You’ve probably heard about the cretins who’ve desecrated works of art by hurling paint at them – but have you heard about the company that’s desecrating classic sports cars such as early Porsche 911s by gutting their engines and transmissions and replacing them with electric motors and battery packs?
To be clear, we are not talking about placing an aftermarket, 911-looking shell on an electric skate. A kit device, in other words. No actual 911 was harmed. That would be harmless, in the manner of a kid’s toy race car set.
We are talking about the evisceration of classic 911s and Mercedes 280SLs and so on – of which there are only so many. It is much worse than the sacrificial offering of all those ’69 Dodge Chargers that gave their last all to make the General Lee look like it could go airborne and come down again without breaking its back in the process. That was for entertainment purposes and it was also the late 1970s/very early ’80s – which is when The Dukes of Hazzard originally aired. Those sacrificial Charger stunt doubles were then only about ten years old and – at that time – just old cars. 
If you cruised past any high school parking lot in the early ’80s, you’d see lots of such old cars, which had yet to ascend to the status of collector cars. Teenagers drove those kinds of cars back in the early-mid 1980s. So it was no sin in anyone’s mind to jump a couple dozen old Chargers to make that one Charger – the General Lee – look it could make such jumps with impunity.
The same thing was done during the filming of Smokey & Th Bandit a few years prior. Multiple ’77 black Trans-Ams were crippled (and ultimately, crushed) to make Burt’s black Trans-Am seem to be immune to the laws of physics. But it didn’t make you cry to see it because Pontiac was building more ’77 Trans-Ams and there were plenty of them to go around. One upon a time, they were everywhere – and almost anyone could afford one.
We took them all for granted; thought there were plenty and also that there’d be more. We never dreamed of the future in store for us. It’s like that opening scene in Soylent Green in which Charleton Heston and his friend relish a steak because eating one has become a rare indulgence and mostly for the very rich only.
But this isn’t even a steak. It’s not even meat.
What Everrati – that’s the close-to-EverReady name of the company that’s gutting classic Porsches, Land Rovers and Mercedes – is doing is fundamentally different than what was done to make the General Lee look unbreakable and Burt’s TA look like it could fly.
It is high-end vandalism. The mutilation of art for the sake of people who have no understanding of much less appreciation for art. They do, however, have plenty of money. The lobomotized 911 sells for $500,000.
It’s all perfectly legal, obviously – and people have a right to do as they wish with their property and their money. But that doesn’t mean that what they’re doing isn’t despicable and tragic. There are only so many classic 911s, Land Rovers and Mercedes “pagoda” SLs left It has been a half-century or longer since the last of their kind was made. Ruining the survivors is like deliberately shooting and then taxidermy’ing one of the few remaining Amur Tigers rather than appreciating the beasts that still walk the earth.
Consider what has been done to the 911 by these barbarous, uncouth people. The sound of the famous air-cooled boxer six has been stilled. The sound no other car made because no other car had an air-cooled boxer six. This is as much of what made the 911 a Porsche as two all-beef patties make a Big Mac. Without those two all beef patties, what you have is something that isn’t a Big Mac anymore, no matter what the wrapper it comes in says.
In its place, a pair of electric motors – something every other EV already has. No word from the company as to what becomes of the Porsche’s original drivetrain. We probably do not want to know.
EverReady touts the power and performance of the gutted 911’s battery-electric powertrain, as if that’s all that mattered.
It is the error made by every manufacturer of EV performance cars, excepting Tesla – which is defined by being a battery-powered performance car. It is what people buy Teslas for. A person who wants a Porsche, on the other hand, is likely not going to be turned on by the idea of owning what amounts to a Tesla that looks like a Porsche.
The battery-powered 911 is very quick. So is a Tesla. So is pretty much ever other battery-powered device. There isn’t much for the driver to do, though.
Well, not insofar as driving.
In a 911 with an engine (and a transmission) there is. There is clutch-work and shift-work and there is keeping the six in the sweet spot as you straighten your line coming out of a sweeper. There is the howl of the engine out back and the breeze from the open quarter windows in your face.
In the disemboweled 911 the driver pushes down on the drive-by-wire accelerator pedal and that’s about it. There’s nothing to shift because there are no gears because there is no transmission. It is just this far away from being a kind of amusement park ride. You still control the rate of acceleration but not much else. It’s like one of those high-speed elevators in a tall building that goes from the lobby to the 75th floor in just a few seconds. It’s exciting the first four or five times. By the tenth time, you’re hardly paying attention.
Why must some people take the something-special out of things? I cringe like the Indian in those ’70s commercials urging people not to throw trash in the river whenever I come across a classic Pontiac (or other such now-extinct race of car) and see a modern, Chevrolet (it is always a Chevrolet) crate engine in the thing, usually fuel-injected on top of that, occupying the engine bay where a Pontiac V8 once lurked. It is not a matter of the modern Chevy crate engine being more powerful (it is) or some other by-the-numbers antiseptic measure of “better.” It is a matter of taking away the thing that made it what it was, more so than any other thing.
What Everrati is doing is an even worse thing, because everything that made these classic car victims what they were has been taken away. There is almost certainly some Green Grift going on, too.
Company PR says EverReady “meticulously restores each vehicle to preserve its heritage while precisely engineering a zero-emissions, full-electric powertrain – offering enhanced performance, refinement, and sustainability. “
Italics added.
There’s not whiskey enough in the cupboard, is there?
. . .
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Can’t imagine there will be many takers of these things. At 500k, most can’t afford it anyway, and aren’t most owners of these classic expensive cars pretty intent on keeping them orginal? Most real car guys would be horrified, I would think.
Morning, Rich!
Yeah, that’s my take as well. If you can afford to spend $500k on a car, you can easily afford a concours-quality restored 911 that wont get you laughed at by anyone. I understand, of course, that there are uber-ruch tools who might want to pose in a 911 that is devoid of any 911-ness. But probably not enough to make this a going thing.
Just more muscle-car ’emasculation’. The Greenies and Libtards love that garbage. It boosts their intolerable self-righteousness and impotent ‘virtuosity’, lol!
Look, I had an ’87 911 Cabriolet, Red with a Black top for 9 years. It was my dad’s and I got it after he passed in ’09. I also got the maintenance bills. I was lucky during that 9 years to keep the costs under $25k, barely, and it took some doing to keep it that cheap. In fact when I sold it, with 265,000 miles to a gentleman in Austin, for $37k. He thought he was getting a steal by getting a one family owned 911 that had been cared for, which it had, meticulously. Unfortunately, 6 months later he required it’s 2nd top end rebuild due to a cracked head, that cost him $35k! I was frankly afraid of keeping it as I felt the car was a ticking time bomb and if that had happened to me, that car would still be sitting in my garage with broken engine. So I get the reasoning for converting to an LS1 or electric. Both offer much cheaper ways of enjoying that old car. I unfortunately, hated the sound of the air cooled flat six, at least from inside the car. That drone drives me crazy. It doesn’t sound melodious like a BMW naturally aspirated inline 6. So I don’t mind someone finding a way to make that car more affordable to keep. However, that being said, as annoying as that flat six sound is, it just sounds wrong without it. All 911’s should have that sound as it’s so distinctive. I’ll give you another quick story to elaborate what I mean.
Back in the early 80’s I was at Klein’s Department store on Main Street in Downtown Westport, CT. I was in the front where all the TV’s were, watching the Yankee game, this is when Scooter, the best play by play man ever, was still the voice of the Yankees. For those who don’t know, he was the broadcasting voice of Meatloaf’s, Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
I was engrossed in the game. I stood there while my dad did some shopping. He eventually came over to me and shook his head and said, “You’re oblivious!”. I said, “Why, what do you mean?”. He said, “Paul Newman, was standing right behind you for about 20 minutes, his head was almost resting on your shoulder as he watched the game with you and you had no idea”. I ran outside and saw a beat up Beetle driving away, but it had the distinctive air cooled flat six sound, and I knew it was Paul. He had a 911 with Beetle body on it so as not to attract attention. That moment, forever seared in my memory, is why the air cooled 911’s are the best, even if I hated riding in them.
Good morning, Bryan!
That was a great short story; loved it!
Thank you sir. Keep up your great work.
Sheesh….turning classic Porsches & Mercedes vehicles into EVs by removing the engines and transmissions and replacing them with electric motors & battery packs? If people who do that are using their own money to do it, that’s one thing, but if they’re using tax payer money to do it, that’s something else entirely. This also sounds worse than the demented push from the globalist/ technocratic elite to turn ordinary humans into transhumans, aka human-machine hybrids.
For what it’s worth, a story popped up on a newsfeed about Porsche spending $800M+ on IC engines since electric sales were in the tank. These trinkets will fade. Demand you get the drivetrain that they took out so when it becomes better to reconvert you can.
Furthermore, it’s possible to buy a rusted 911 shell to get the vin plate and clean title. From there you can order the parts to make it whole. It ain’t cheap, about $300k.
Eric, such a travesty to automotive art. It’s not an apples to apples comparison but when I rebuilt my pokey 1982 VW Diesel Westphalia I kept the stock 48HP CS code normally-aspirated diesel and the stock transmission. Some looked at me like I had two heads: “You could have put a gas Subaru engine, or a later model turbo diesel”. Yeah, but I like the character of the original drive train. The under-powered road manners and slightly smokey exhaust was part of the charm, to me at least. Plus, with only 48HP, you actually have to DRIVE IT, no loafing around, shift it in that “sweet spot” as you described in the 911.
Ain’t freedom a bitch? And those damn free markets!
Imagine having the gall to buy a car and do with it what pleases you! I hate EVs as much or more than the next guy, but as a principled libertarian, I have to remind everyone here, it seems, that you have zero say in what other people do with their property. It’s as if some people here want to assert a collective ownership stake into someone else’s car because… reasons. I, too, find it offensive, but freedom often is.
Either offer to buy the car from the owner before it is modified, or abstain from purchasing the finished product. Those are your choices if you wish to remain consistent.
I agree, Philo – and said so in the article. We are obliged to respect other people’s right to do as they wish with their property. We are, however, under no obligation to not criticize what they do with their property.
I know, I saw that part. I think a nerve was struck when you ventured even further down the automotive purist hole criticizing Chevy engines in Pontiacs, because if you remember, I own one and did that.
(And it’s the best thing that ever happened to that car.) 🙂
Phil, we all reserve the right to pass judgement on assholes desecrating a mechanical shrine. (You are NOT one, to be clear)
This is going too far, I don’t understand this mentality to make everything lame. Hopefully this company does not have some head in the sky notions about destroying the drivetrains they pull and they just re sell them. In theory at that point, it could be un-electrified in the future or they are keeping other cars like it running that had trash motors. The body is preserved, it was meant for an engine and would probably cost less to stick one back in later on. Everyone needs to do their part and make fun of the fools who wasted their money on this garbage mod, and hopefully companies like this will go out of business. Remember these are virtue signalers. They go with the flow of what they can brag about to others so they look superior. Got to make them feel inferior and this will stop.
“Turtles all the way down”
EV’s remind me of the saying Turtles all the way down which refers to the concept of infinite regress, where every explanation requires a further explanation, leading to an endless chain with no ultimate foundation. The phrase originates from a story, often attributed to Bertrand Russell, about a scientist giving a lecture on the Earth’s place in the universe, and an audience member countering that the Earth rests on a giant turtle, which in turn rests on another turtle, and so on, infinitely.
EV’s are in response to a lie. And for the final act…let’s desecrate a work of automotive art/precision of a classic Porche 911.
When I was a kid in Los Angeles, the first celebrity I saw driving a cool car was Chevy Chase driving an 80s Porsche 911. I have always wanted a 911 since. It is a good thing my wallet doesn’t want a Porsche tho.
What an abomination the EV 911 is. My abomination would be to get a microbus and put a 911 turbo in that bitch.
I moved to Alaska a couple years ago but still listen to Atlanta radio and the ads in ATL reek of desperation to unload their devices. Not only will you get your charging cable, but they will send an electrician to your home to install a charging station. Just buy an E Stang. It has never been “easier”.
Way back a long time ago. PBS’s Motor Week did a short snippet on a company that took vintage cars and “restored” them along with putting in new Chevy built drive trains. I thought this was a stupid idea then and it’s an even worse idea today now that their converting them into EV’s.
These cretins can`t go bankrupt soon enough….. And yes I also am sick of the LS everything clowns.
The LS is a good engine.
I don’t endorse ripping apart an all-original numbers-matching piece or anything.
But if you want to find a chassis somewhere and put an engine in it, I don’t care if it’s an LS or anything else, I say make it a project & go for it.
I agree! The LS has revived “backyard’ hot rodding IMO. When I was young we thought putting some Edelbrock bolt ons and a cam into a SB Chevy was some hot s#!t in our Camaro’s. Like maybe 1 HP per cubic inch. Now? Go down to the junk yard get a LS and a wiring harness. Spend less than we did on Vic’s Performer parts back then and get like 500 -600 HP easy! Put a LS in everything I say! lol
I was going to say exactly this. The LS is a GM engine (not just Chevrolet) that is simply an extension of the old SB Chevy. It has revived the hot rod world for the next 50 years. I encourage everyone to witness the revelry at an LS Fest (they have them in Las Vegas, Dallas, and Bowling Green, KY). The implication in the same article as EV swaps is cruel.. haha
Hi Vandall,
The LS is a fine engine; I would never say otherwise. But it’s dreary seeing them in so many classic cars that are not Chevys. People have a right to as they like with their own rides; it’s just not something Id ever do myself.
I just don’t get it. The electric drive train is in no way better.
For 500k you’re clearly not trying to save a few bucks on fuel. It’s a short range toy, suitable for cruise nights. You still have the problems of old cars, (rust never sleeps, and rodents destroy everything).
If someone wants this and are willing to spend that much money, why not just make a mold off an original and do a fiberglass kit car?
But then for a very long time now aging boomers have dominated car culture with insanely expensive rods and restos. A form of flaunting wealth/counting coup apparently. Probably this is more of the same.
Amen, Ernie!
For a lot less than $500k, one could surely pay a top-notch shop to restore an old 911 to concours level and this would include a drivetrain rebuild, bumping up the power if that were desired. Assuming a sold starter car, I am certain this could be done less than $150k, including the cost of a basket-case (but restorable) 911. Of course, it would not be an EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEveeeeeeeee and so no virtue could be signaled.
Thankfully Rob Dickinson with Singer already has a booming business to turn classic ICE Porsches into works of art.
It’s the anti-whatever the EV abominations are.
Same price and you get a bespoke piece of machinery.
https://singervehicledesign.com/
For about the price of one of these EV 911s one could commission a Singer build, which is possibly the pinnacle of high-end restomodded 911’s. Absolutely insane.
Wouldn’t it be easier just to make replacement bodies for Teslas? You know like the old Bradley GT?
The idea of destroying irreplaceable classics like this is like putting Mona Lisa in a bikini.
More like skinning Mona and draping the pelt over Whoopi Goldberg.
Ooooo, thanks for that image. More accurate than mine, but way more creepy
Can’t unsee that image……well done Ernie…burn of the month
This topic is near and dear to me.
“A person who wants a Porsche, on the other hand, is likely not going to be turned on by the idea of owning what amounts to a Tesla that looks like a Porsche.”
I have grudgingly come to accept is that Porsche has become a lifestyle brand. It has curated a customer base that no longer even knows or values what Porsche once was.
The reality is that if you go talk to a typical Macan, Cayenne, Taycan, or Panamera owner, they are likely to have little to no appreciation for Porsche’s history or legacy products.
Porsche sold its soul.
True dat. Porsche made light, relatively cheap sports cars for drivers like the 356, the 914, or the (early) 911. Macan, Cayenne, etc are all heavy, complex luxury toured or possibly Gran Turismos.
Only one i ever owned was a 924, which was light, cheap, and great handling, I personally find all the newer ones undesirable.
Tourers… thanks autocorrect
Right on Ernie!! From your posts I had you pegged as more of a domestic iron guy given the talk of flatheads and what not.
Always nice when guys can appreciate both the domestic iron and European stuff.
Completely different build philosophies born of different roads, and the post war environment each operated in.
Keep on motoring!!
I’m aging, always used to like Euro stuff. But I really don’t like cheaply made and despise complexity for complexity’s sake.
Flatheads, for all their technical defects, epitomize simple and durable.
I think you’re right, BID –
A Porsche is now a Bespoke accessory rather than a magnificent driving experience and legacy. It is for people who wear Prada.
I own a Cayenne, and I’m a car nut, and I am aware of Porsche’s history, however, I do not consider this car an element of that history. It’s a well rounded, luxury SUV with a massive profit margin which saved the company, but it’s the same platform as the Audi Q8 and older VW Touraeg. I bought mine for 40% of sticker when it was only 4 years old (a lease return).
Porsche sports cars are a lifestyle brand for rich people because Porsches are now as unattainable as Ferraris used to be. When I was young, in my mind, Ferrari was an $200k car, and Porsche was an $100k car. When in the last few years I saved up enough money to buy a $200k car, I wanted one which I could take to the track and drive hard, and I wanted a manual transmission. The 911 GT3 had an MSRP of around $160-180k based on options. You simply could not get one for less than $350k with markup, and that’s what used ones are going for now. It’s madness. One local Porsche dealer told me that he’d sell me a GT3 for MSRP if I bought the Cayenne Turbo e-Hybrid and Taycan “Turbo” which were sitting in his parking lot. Nice. That’s $400k of immediately depreciating car to become a “valued customer” who can buy other cars at sticker. This is Ferrari BS right here, except Ferrari is now an $500k car.
These sports cars used to be accessible to people who were reasonably successful as a working stiff, now, you need to be a 1%-er to afford one.
Others here say it, but, who the ever loving fuck would buy something like that? Talk about having more money than sense…
Meanwhile the number of Volkswagen Beetles destroyed for the original franchise of Herbie the Love Bug was about 50. And I’ll bet some of them were fixed up or parted out for dune buggies too.
Heck, no one would really get too upset if someone electrified a Bug either. It would probably pollute more though. Wouldn’t have that strange VW engine sound though.
Now one has to buy old Porsches and hoard them so they are not wrecked and ruined by electrifying them.
Collect them, they’ll be worth some money. Get zee engines.
Kind of a rare animal, is it not? Who would be stupid enough to make it a POS?
Remove the engine and it is all gone. Not the same.
I know of one, it is being worked on to make it great again. Together with the engine and all of the parts inside the Porsche, it’s all there.
Got wheels? Roll ’em!
Are these EV conversions any worse than the usual LS transplants into everything from Lambos to VW bugs?
Same for restomods?
It’s a strange word out there.
I find restomods acceptable when they’re not butchering a rare/unique model.
For example, IMO it would be a tragedy (and should be a crime) to modify a numbers matching ’70 Chevelle SS LS6.
Want to build an SS clone or restomod? Plenty of pedestrian 250, 307 & 350 cars to hack up instead. Knock yourself out.
I agree Flip –
It doesn’t appall me to see a run-of-the-mill Nova with a modern LS in it. But it just makes me sad to see an original SS 350 Nova with a modern LS in it.
Had a former supervisor who had this cherry Monaco blue first-gen Camaro with the stripes and SS badging. I loved hearing the rumble of that car pull up in the lot. Asked him about it and he admitted that he’d stuffed a crate motor in a old straight 6 car, beefed up the suspension and put some badges and stripes on it. Now that’s the way to do it.
But turning an old 911 into a glorified golf cart? That’s automotive heresy and that rich dick should have their car enthusiast badge confiscated and replaced with a permanent bus pass.
Hell, make him sit in the back seat of the bus, like Rosa frickin’ Parks. :angry face:
Hi Dr.
At cruise in’s I’m more likely to look at original 6 cylinder pony cars than ones that got pimped out with bigger engines and chrome everything.
In the useless trivia portion of my comment I actually seriously considered converting my Camaro RS to six cylinder power just to be different; the guy who was restoring the car for me pointed out that it would cost more, get lower fuel economy than the TPFI 350 in it and be worth less in the end.
This is what I’m talkin’ about:
‘In progress: 1962 Porsche 356
‘Our first Porsche 356 build will feature a 115 mile estimated range Tesla battery pack, Porsche gearbox & 120hp motor. (client owned)’ — Zelectric
It’s vandalism with a sarcastic sneer:
‘We are Zelectric Motors. Based in San Diego, California, we outfit midcentury classics to go the distance well into the 21st century.
‘The future is electric. But we’ve always loved our classic VWs and vintage euro-rides. And Tesla, the whole EV thing. So we thought: wouldn’t it be cool: the juxtaposition of past/future. RetroFuture! Take that sweet German design and throw in a high performance electric powertrain. That would just blow us out of the water. Outrageous! We wanted that in our garage.
‘We are all about performance, and the drive is the thing.’
https://www.zelectricmotors.com/what-we-do-1
‘The drive is the thing‘? With no engine or transmission? GAHHHH! *smashes fist through the wall*
LOCK THEM UP.
It’s vandalism with a sarcastic sneer:
Well stated.
Hi Jim. For what it’s worth the shop claims it’s keeping the tranny. It will still be an abomination; just 3.76% less of one.
Amiga Forever.
Same personality type except now a few of the fanboys are approaching retirement age with money.
‘have you heard about the company that’s desecrating classic sports cars?’ — eric
This is the first I’ve heard of UK-based Everrati. But several years ago I learned that automotive restorers in Commiefornia (where else?) are ripping the engines out of all kinds of vintage vehicles and replacing them with Tesla motors.
We don’t allow this to happen to works of art such as paintings and sculpture. Spray paint a happy face on a Rembrandt; go to jail. It’s part of our cultural patrimony. And so are classic vehicles.
Everrati is evil. And Soylent Green is people.
You didn’t mention the price of these bastards but, I imagine it will only be for the ultra-rich poseurs. And this is just the crowd that wants to show the world how hip and trendy they are. Yes, this everatti outfit is doing some despicable work but, only because there are scum out there with money to spend on it.
Hi Mark!
How’s $500k sound?
Imagine 50 years from now, finding a Red Barchetta hidden away to avoid the motor laws . . . Only to discover an electric motor and a decayed, corroding heap of batteries!!!
The stuff nightmares are made of.
Hi BID,
I think that would be a similar reaction to the scene in ‘Planet of the Apes’ where Charlton Heston discovers what’s left of the Statue of Liberty (sic).
A fool and his money…