{"id":3574,"date":"2019-10-20T11:02:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T11:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/?p=3574"},"modified":"2024-09-12T16:00:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T15:00:48","slug":"electricity-its-not-the-future-of-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/electricity-its-not-the-future-of-classics\/","title":{"rendered":"Electricity – It\u2019s Not The Future (Of Classics)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been let off the leash again to deliver our, erm, unique views on what’s happening in the classic car world. This time, it’s the trend for electrifying classic cars that has fallen in front of our cross-hairs. <\/em><\/p>\n

I should start this by saying I have nothing against electric cars. I think they\u2019re a good thing on the whole, they\u2019re examples of technology at its finest, they\u2019re increasing in usability on a near daily basis and once the technology fully permeates the automotive world, all the penguins and polar bears will no doubt do a little dance in the not melted snow. <\/span><\/p>\n

I also like electric cars because they save petrol for classics. As the years roll by and the reserves of liquified dinosaurs run out, I feel that petrol should be afforded to those of us who will burn it off via a worthy engine. A V8 from a TVR, the T Series turbo in my Rover, hell, even a little \u2018put put\u2019 engine from a 2CV. It doesn\u2019t matter what the engine, just so long as the fuel is being used with appreciation. For me, that\u2019s the future of internal combustion and of classic cars. The future is not, however, the electrification of said classics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"electric<\/p>\n

I perceive electrification to be the future of motoring. Modern cars are soulless goods that we don\u2019t bond with. They are a means of transport, that\u2019s all. Nobody has, nor will ever, found themselves misty-eyed as they look at a Mondeo diesel. Modern cars are just cars in the dictionary sense of the word. I\u2019m sure many car designers will spill out much rhetoric about design language, connectivity and so on, but it\u2019s all just PR talk. I drive a 2012 C Max. It\u2019s my \u2018dad\u2019 car. It does its job well, but if a bus were to clatter into it, I wouldn\u2019t be sad. I\u2019d be annoyed, but not sad. If something happened to my Zephyr, I\u2019d be distraught. <\/span><\/p>\n

Where am I going with this? Stay with me. Modern cars are dull, and they\u2019re dull because they lack the traits of old that made cars exciting. The big one being the noise. The burble of a V8 will almost always provoke a burble in the trouster area, too. Even if it\u2019s from an LDV van. The snarling bark of a pair of twin 48s will render many a car fan uncontrollably aroused. The piercing howl of a tuned race engine, well, that\u2019s just aural bliss. New cars don\u2019t have that. Modern electric cars definitely don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"electric<\/p>\n

The engine of a classic is its soul, it is the fabric of its very being. It is intrinsic to the car\u2019s very being. Replacing that with batteries is\u2026 wrong. I don\u2019t want my Aston Martin to glide by like some silent, wire-wheeled ninja. I want it to growl and rev. I want to do that thing Hugh Grant did in Bridget Jones where he revved the engine and mouthed roaring noises. I want to smell unspent fuel as it washes past my expectant nostrils. I want the full experience. I want the full car. That is why I like classics. I like the smells, the rattles, the noises and the resultant \u2018event\u2019 that it all comes together to create. I don\u2019t want a sterilised version. Who does? <\/span><\/p>\n

And therein lies the problem. I\u2019m not gatekeeping classics here, but the kind of people to buy an electric classic aren\u2019t the kind of people who would buy one with a petrol engine. They don\u2019t want the bother of the mechanicals. They want the look, the image, the association with classic cars, but without getting their hands dirty. That doesn\u2019t sit well.  You\u2019re either into these old cars or you\u2019re not, you can\u2019t just cherry pick the bits you like. I\u2019m not saying everyone who owns a classic needs to be a mechanic, but you at least need to be understanding of the mechanicals. Appreciative, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"electric<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t designers just come up with a heavily retro-themed EV? Honda have had a damn good go with their latest small EV, which harks back to the first-generation Civic. Why not more of that? The buyers for these converted classics, in my admittedly limited experience, don\u2019t actually want a classic, they just want the look. So why can\u2019t we just design something accordingly, with the looks of a classic?<\/span><\/p>\n

Classic cars are already facing an uncertain future given the pressures of global warming and so on. Can we, as enthusiasts, just be left to deal with that, rather than be forced to sit here and watch beautiful cars have their soul ripped from them in favour of some AA batteries?  <\/span><\/p>\n

\"electric<\/p>\n

Furthermore (and you\u2019ll be glad to know, in closing) classic cars have paid their debt. A car built fifty years ago that\u2019s still in use is far more carbon friendly than any new car. Electric, solar power, gerbil power, whatever. A classic was built once, decades ago. That effort, that carbon output to create it has been paid off ten times over by the fact that the car is still in use rather than having been thrown away after five years. We\u2019re not doing mega miles in them, we\u2019re not running them with smoke belching from the rear, we\u2019re just enjoying the fruits of decades old labour. And that should be applauded and welcomed in this blindly throwaway society we have. It shouldn\u2019t be pillaged and robbed of its soul because someone wants to glide around London in a silent 1956 Bentley. Buy a Leaf.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve been let off the leash again to deliver our, erm, unique views on what’s happening in the classic car world. This time, it’s the trend for electrifying classic cars…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":3576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[988],"tags":[15,12,13,11,32,1082,164,1081,14],"yoast_head":"\nElectricity - It\u2019s Not The Future (Of Classics) - Car & Classic Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lots of companies are electrifying classics, which pleases the penguins and polar bears. 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