LUNAZ BENTLEY · RICCI’S GARAGE
Classic car purists look away now... even 60-year-old Bentleys aren’t safe from the proliferation of batteries
We drive the restomod Flying Spur with an electric powertrain, plus it seems Mark’s bought a BMW off the Bulgarian secret service
Weddings, bar mitzvahs, the odd car industry awards ceremony. I don’t put The Suit on lightly, the occasion has to call for it. Driving and being driven around by my faithful chauffeur Jeeves in a near-halfmillion-quid Bentley is one such occasion, especially when it’s not your run-of-the-mill 1961 Bentley Continental Flying Spur by HJ Mulliner... those are 10 a penny and stuck in the past. This is the future.
One of the great things about the electric revolution we’re all witnessing right now is it’s breathing new life into old cars. Like this one. Yep, this gorgeous old road-boat has had a full electric heart transplant, the work of the Silverstone-based EV restomodders at Lunaz Design, who have been ruffling feathers in the classic car scene for a few years now with their meticulous conversions and restorations.
Bentley not your cup of Earl Grey? Lunaz will also do you a colossal Sixties Rolls-Royce Phantom V or Rolls Silver Cloud, or a Jaguar XK120. The latest addition to the range is an electric MkI Range Rover – yours for around £250k. The idea is to focus on short production runs to keeps costs below the stratosphere, but if blank cheques are more your thing, then Lunaz is always happy to discuss something entirely bespoke. And it’s not limited to British brands either... nothing’s off the table.
“You’re always striving for perfection,” explains David Lorenz, the founder of Lunaz. “Singer was a big inspiration for me when I was starting the company, its level of detail. I met Rob [Dickinson] and his first
“THE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION IS BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO OLD CARS”
piece of advice was no car is perfect, you have to decide where your line is and stick to it, or you will not sleep at night. Perfection is impossible.”
No harm having a crack though, is there? The process goes something like this: Lunaz sources the donor, or if you’ve got something rotting in the corner of your 18-car garage that needs reviving, it’ll work on that (this Bentley was £160k before Lunaz even lifted a finger). Every car is a bare metal rebuild, 3D laser scanned, a CAD model created, the best place for batteries and power electronics found and imperfections in the chassis corrected... This isn’t shoehorning batteries and motors from a crashed Tesla into an old sh*tter, it’s high-end engineering.
Overseeing all Lunaz’s powertrain tech, which is engineered and developed in-house, is John Hilton – a former Renault F1 director, who helped Fernando Alonso win two F1 titles. A total chance meeting – they happened to sit next to each other on a flight when the company was just an idea – Lorenz had to drag Hilton out of retirement to fulfil his vision, a gamble that appears to be paying off. Lunaz recently moved to bigger premises, doubled its workforce and now has production capacity to hand-build 120 cars a year, as well as engineering capacity to develop two new models every year. “I’ve got the next five year’s worth of cars in my head,” says Lorenz.
Back to the Bentley. Tucked away where the sun don’t shine is a pair of front-mounted e-motors sandwiched together, producing around 350bhp and delivering drive to all four wheels. Thanks to an
“IT’S ALL ABOUT BUTTERY PROGRESS”
80kWh lithium-ion battery it has a real-world range of 250 miles, can rapid charge up to 150kW, has regen braking, luxuries like cruise control and traction control and the batteries are split so there’s some at the back, some at the front, to keep weight distribution and handling just so.
On the inside, the idea is clear – retain the charm of the original, but subtly integrate the technology we can’t do without these days. Allow your manservant to open the rear door and you’ll notice a USB socket below a chrome button for the heated rear seats. Up front the gorgeous Smiths dials look period correct but tell you strange things like battery charge, battery temperature and instantaneous power consumption or regeneration. There’s lashings of veneer and heavy-set switchgear on the dash – you almost don’t notice the cruise control’s twist switch, or the toggle to unlock the charging port.
But once you’ve stepped up and into the cabin, slid your thighs under the enormous thin-rimmed wheel and sit perched upon your leathery throne, there’s nothing new or futuristic about it, it’s a classic car. The smell, the view down the seam of the bonnet... a total time warp.
Turn the key, slot the column shifter into D and take-off is double cream smooth – no coaxing an old engine into life or waiting for your fluids to warm through, although the systems do take a dignified moment to boot up (it’ll be instant in the final calibration, I’m told). The torque curve is also yet to be finalised, the default map could do with some more poke off the line – a laptop fix apparently, which beats a full engine rebuild – but performance is perfectly adequate.
You don’t so much steer this car as gingerly plot a course, feeding the helm through your hands. How Jeeves keeps hold of the polished wheel in his Tokyo taxi spec white gloves, I’ll never know. Total pro. The ride is pillowy soft, the brakes work fine, although we barely touch 40mph on the narrow roads of Burghley House estate, and refinement is impeccable. Especially in the back with your nose buried in the Financial Times.
So who’s the target customer for a classic Bentley EV conversion that starts at £350k, rising sharply once you have fun with different paints, lightweight bodies and interior trims? Well, this car’s owner turned up at Lunaz HQ unannounced wearing odd shoes... so, quirky is a good place to start. He also owns one of the world’s biggest pre-war car collections, so clearly loves a classic but is well aware they can be temperamental. He wanted something to drive with his family in tow, every day if the mood took him. Something that works on the button. Beautifully.
Maybe you think this whole enterprise is sacrilege. I disagree. These big Bentleys were never about snorty V8 soundtracks, but buttery, whispery progress and electric power fits that perfectly. Lunaz claims it’s “furthering the legacy of the most beautiful cars in the world”. In other words it’s not killing history, but preserving it for future generations. If it keeps wonderful shapes like this on the road, well I’m suited, booted and 100 per cent on board.