ELECTRO-CLASSICS? NEIN DANKE!
I’m guessing I’m not the only one here who, despite stating that I probably wouldn’t watch the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan, I ended up sneaking a look later that day. Love it or hate it, we Brits certainly ‘do’ pomp and circumstance in style. No goose-stepping, high-kicking marching troops, no pantomimelike uniforms (well, maybe the odd bearskin and gold braid excepted), just good old Brit tradition at its best.
I love the fact that, among the modern armour-plated Range Rovers and big Jag saloons which generally make up the entourage, there’s always a classic Roller or two to be enjoyed – usually some high-roofed conversion design to accommodate Her Majesty’s latest hat. All good fun and for a car enthusiast a few minutes’ respite from the TV cameras concentrating on the dresses, the page boys’ and girls’ gap-toothed smiles, and Prince Phillip’s scowling face.
After the ceremony and whatever else they needed to do before heading to the reception, the bride and groom drove off in an E-type Jaguar. And very nice it looked, too. And, being a Jag, it sounded fantastic…except it didn’t. The poor thing had had its heart ripped out and replaced with an electric motor.
Gone was the wonderful Xk-series straightsix, designed originally by William Heynes and Walter Hassan. Gone was that melodious sound that can only be produced by a sixcylinder engine. Gone was one of the very reasons older Jags are such fabulous cars.
I’m sorry, but I really don’t get this obsession with converting classic cars in this way and pretending they’re still classics. They’re not. Amajor part of owning an old car is the sound, the smell, the very ‘life’ that pulses through it. In today’s world a classic is far from being the perfect vehicle – noisy, bumpy, unreliable, smelly and fun – but who cares? They have character in spades, character that cannot be replicated in any modern car.
Converting a classic – be it an E-type or a 911 – to electric power is, in my mind, heresy. You might as well buy a glassfibre kit car and plonk it on the chassis of a Tesla – or a golf cart. You’re fooling nobody but yourself if you think you’re still driving a classic.
As I’ve said elsewhere on this page, I’m not against any efforts to reduce pollution, far from it, but don’t let’s pretend we can save the world by driving round in fake classics.
If you want to have guilt-free fun in an electric vehicle, buy a car that was designed with that power source from the get-go. Please don’t start hacking up the old ’uns…