The Company Behind It Has Been Doing This for Years
The UK outfit, Electric Classic Cars, has been quietly converting classics to electric since 2015, turning Volkswagen Beetles, Porsche 911s, and Land Rover Defenders into EVs before most people thought that was even a reasonable thing to do. They’ve even rewired a Ferrari Testarossa, arguably losing much of what gave it its soul in the process. Now they have their sights on American classics, specifically vintage trucks and 4x4s, and have developed a skateboard chassis that can be installed in almost any garage and fit underneath the body of those classics.
A Tesla Drivetrain Hiding Under a Vintage Body
Underneath, it’s all Tesla Model 3. The drivetrain is paired with ATB differentials and puts out up to 530 horsepower, with a claimed 0-60 somewhere south of four seconds. The battery size will depend upon how long your wheel base is – 56 kWh for a build between 90-108 inches, and 82 kWh for a build up to 130 inches. DC fast charging comes standard on both. The suspension is a modern five-point multilink setup with proper performance brakes, so despite looking like something from the ‘60s, it should actually handle like a car built this decade.
Electric Classic Cars
American Icons Are First in Line
ECC specifically named the Ford Bronco, F-150, Land Rover Defender, and classic pickups from the ‘50s and ‘60s as the sweet spot for this platform. American restomod shops are already lined up, and ECC plans on shipping the chassis to the US, while noting that this is not a product for serious off-road enthusiasts, considering it’s essentially a Tesla underneath. But for someone who wants a truck that looks period-correct but is put off by the “character” that decades-old powertrains and chassis bring, this conversion is a genuinely compelling idea.
1976 Ford F-150 Ford
