, organic alcohol free beer in recycled bottles from some hipster bar, but what's the point if it tastes like crap and doesn't get you off your face.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I'm due to pick up an elderly S124 Mercedes E300 Turbo Diesel estate - that will run quite happily on straight vegetable oil.
As long as there is rapeseed or canola oil, these old diesels will keep on running.
There is not a chance in hell that petrol will be all but gone or rationed in 20 years time.
Electric cars are expensive. Yes the cost will come down as development increases, but unlike an ICE vehicle which will still be running after 200,000+ miles as long as it’s serviced, and still give more or less the same performance as new, batteries diminish in their performance over time and will be expensive to replace.
You can go out and buy a banger for a couple of hundred quid and it will do its job, I can’t see an EV doing the same.
Is it one of the ones where the sound only comes out of the air intake on the left? Only in the last ones did they change it so the noise came out the one on the right too, so us RHD customers could enjoyed the piped engine/exhaust sounds. I strongly suspect Porsche were tuning exhausts even in 1999/2000, when the first S came out.
Why does everyone assume the only option will be a three-second 0-60? If I had a Morris Minor I'd be quite happy to have it limited for standard power, and then have a hot rod button for when I want to shred some tyres. A lot of people have fast cars but you don't see them driving like hooligans everywhere.
I'd rather still be able to drive my Healey in 20 years time and if that means an electric engine, then so be it. It's already tuned and goes like stink, and having primitive brakes, dampers and chassis just means it's a hell of a lot more fun and terrifying in equal measure.
Besides, has anyone tried a tuned Morris Minor? In 2010 I went to Le Mans Classic in one from 1930, it was fitted with a tuned M-Type Midget engine and was happy cruising at 80mph, which would probably mean 200 metres to brake to a standstill. Which means you use the power when it's safe to do so, not burning around everywhere.
"A man of little significance"
Posting Permissions
