Long Read • From the Garage
Inside the Shop Where 1970s Coupes Learn to Be Electric
One bay, two engineers, and a wall of wiring diagrams. We spent a week watching a carbureted coupe become a 400-hp EV.
By Maya Chen — Photos by R. Hart • Jan 13 • 9 min • 212 notes
T
he first thing you notice is the silence. No lift rumble, no exhaust smell — just a bare shell on stands and a battery pack where the fuel tank used to be. The owner, a former rally mechanic, hands us a torque wrench and says, "If you can change a clutch, you can do this. But you'll need to forget what you know about timing."
“We’re not restoring cars. We’re giving them a second first life.”
By day three, the motor is in. The wiring takes longer. Each classic has its own quirks — a bent frame rail here, a previous owner's hidden splice there. Nothing in the manual matches the car in front of you.
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