Charging Up The Classics

Garages around the world are refitting vintage cars with electric batteries. It’s a boost of style and speed that’s totally plugged in.

- Jason Clenfield and Chisaki Watanabe

Osamu Furukawa’s garage is full of gorgeous electric cars, but none of them is a Tesla. There’s a yellow 1977 Volkswagen Beetle alongside a rare three-wheeled Messerschmitt from the 1950s in cherry red, and both are in buttery-smooth working order. The bodies may be antique, but their engines have been replaced with electric motors and batteries. “This is about how fun a car can be,” says the 47-year-old mechanic.

Furukawa’s shop on the outskirts of Tokyo, Oz Motors, is one of a dozen or so boutique garages around the world that specialize in “EV conversions,” the process of turning an automobile with a combustion engine into one powered by electricity. They’ve sprung up from London to Southern California, all catering to a growing number of car fanatics who enjoy classics but want more power, reliability, and fuel efficiency.

“The guys who come into our shop tend to be forward- thinking, progressive,” says Michael Bream, proprietor of EV West, a garage near San Diego whose clients include tech executives and Hollywood types. “They’re looking for a way to differentiate themselves in a car that has some history.”

Electric-car conversions have been around since the ’60s, when hippies and engineering geeks began trying to power old cars with stacks of golf-cart batteries, using generators salvaged from airplanes as motors. During the oil crisis of 1979, Michael Brown founded Electro Automotive near Santa Cruz, Calif., with his wife and business partner, Shari Prange, and went on to sell thousands of do-it-yourself conversion kits. They had a bumper sticker that said: “GM can’t build this car, but you can.”