I’m a die hard GM car guy, love my gasoline burning engines, and think horsepower is a right of passage. With that said, I have zero issues with electric cars and trucks as long as they don’t preclude me from continuing to enjoy my old gasoline, or alcohol, powered rides. With GM, Ford, and Chrysler all proclaiming they will be completely electric within the next two decades, it has gotten everyone up in arms, and got me thinking. I’ve driven a couple electric cars and they drive just like any other new car. They are quiet, full of features, and have very little soul. That describes almost every new car sold, regardless of the power driving them. What I’m saying, is that a new family sedan that is electric is no different to me than a new family sedan that is gasoline powered, except in the range they can travel without stopping to be charged. I like older cars because I like the feel and the soul that they have. That isn’t a dig on new cars, they are great modes of transportation, but they don’t “move” me.
But what if you could have an electric car that made everyone happy with you, that also had the soul you love in an old car? This is completely possible nowadays, with all the swap parts available, and if you did it right you could have almost all the creature comforts found in new cars too. I’m not saying you should take your 9 second street Camaro and replace the drivetrain with EV stuff. Not at all. I’m just wondering if the cruiser old car you have might not make a good EV for cruising around town and driving to work.
I think some of the small cars that were built in the mid 1960s could be cool with EV power. I think there are cars of every era that could be good with EV power, but if I want some 1960’s car to drive along and be even “greener” than a Tesla could ever hope to be, then I think a Corvair, Barracuda, or Mustang is my jam.
Here are just three cars I think could be perfect.
The Chevrolet Corvair, famous for being “Unsafe at any speed.” according to Ralph Nader, and a car that has independent front and rear suspension and came factory with a rear engine location. This makes an EV swap super easy and there is tons of room for batteries and such both above the engine out back and in the front “trunk” space. And while there are some Corvair’s that have been built to go fast, the majority are cruisers anyway so it’s perfect. I’d drive one.
The Plymouth Barracuda, famous for housing a Hemi under the rear glass and standing on the bumper at events all over the world, is the platform for the famed Hurst Hemi Under Glass Wheelstander. But most are not like this at all. In fact most people think of them as small girl cars. I like them, and always have, but Freiburger used to tell me all the time that my opinion was wrong and that they sucked. I think one of these with batteries up front, controls under the rear cargo area, and an electric motor in the trans tunnel would be a fun cruiser that would be great with stereo, vintage air, and electric power steering. I’d drive this one daily.
The early Ford Mustang is the car that started the Pony Car movement and is probably the most controversial of these three. That’s because people are emotionally attached to Mustang’s being performance cars. But the truth is, these early cars WERE aimed at women, and few of them were actually performance machines during the first year and a half of production. So if you were to take a plain Jane cruiser early Mustang, which was super light weight, and put an electric powerplant in it, then that sucker would probably perform as good or better than it did new.
What do you think? Am I crazy? Or have I chosen the wrong cars? If you were going to do and Electric Vehicle swap on a 1960s American car, what would it be?
I’d rather chainsaw my arms off rather than pollute a Mustang with electric power! I saw a Tesla sedan yesterday and spent quite a bit of time figuring out which motor could be swapped into one with a Scooby WRX coming out on top due to the lack of hood space – though a mid mounted 302 would be ideal if you wanted to lose the rear seats!
If I convert a Mustang to EV, will you plz follow through on your thoughtful suggestion?
Also, FYI Rich Rebuilds has you covered on the ICE Tesla.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHgCeKJSmJdMyDYo5cP1nnl5mq87TiPq7
No.
While I think a VW Bus would be a more obvious choice for the hippy angle, if I wanted to build an electric ’60s American car, I think it should take an opposite approach. Electric motors are good at making torque, but the batteries are heavy even by iron big block standards. So put the drivetrain in something heavy. A Polara convertible, maybe, or a late ’60s Thunderbird. Something that was not fast by modern or even 1968 cars, but makes a comfy cruiser.
On further thought, if you’re going to convert an older American car to an electric motor, a malaise era car would fit the theme better. These cars reflected a panic over gas shortages, insurance clampdowns on performance, and panic over pollution and global cooling. The main problem: would late ’70s designs reek of the same despair if you’d handed the stylists a platform that had a motor with big block torque… at each end? Instead of trying to pedal “opulence”, they might have something to get excited about – and the cars would look totally different. Probably some sort of “futuristic” wedge look.
Yes, I’d put one in a duesenberg and relish in the hatred Id receive
I was in my teens for the muscle car era, I love fast and loud cars. I have rebuilt a few of the cars from my youth and currently on the the look out for my dream car, a 65 or 66 impala. I totally agree with Chad about the soul of the vehicles. They “speak” to you. That being said, I would like to see a few different vehicles with ev power. A 4wd something with a electric motor driving each wheel independently. A straight up drag race between a built muscle car and the same vehicle with ev power. I would drive a cruiser with ev power if for nothing better than the “shock” reaction of my fellow gear heads. I remember a episode of Iron Ressurrection with a ev powered Mustang that was a tire burning machine
Well, just the name alone makes a Buick ELECTRA a contender:)
I can’t imagine the terrible rattle and wind noise my Barracuda would have if it didn’t have the music of 600HP distracting you.
I am not anti EV, they have a place, but in a classic? No way
I’m with you Chad. Electric is the hot rodding of the future. While not yet a “classic”, I’d love to retrofit my ’89 Mustang with an EV setup, especially with something like the Electric GT, or Webb Motorworks setups. And I’d keep the manual trans!
So the cheapest EGT system is 200hp with a 70-150 mile range at 36k? No price on the Webb unit, don’t really get dressing the motor up to look like a v8 with headers and carb etc but its a good angle for them. I like the noise, smell, feel of the ICE motor. think would rather just buy a new electric car than bother with one of these kits. Clasic cars are about the uniqueness of the design of the powertrain, suspension, body. that’s why people get upset when an LS gets shoved in everything. Guess this is no different. the range is the absolute killer though. I looked at an E Golf for my daily commute. Its real world range was less than 100 miles. I have nowhere to plug in at work, I probably wouldn’t make it there and back. god forbid if I made a detour.
Outside of the novelty of it, no.
It’s important to realize that fossil fuels are the most rational and cleanest power we have. You have to consume a fossil fuel to produce electricity. By claiming that electricity is cleaner, while ignoring the reality that fossil fuels are required to create it, is to refuse to acknowledge the fact that you are consuming one power source to get the other. Even Elon Musk and the CEO of Toyota have both recently stated that for a car company (such as GM) to go all electric is to commit suicide. We are not getting away from fossil fuels, and if you buy into the narrative that the federal government is trying to push us into, then you are advocating for the end of individual transportation. They would love nothing better than to shut down your own personal transportation and force you into mass public transit. They can’t get there yet but that is what they want. Mark my words, socialism is the end of hot rodding as we know it.
There are more ways to create electricity than just consuming fossil fuels…
How did Texas make out?
Completely off topic?
Not off topic at all. If the power grid can’t keep up right now, how is it going to fare when there are 276 million vehicles plugged in and charging?
You’re wildly wrong on so many points that it’s not worth ME refuting you. I’ll let the propellor heads over at Forbes do it:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/05/20/are-electric-vehicles-really-better-for-the-environment/?sh=49e1140176d2
No. I’m not trying to reason why it should be done or try to convince myself. You would like too,go for it, have fun,me,no.
Only thing I like about EVs is they save gas for my cars!
Internal combustion engines won’t die because the world runs out of oil. They’ll be legislated out of existence. I’d rather convert my old cars to electric motors and still drive them, which can provide FAR more levels of performance, than to sit and polish them as lawn ornaments.
Ive been thinking about adding some pancake motors on the rear wheels of my 75 GMC motorhome. Hybrid power with the 488 Olds up front and 100hp of electric on the rear to help out. Lots of room for batteries too.
Chad, you certainly stirred up the “sky is falling because the government made my gas prices go up and is going to take away my ICE” crowd with this one.
The first generation Mustang would be a difficult, but doable, platform using the stock unibody. Not for lack of motor space but the encumbrances on the batteries. Companies like EVWest have done this very conversion (I despise the term “swap” because the original engine and driveline is not being installed into the vehicle from which the new powertrain came) with segmented packs placed in different areas of the car. ’67-’71 Mustangs would be better choices.
Corvair…totally. This platform begs for an EV conversion. Just don’t forget really, really good brakes.
EVWest has done (and continues to do) VW projects on just about every vehicle they Germans ever offered, including the Bus.
I’ve always wanted to do a ’32-’34 Ford in a 1950’s exterior style with a killer-fast EV set-up underneath. Someone did a 1950 Mercury for SEMA a few years ago but I never saw it beyond show photos. PLENTY of battery room in that one.
I had heard through very reliable sources in 2014 that a Houston-area hot rodder purchased a brand new Tesla Model S P85++ to mate with a fresh 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air body. The plan was to chop off the aluminum Tesla skin leaving nothing but the base of the car from which to use as the rolling stock for the ’57. Not sure how far that project got after taking delivery of the Model S. Maybe he liked the car so much he couldn’t tear it up.
No way would I convert a classic to electric. Maybe I’m set in my ways but there are just some things you don’t mess with.