I recently spoke to one of those specialist firms that convert classic cars into EVs, which is basically sacrilege. It was an interesting chat, and it turns out to be good business, especially as prices start at £25,000.
Seems like a waste of a finite resource to me. And although old cars can break down often, that’s a high price to pay for reliability. Also, classics don’t usually do that many miles. If the idea is to electrify them for everyday usability, which is how it was sold to me, we must all be doing something wrong. Either that or we have less money but more common sense than the EV early adopters.
The thing is, £25,000 will buy you the most interesting modes of personal transportation in the world, none of which need a three-pin plug.
I started with Toyota and was going after something sporty but became very distracted by the wonderful FJ Cruiser. Compared with the average uninteresting SUV, this grey import really is a Tonka toy for grown-ups. A specialist had a 2012 example in super-bright orange for £24,750. It was being marketed as an alt-Land Rover Defender but without the complication and all the retro appeal. Also, Toyota stopped making the FJ Cruiser a couple of years ago.
Then I found myself deep down the Alpina rabbit hole, which contains some of the most stone-cold rarities around. A modest five-figure sum also buys BMWs from the time when BMWs were still truly handsome and desirable. These were the ultimate driving machines and then some.
So I was tempted, especially as a 2000 B10 Touring was on offer for just £10,995. Apparently there were just 12 of these made in right-hand drive. It had done more than 150,000 miles and had been in storage, but there was a ton of history and it was being sold by a dealer, for whom there are obligations. Pretty, practical and a hoot to drive: that’s perfect, surely?
Jaguar doesn’t have the best reputation for reliability, admittedly, but it seems the time has come for the XJS. It looks so ’70s, was at home in the ’80s and lived into the ’90s, and from there much of it survived into the XK, so you can easily get all of the parts, even for the V12.
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Electrification spoils the fun
I've nothing against electric cars but I don't really see the point of electrifying most classics. Part of the pleasure of driving an old car is the feel of the engine, and the clutch and gearbox. Take that away and you're fundamentally changing the character of the car. Some may like it, but to me its diluting the pleasure of a classic. I get resto-moding a car, you're enhancing it but not fundamentally changing it. Electrifying is like ripping the soul of the car out. There will be exceptions - the example above of the original DS is a good one - but I'd rather see replicas of older cars with new electric drivetrains than rip out the engines of originals.
Completely Agree
Stuffing an EV system in to a classic car is exactly for those with more money than sense. People who want to be seen posing in an old car but don't really want to own one - just the image.
The better thing would be to put a replica body over a modern EV - keeps the posers happy and keeps the classic cars for those who actually want them.
stavers wrote:
But what happens IF or when
si73 wrote:
I don't think that will happen - not for several decades at least if it ever does. We haven't gotten rid of steam trains, traction engines, horses (bit different I know!) etc. yet so with any luck there's plenty of life left.
But this isn't keeping old cars on the road - it's keeping an old shell on the road. The powertrain is a fundamental part of the car. Plus the embedded CO2 in the battery pack alone is probably more than the car would spit out in decades of normal (classic car) use. Keeping an old car on the road is generally more environmentally friendly than a new one but that's because it's already taken the embedded CO2 of production in to account - shoving a whole load more in suddenly make the equation less appealing.
A MX-5 isn't an E-Type or a DB5 or a Hispano Suiza. It's a modern tin box (albeit a good fun one no doubt) so a slightly different arguement I think. Maybe in 20 years time when there are virtually no standard, un-restored NA MX-5s then that arguement changes. Plus I'm sure you'd notice the few hundred kgs of batteries that would be peverting the fun of a light, nimble little car.
It's a fair point well made,
That tired old "more money
That tired old "more money than sense" thing is a clear indicator of someone who's bitter at those who've made more of the former than he has.
£25k is, of course, not to be sniffed at for the huge majority of people, but when the time comes, if I've still got my A110, it'll be getting electrified. Or run on booze, or possibly the blood of my enemies. Whatever seems sensible at the time.
Sporky McGuffin wrote:
it strikes me much more of railing against the modern tech/modern world ranting of a man for whom the world has left behind rather than a money bitterness. I'm sure he'd be thoroughly approving of £25k being spent on restoring a classic in the more traditional sense.
I should just stop reading his pieces, theres no value in reading them