They turn ’49 Mercurys and Shelby Cobras into EVs, one Tesla carcass at a time

Reported today on The Seattle Times

For the full article visit: https://www.seattletimes.com/business...

They turn '49 Mercurys and Shelby Cobras into EVs, one Tesla carcass at a time

In a garage near South Los Angeles, metal fabricator Greg Abbott fits battery packs borrowed from a decommissioned Fiat 500E under the hood of a 1965 Mustang.

In Oceanside, Calif., former AAMCO mechanic Matthew Hauber combines the suspension system and battery packs from a totaled Tesla to make an 800-horsepower, all-wheel-drive Shelby Cobra.

In an unlikely marriage of classic car culture and green technology, sophisticated hot-rodders - mostly men, mostly Californians - are cannibalizing crashed electric cars and using their batteries to create electrified sports cars and muscle cars.

As comfortable wielding an ohmmeter as a spark-plug wrench, they are expanding the automotive world's consciousness about what can be done in the electric-vehicle space - and making good money doing it. Their price can run from $30,000 for a do-it-yourself conversion kit for a VW Bug to several hundred thousand dollars for a fully customized, up-from-the-tires EV overhaul.

"These guys are taking drivetrains out of Teslas and Nissan Leafs and putting them in all kinds of vehicles," said Gordon McCall, founder of the Quail Motorsports Gathering in Carmel, Calif., one of the country's most respected annual automotive events. "They're hot-rodding electric cars just like their grandfathers did with 1932 Fords."

The Icon "Derelict" 1949 Mercury Coupe EV is a customized retro electric-drive vehicle. The engine bay is filled with electronics and batteries to give it the traditional V-8 engine look. The vehicle is powered by Tesla 85-kWh batteries fitted throughout the car for ideal balance. Its dual electric motors provide 470 pound-feet of torque and the equivalent of 400 horsepower. (Myung J. C