You can now buy an electric GT40
Battery-electric Fords like the new Mach-E are hot, but what about an electric GT40? It might not win Le Mans but it might just win over hearts and minds of a new generation of drivers intent on driving classic cars into an emissions-free future. That’s what one UK company hopes, anyway.
The company is Everrati and it has form in converting classic cars by swapping combustion engines for electric motors. The last time we heard from them the Cotswolds-based firm had electrified a Porsche 911 after similar conversion therapy on Mercedes SLs and Land Rovers.
Now it’s the turn of the Ford GT40 – but not, we hasten to add, a real one. Everrati has gone into partnership with Superformance, the US manufacturer of 1960s-era replica sportscars, to develop an all-electric version of the classic Le Mans winner. Built under licence from Safir GT40, the first rolling chassis is now with Everrati for a custom-designed electric power unit and battery system to go where normally there’s a huge V8.
“Superformance are THE guys when it comes to authorised continuation chassis of some of the most legendary cars in history,” says Everrati founder Justin Lunny. “Marrying these chassis with our advanced EV powertrains will enhance performance while keeping the essence and soul of the original.”
There is no word yet on what that performance will be, but if the Everrati 911 is any guide it could have as much as 493PS (373kW) – around the same as an original big-block MkII racer and rather more than a real GT40 in roadgoing form. Whatever you say about electric classic cars, slow they ain’t.
Superformance chief executive Lance Stander tells us: “While I will always love a V8-powered vehicle I am genuinely impressed with the lengths to which Everrati goes to maintain the weight distribution and character of the original car."
What’s next? Superformance also turns out licensed replicas (or continuation versions) of Shelby Cobras, Daytonas and Corvettes – more than 5500 of them since 1994 – so after this new Anglo-American tie-up, watch this space. Everrati electric restomods do no come cheap though, the electric 911 listing at £250k – plus the donor car.
One person who would perhaps have approved of the scheme is Henry Ford himself. He saw electric cars as the future – until he cleaned up with the Model T, that is.
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