Well i dont know what i was expecting but that was a very balanced and sensible discussion. Looking forward to the comments not having either of those qualities
The conversion of the Testorossa made perfect sense to me. One of the videos showed the annual millage per year of the cars was around a thousand miles. After conversion the car became practically a daily driver able to cover many thousands of miles a year reliably and relatively cheaply. Before the conversion the car was almost a museum piece.
Nice format Gary. I’m not too precious to disapprove of the Testarossa conversion as it was made clear that one of them was basically unused and off the road because of the fragility of the Ferrari experience. The Italy trip Moggy did probably put more miles in than that particular car had seen in 15 years. Also I think there are probably enough originals out there sitting in the collections of millionaires to allow a couple to be converted and then actually used. I am both EV and Classic enthusiast ( and that’s why I bought that old Think EV as it in my mind combined the two!). I really think we just all need to calm down and let individuals do what the heck they want ( within a safe a legal framework!). What I don’t approve of really is doing an ill thought out and potentially unsafe conversion as when they inevitably do end up badly that also feeds the anti-EV zealotry even more.
Martin mentioned he would be keen to know about a Lotus Elite converted to electric propulsion. RU-vidr ‘Down at the barns’ is currently doing exactly this, search for ‘What's next for 1975 Lotus Elite Conversion! Part 2’. Comments suggests there’s a further update coming soon.
Very curious about this. I have some options. If the original engine is toasted, I think it's saved. If the original engine is in perfect running order, I can see the argument about ruined. If you make thee parts available for others to repair their vehicle, I think its defendable. If the vehicle has a lot to it about the visual/practical design, I think it's defendable, If there's something special about the engine, then I can understand an argument about ruined. In my opinion as long as there's enough cars for the engine enthusiats I think it's OK to convert the rest. I would love to have a classic Citroën 2CV, VW Type 1 (or Type 2), Fiat 500, Renault 4CV or Trabant; but I don't want the hazel of their combustion engine. But if they were converted to electric, I would love to have one, except it would probably be too expensive for me. There is something special in the charm of their old combustion engine, but at some point it might be better to reuse the parts as sperr for others, than to struggle without getting it to run.
Moggy's team depicted on Vintage Voltage did a proper job of these expensive EV conversions, and I can see a case for doing this if the ICE engine is beyond saving and you have lots of spare cash.
I'm part way through the conversion of an Austin 7 Ruby, it's fully reversible and the removed ICE parts have been cleaned, wrapped and crated should they ever be required in the future. I'm only fitting a 10kW motor and about 12kWhr of batteries, but that will be more than enough to get me the 50 miles to the nearest town and back; and that's as far as I've ever taken it in ICE form. If I'm happy with the end result next on the agenda is my 1988 Fiat Panda 4x4.
@@ModernHeroes There's a bit of fabrication but not a huge amount, it's not like the Ruby is a complex beast. The most difficult bit by far is mating the motor to the gearbox, but that's mainly a case of careful measurement, although I may have wasted my time as ditching the gearbox completely and connecting the motor direct to the rear axle may be a better option.
Nice chat gents, I'd convert my MK1 Mondeo to EV if I could afford it, the shell was good enough and it could keep the weight down with equivalent performance. Zetec engines have no particular historic merit.
7177 Testarossas produced in total. 191 on road in UK. Is that rare? What’s wrong with modifying cars to electric especially if they can be reconverted back to petrol guzzling engines if the owner wishes. If you don’t own it do you really have the right to decide what the owner does with it….
I have never understood why people want noisy cars. I get the performance, the speed, the 1/4 mile time, but I also don't want my ears to bleed. However if you have that super rare one of a kind then conversion of a working car does appear to be the wrong way to go. But for a common classic it could make a nice daily driver. Ultimately it's not for the rest of us to decide, it's the owners choice. Nice socks! Shame the video is not getting more views, maybe you viewer demographic are not classic enthusiasts...
I’m not sure what’s gone wrong here tbh. Expected this to do well, attracting differing views from multiple camps. Seems if it’s not mega clickbait angering the MacFryup crowd then it bombs. Tired of that.
No, it's not sacrilege unless I know the exact car. If you convert an actual Bond DB7 that might be a bit weird and sad. You can do anything you want with Ferraris because they're trash, particularly the modern ones, and because it annoys Ferrari and they sue their customers so the angrier they get the better IMHO because they're awful people who abuse their fans, much like Nintendo. If it's a Grenada though, who cares? Do I think we should eliminate all the petrol engine versions of historically relevant cars? No. But the better cars were manufactured in large quantities and honestly, many of those aren't the same car anyway. They're already Trigger's Broom. If you want to see good restoration, HMS Victory seems to be going well and is also Trigger's Broom. If you want to see bad, see Cutty Sark, which after a minor fire, they punched a hole through the side, ripped out most of the contents, and stuffed a massive metal staircase throughout it for accessibility or some nonsense. Basically they gave up on it because it couldn't be restored. Couldn't be restored? It's a wooden ship! You just use new wood mate. Mary Rose has been better treated than Cutty Sark for heaven's sake. What would I like to convert though? It's not true classics of vintage age, it's things like a Smart car. Imagine if you took a Smart, sliced out all the bad Mercedes engineering and put in a modern EV motor and battery setup. You could probably double the range and we know this, since the Japanese already did it. Financially a non-starter but since it's physically the smallest car available, I'd love to see it done.
Good discussion. I agree, classics are not the problem, it's all the 10-20 year old non classics especially diesels that are most polluting as they are still being used daily.
Some of these classic cars are more than 50 years old, the only way to keep using them for another 50 years will be to convert them to electric. Better than putting them in a garage or museum in my opinion.
Yes. I'm all for having vehicles in museums, even if they're no longer roadworthy but how many of those do we need? Not hundreds and thousands. Just enough to explain to future generations who bad internal combustion engines actually were.
I wouldn't be so shy about issues like ULEZ. Sadiqs reelection shows its a popular policy and the single issue pro pollution anti ULEZ candidate failed miserably.
While some people are heavily impacted, something like 96.4% of journeys within the zone are compliant. Based on that alone, it should be clear that it's a non issue for the vast majority who already comply.
@@djtaylorutube when I looked it up, a compliant car could be had for about £500. Not your choice of car, but plenty were available so the whole thing was overblown. If only some kind of money had been offered to help people deal with that too...
@@jonevansauthor Yep. However, I do have consideration for those who were outside the zone of grants but needed to drive into the zone for work. They fall in the gap but on the whole, it's no longer an issue but perhaps some leniency for those who can demonstrate circumstances. Afterall, a few single percent of the problem isn't the big problem and will fade away naturally in time.
