This Tesla-powered Porsche 912 is the new face of vintage restorations

There are currently half a million Tesla in the world and some of them have had unfortunate outcomes. But as shown by people such as YouTuber Rich Rebuilds, the loss of a Tesla owner can easily become a gain for another. Just take the revived 1968 Porsche 912 shown in the video above, which is once again being grilled, thanks to the engine of a Tesla Model S P85.

Few years ago, The edge traveled to southern California to talk with David Bernardo, whose company, Zelectric Motors, was renovating the old Volkswagen Beetles and Microbus and upgrading them with electric powertrains. Since then, the trend has really started to take off and Zelectric – along with its performance partner, EV West – now has a measured waiting list in years, filled with customers waiting to shell out until (sometimes more than) $ 100,000. for a car.

The idea of ​​badociating new EV technology with vintage cars has become so popular that even automakers are trying to exploit their nostalgia to promote their electric road maps. Some have resorted to clbadic designs for their all-electric concept cars looking into the future. Aston Martin has announced that it would convert old cars to homeowners wishing to avoid looming pollution regulations in major cities. Jaguar produced a limited number of electric types, and Prince Harry even drove one to his wedding.

This boom means that Bernardo and the founder of EV West, Michael Bream, are able to take over more complex and expensive projects, like the new Porsche 912 from 1968. They transformed what was once a hull a Rusty little one from an owner in Las Vegas. 550 horsepower electric monster with 4,500 lb-ft of torque. Not bad for a car that was less powerful than its predecessor at that time and that earned him the nickname "budget" or "poor man" 911.

The Porsche uses the electric motor, the inverter, the rear differential and even the Tesla accelerator pedal. But it does not use the Model S battery. Instead, the little Porsche is powered by a smaller 32 kWh pack of LG Chem, which has been split into two 16 kWh parts to help balance the weight of the car. Still according to Bream, the car has a range of about 140 kilometers.

"[It was] A bit of a challenge, from the point of view of engineering, because the car is much smaller than the one from which we draw the components. A Tesla drive unit is coming out of a 5,500-pound car and we are trying to get a car to a car of about 2,300 pounds, "Bream said. "So, there are a lot of engineering challenges out there."

The Tesla 912 engine will also lay the foundation for future construction. EV West plans to sell a 912 conversion kit for approximately $ 50,000 based on the work done on this project – which means that people with some knowledge, having access to an old 912 and with a lot of disposable income will be able to ignore the waiting list. the work themselves.

do not everyone like what people like Bream and Bernardo do. Leslie Kendall, the chief historian at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, says some old-fashioned car purists do not particularly like this idea. "They look at it and consider it – and many insist – a desecration of any vehicle. Because you take a vehicle they do not manufacture anymore, you turn it into something that it is not and was never supposed to be, "he says. "The very idea of ​​getting a clbadic car becomes an authentic driving experience. And engine speed is part of this authentic driving experience. "

Kendall is not, however, a total prescriptivist in the restoration of vintage cars. "Once that's your car, you can do what you want," he says. "If you own a really rare car, like a Porsche 901, a Porsche before 911, and you want to convert it into an electric car, it belongs to you. You can certainly do it. But, Kendall adds, it would "diminish" the hobby by "taking something very rare, something very important and modifying it, probably in the state where it would be very difficult to return to its state of being. origin ". configuration."

For owners like Paul Stone, who bought a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle from Zelectric converted in 1966 a few years ago, it is the modernist twist that sold it.

"I was expecting very little, because the electrified electric vehicles I saw online were only Frankenstein's monsters," Stone says. "They [were] filled with batteries of golf carts in the backseat and strange engines. They were really bad, so I badumed it would be like that. But once Stone got behind the wheel, he says that he was "blown away."

"The first time I drove it, [I] I went down the street and really walked on the accelerator … it was fast and fun, "he says. "In first gear, he'll throw you in the back seat."

Stone has encountered some resistance when he brought his Ladybug to car shows or meetings, but he says it's rare. "People who are attracted to the car … are not interested in a big, energy-intensive clbadic V8 car that has been restored," he says. "It kind of opened it up to another generation. I think this is going to be the future of car collection. "

Bernardo and Bream say they are trying to build the cars so that they can be converted, although they do not expect that to happen.

But Kendall's comments illustrate a broader point: of course, some of the people who have spent decades, or even most of their lives, finding, restoring, collecting, tweaking, and showing cars of their own. Times are not going to like stores like Zelectric and EV West do.

Similar resistance has been found in other places where electric cars appear. Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, had to put considerable effort into proving itself (and spending a lot of money on the process) in its first five seasons. And while electric vehicle sales are slowly growing around the world, US consumers are buying more SUVs and fuel-efficient trucks in the short term.

The electric car revolution is not a change that will happen overnight. But with projects like the Tesla-powered Porsche, stores like EV West and Zelectric Motors are showing that automotive culture is starting to adapt to this new reality – and they have the waiting list to prove it .