Restomods are a common theme taking place these days, where you take a classic, gut out its old and outdated internals, and swap in high tech EV powertrain. Not only does the car become totally up to date, with a sizeable increase in performance to boot, you get to enjoy the bygone era charm in a more up to date packaging.
So far there’s a company called Lunaz doing this to classic Bentley’s, Rolls Royce’s and Range Rovers. While James May and Matt Watson have been testing restomod cars recently too. If this is a sign of things to come, what cars should undergo this EV restomod conversion? Here’s our wishlist, enjoy!
Lexus LS400
The car that started the brand. Lexus was established to design a car that would beat both the S Class and the 7 Series in their own game. And they did, successfully too. Which translated to what the brand is today. It was the benchmark for refinement.
Over the years though that super smooth V8 and the 4 speed gearbox can seem a little too crude. Which is why it makes sense to slot in an electric powertrain under the hood of the Lexus.
Not only will you 100% eliminate any vibrations and noise which can come from an internal combustion engine, you also eliminate the need to retain that 4 speed gearbox. And certainly enjoy a far greater boost in performance and efficiency.
Daimler Super Eight
LJust google up this car from this particular year. The facelift version with those gorgeous sci-fi rims looks fresh even today. In the flesh it commands an aura none of the other ‘regular’ XJ’s exhibit, even with the same powertrain. We have seen several examples here in Malaysia and they all have that commanding yet sleek presence reserved for something extremely special.
Which is why we feel the 4,2 liter Supercharged V8 is a little out of place for the rest of the car. In a car like this, you want that stealth, under the radar, sci-fi element to extend right down to the drivetrain.
Which is why a powerful EV powertrain would go perfectly well with this relatively unspoken Jag. The beautifully designed interior, furnished with a significantly premium feeling materials will go well with the EV update under the hood. Not a bad place to be pinned down under the instant torque of an electric motor.
Lancia Delta Integrale
If you’re crying foul saying whats a rally homologation special without the pops and bangs, here us out first. The lancia Delta Integrale and its various iterations are lovely to drive and gorgeous to look at. However this is Lancia we are talking about, and sourcing for spares to keep those 2.0 engines running can be harder than expected, especially outside Europe.
Imagine setting in an AWD EV powertrain into this car? You could program it to say sideways to kingdom come and will go through a set of tyres faster than you go through a full batteries charge.
It would be the ultimate 4WD rally setup, only without the noise. But how much can you hear over those tyre noises and your own terrifying scream in the right setup?
Lotus Esprit
Last but not least, a proper wedge shaped exotic. The Esprit looked damn good back then, and it still looks good now. It’s got a shape that will make anyone stop and pay attention. Especially in its final iterations.
The most powerful versions could put out above 350bhp. The engines could push out more, but the hideous bottleneck for this car was the gearbox it used, which was notorious for breaking down.
An EV swap though, will bestow this flyweight car the much needed reliability boost it deserves. It would be the perfect remastered sythwave track for the 21st century, embarrassing the likes of 458’s and 992’s.
Perdana V6 Executive
Another car that was plagued by transmission problems initially, and the first 6 cylinder car from Proton. In fact, there are no other engines in the Proton line up with this cylinder count. Maybe its the fact that it was the preferred choice of government officials here in Malaysia, or because it was one of the meanest sedans designed by Proton, the Perdana V6 does looks epic. But a new lease of life can come in the form of electrification. Imagine the Perdana V6, only this time with enough power to close up on a BMW 330i and with better NVH property than said BMW. That would be something unique to see.
The EV restomod culture is relatively new, and once the charging infrastructure for EV is more extensive in Malaysia, we could see more of these types of builds possibly taking place in Malaysia. Afterall, we used to manufacture TVR’s here.