Vintage Voltage. Quest TV

[bangerhoarder]

Tesla don’t sell them. They’re from write-offs, they may well be shipping them in though as not too many breaking here yet.

[Twiglets]

I guess they use other motors as well then as you can’t run a business relying on a certain kind of car to be written off? If nobody smashes one up the business is pretty much dead!

[HAL 9000]

I have seen them do a few with what they refer to as a Hyper 9 motor, invariably the ones they bolt up to the standard gearbox with a bell housing adapter plate. They look to be an off the shelf motor.
I see Ford will be doing "crate motors" soon, of the ones used in the Mach E I believe, and at a reasonable cost that should move the EV convertion market along nicely.

[droopsnoot]

bangerhoarder said:

A lot (perhaps all) of their conversions have radiators and water cooling for the motors and batteries. I think that loop is used in the HVAC, but not certain.

I know there must be something done, I just wish they'd talk about it instead of banging on about making brackets and battery boxes every single time.

[loughran]

There's a 356 with a Hyper 9 engine knocking around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoNjLPaeN2c

An article in the 356 Registry Magazine notes that 'with the engine noise subtracted from the acoustic equation the car was is far from quiet.'

So despite having a near silent motor, the ancient gearbox and running gear still makes a right old racket.

[pingu393]

droopsnoot said:

bangerhoarder said:

A lot (perhaps all) of their conversions have radiators and water cooling for the motors and batteries. I think that loop is used in the HVAC, but not certain.

I know there must be something done, I just wish they'd talk about it instead of banging on about making brackets and battery boxes every single time.

<cynical mode on/>Is it because they know that you can price the parts up at £15k and then get an idea of how little they actually do for the other £35k?<cynical mode off/>

[gmaz]

PF62 said:

pingu393 said:

yet he was happy to part with £40 grand to stick some Tesla motors in it.

And why is it always a Tesla motor?

Are there that many more wrecked Teslas to recover motors from than any of the other EV manufacturers.

There seems to be a big gap between the 120bhp hyper9 motor and the 300+ bhp small Tesla motor. Surely there is some way to use surplus Hyundai 200bhp motors from the Kona/eNiro or the more spritely Renault Zoe motors.

[Twiglets]

I guess they use other motors as well then as you can’t run a business relying on a certain kind of car to be written off? If nobody smashes one up the business is pretty much dead!

[PurpleTurtle]

CanAm said:

MG511 said:

CanAm said:

I missed the first minute or so (despite watching on +1!); did the owner say she'd paid £25,000 for it?
It had been laid up because on her first 20 minute drive she "blew up" the engine! It turns out it wasn't "blown up" after all and the converters sold it on for £1200(?)

I'm not convinced about their expertise when the guy referred to the disc brakes and 5-speed box on this early 60s 500D. BTW, still registered as a 499cc petrol engined car, so I hope the lady owner doesn't get hit with congestion charges etc.

One small query; there was no mention of heating or demisting. I assume the original blowers would still be there, if an early Fiat 500 had such luxuries.

She paid £26,000 for it at Historics in May 2018 https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2018-0...
I wouldn't want to drive LHD in central London and she didn't look to have off street parking or a home charger.

I see from that advert it was quite highly modified and really did have disc brakes and a 5-speed box, not to mention a tuned 695cc engine (but still a 499cc motor with DVLA!!).

So this lady has paid £26,000 for quite a tasty FIAT 500, and a further £17,000 or so to convert it,(apparently with no charging facilities as MG511has said) if the TV programme is to be believed.

Reading that advert, it all makes little sense. It states that the body had been completely restored and that it also comes with "an early, and highly sought after, 1957 pressed aluminium badge to the front.....This Fiat 500 N comes complete with its ...... original engine and gearbox"
The converters had to deal with rust on one door, and replaced the "highly sought after" badge with a replica (possibly that was needed to use it as a flap over the charging point.

I'm watching this show right from S1.

I see ECC have a few fanboys on their Facebook/Twitter who love taking the piss about people complaining about 'soul' and have one tired joke about "if I wanted some soul I'd stick some James Brown on".

Yawn. Presumably you can listen to his entire back catalogue and serve one of his prison sentences whilst waiting for these things to charge?

(Hi Moggy! )

Anyway, I digress. The Fiat 500 in S1, the woman seemed like the kind of punter who would frequent Harry Enfield's "I Saw You Coming" shop. Absolute ridiculous money on that conversion with no on street charging capacity when she could have simply got her (as it transpired, not) "blown up" engine fixed. More money than sense.

I wonder if, perchance, she or her husband work in the world of television production, if you know whadda mean?

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 6th April 12:38

[thegreenhell]

Twiglets said:

I guess they use other motors as well then as you can’t run a business relying on a certain kind of car to be written off? If nobody smashes one up the business is pretty much dead!

I don't think that will be much of an issue. They sold nearly a million Teslas globally last year, so even a small percentage of crashed ones will far outweigh the small numbers required for these kind of conversions. There are specialist scrapyards in the States who just break Teslas for parts, so there seems to be a ready supply at the moment.

[CanAm]

PurpleTurtle said:

CanAm said:

MG511 said:

CanAm said:

I missed the first minute or so (despite watching on +1!); did the owner say she'd paid £25,000 for it?
It had been laid up because on her first 20 minute drive she "blew up" the engine! It turns out it wasn't "blown up" after all and the converters sold it on for £1200(?)

I'm not convinced about their expertise when the guy referred to the disc brakes and 5-speed box on this early 60s 500D. BTW, still registered as a 499cc petrol engined car, so I hope the lady owner doesn't get hit with congestion charges etc.

One small query; there was no mention of heating or demisting. I assume the original blowers would still be there, if an early Fiat 500 had such luxuries.

She paid £26,000 for it at Historics in May 2018 https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2018-0...
I wouldn't want to drive LHD in central London and she didn't look to have off street parking or a home charger.

I see from that advert it was quite highly modified and really did have disc brakes and a 5-speed box, not to mention a tuned 695cc engine (but still a 499cc motor with DVLA!!).

So this lady has paid £26,000 for quite a tasty FIAT 500, and a further £17,000 or so to convert it,(apparently with no charging facilities as MG511has said) if the TV programme is to be believed.

Reading that advert, it all makes little sense. It states that the body had been completely restored and that it also comes with "an early, and highly sought after, 1957 pressed aluminium badge to the front.....This Fiat 500 N comes complete with its ...... original engine and gearbox"
The converters had to deal with rust on one door, and replaced the "highly sought after" badge with a replica (possibly that was needed to use it as a flap over the charging point.

I'm watching this show right from S1.

I see ECC have a few fanboys on their Facebook/Twitter who love taking the piss about people complaining about 'soul' and have one tired joke about "if I wanted some soul I'd stick some James Brown on".

Yawn. Presumably you can listen to his entire back catalogue and serve one of his prison sentences whilst waiting for these things to charge?

(Hi Moggy! )

Anyway, I digress. The Fiat 500 in S1, the woman seemed like the kind of punter who would frequent Harry Enfield's "I Saw You Coming" shop. Absolute ridiculous money on that conversion with no on street charging capacity when she could have simply got her (as it transpired, not) "blown up" engine fixed. More money than sense.

I wonder if, perchance, she or her husband work in the world of television production, if you know whadda mean?

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 6th April 12:38

And it turned out that she also had the original 500cc FIAT engine as well. Definitely one for Harry's "I Saw You Coming".

[thegreenhell]

CanAm said:

And it turned out that she also had the original 500cc FIAT engine as well. Definitely one for Harry's "I Saw You Coming".

And also that couple with the Isetta bubble car in the current series. They budgeted £30-40k, and got their car back with a 40hp electric motor mounted to the original gearbox and a retrimmed seat. Oh, and a custom charge point cap. Bargain.

[CanAm]

thegreenhell said:

And also that couple with the Isetta bubble car in the current series. They budgeted £30-40k, and got their car back with a 40hp electric motor mounted to the original gearbox and a retrimmed seat. Oh, and a custom charge point cap. Bargain.

They certainly saw them coming!

[sbk1972]

I dont mind th show although I do agree these conversions are so expensive. Also, nothing seems to go beyond 150mile range.

One thing that really mystifies me....is that mechanics neck tattoo. good god.....a huge dark tattoo on the side of his neck and face. What was he thinking.

[V8covin]

sbk1972 said:

I dont mind th show although I do agree these conversions are so expensive. Also, nothing seems to go beyond 150mile range.

One thing that really mystifies me....is that mechanics neck tattoo. good god.....a huge dark tattoo on the side of his neck and face. What was he thinking.

He probably thinks it looks ace

[PurpleTurtle]

sbk1972 said:

I dont mind th show although I do agree these conversions are so expensive. Also, nothing seems to go beyond 150mile range.

One thing that really mystifies me....is that mechanics neck tattoo. good god.....a huge dark tattoo on the side of his neck and face. What was he thinking.

He seems a nice enough chap but yes, agreed, it's a bit OTT for my tastes.

Each to their own though, I like a bit of well done inking, but just not the kind of stuff that looks like it was done by a toddler with a biro.

As my pal says to me, "people with 'Only God Can Judge Me' tattoos, you're wrong, I just judged you!"

[sbk1972]

Dont get me wrong, Im cool with ink and each to there own. You are right, he also comes across as a good lad but you cant help focusing on it, or maybe just me.. That's quite a statement to make, its a big dark.

Neck tattos are quite love / hate I suppose.

[thegreenhell]

The BMW Batmobile replica they restored/converted in the last series apparently failed to sell at the Goodwood auction today. It was bid to £150k, but the guide was 175-200 and it's showing as not sold on the website, so I guess it didn't hit its reserve.

https://youtu.be/pi9cFpQceGc?t=21673

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/27521/lot/340/subj...

[bangerhoarder]

It did look very tasty in the flesh, but that’s extremely strong money!

[pquinn]

bangerhoarder said:

It did look very tasty in the flesh, but that’s extremely strong money!

I notice a total lack of any pictures of the converted bits apart from the boot and bonnet being open, so the conversion could be a total stshow underneath.

Also looks adequately shiny in the photos, but some poor detailing - the door hardware all looks a rusty corroded mess even if it's now bolted to something with frest paint. Makes me wonder how many less obvious bits aren't great.