Opinion

[tbm3fan]

There was an article in my new Mustang Monthly that really bothered me a bit. Now this could just as easily be done to say a 1968 Charger. So the story was about a shop called "Red Blood" that took a 1968 Mustang fastback and then stripped out the entire drive train and suspension. The drive train was replaced with an electric motor, like in a Tesla. The suspension entirely modern now with rack and pinion along independent all around. The interior was completely redone with the only part looking like a 68 Mustang was the shape of the dash.

The article referred to this as a 1968 Mustang. Also in the magazine was a highly modified 1978 Mustang II which barely look like a Mustang II but was still called a 1978 Mustang. I am of the opinion that these cars are not a 68 Mustang nor 78 Mustang. They are hybrids at best with the only period correct piece on them being the body. I would feel the same if someone took a 1965 F-100 cab and put it on a 1979 F-150 frame and drive train. It is not a 1965 F-100.

So if a shop did this to a Charger, with the only the body being from 1968, is that still a 1968 Charger? I feel it is a hybrid that looks like a Charger but isn't. It is more a modern resto-mod. How a local DMV might see it I don't know legally. As for the Mustang above I would call it a 2015 Red Blood since that is what most of it is. A 1968 car should be all 1968 particularly the body, drive train, interior and most of the suspension. I don't know but it just irritated me no different then someone moving a VIN around from body to body.

 

[300rag]

This is really not that much different than, say a Model T. How many were/are registered as a Model T when none of the interior or running gear even resembles the original?

 

[commando1]

My opinion, in sincerity....
I will get worked up about 1974-1978 C-bodies to no end and that's the end of my battles. Every other crises about any other year, make, model.... I dont care.

 

[butchr66]

I see "electric motor" and I throw up. Alot of good dinosaurs died so I can have 7 smoky sooty miles to the gallon. Hails to them!!!

 

[Wollfen]

I saw on FastnLoud they bought a restored 1971 RT Challenger and gutted the mechanicals fitting all new suspension, engine, gearbox, radiator, etc. I don't look at it as an original challenger anymore, very much modded, but its still a challenger.

 

[cld]

I think I may have seen that car, or another Mustang done just like it, at Austin Cars & Coffee. I was conflicted; my favorite part of the car enthusiast world is the noise -- old Alfas, Mopars, (hate to say it) Mustangs for the last few years, Astons, etc. And obviously the electrics have little or no noise. But in the end I thought it was an interesting project that maybe pulled more people into the classic car world. I love old, stinky gas guzzlers, but if I had the money, damn straight I would have a Tesla P85D. I drive 11 miles to my office, 11 miles back. Ferrari-level acceleration in something you plug in every night? Sign me up.

 

[Wildaugust]

My opinion is that if the body is still recognisable as a '68 Charger or Mustang, then that is what it is. I would certainly consider it to be extremely restomoded. I can appreciate the work that went into it and maybe understand the reasoning for it, but I personally still prefer to see a vintage engine in a vintage car. The engine certainly doesn't have to be bone stock though.

 

[Wildaugust]

I think I may have seen that car, or another Mustang done just like it, at Austin Cars & Coffee. I was conflicted; my favorite part of the car enthusiast world is the noise -- old Alfas, Mopars, (hate to say it) Mustangs for the last few years, Astons, etc. And obviously the electrics have little or no noise. But in the end I thought it was an interesting project that maybe pulled more people into the classic car world. I love old, stinky gas guzzlers, but if I had the money, damn straight I would have a Tesla P85D. I drive 11 miles to my office, 11 miles back. Ferrari-level acceleration in something you plug in every night? Sign me up.

I just can't see an electric car in our hobby. It just seems wrong. For just a late model daily driver, sure, but not as a classic car. Personally, though, I would prefer a daily driver that would run on Cellulose Ethanol, made from plant waste instead of the food crop or a Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered electric car that wouldn't need to be plugged in, if they can ever perfect those technologies. I'll keep running my classics on gasoline though.

 

[67-Fury]

I really like Neil Young's LincVolt, A Electric car would be cool but Nothing in on the planet sounds better then a healthy Mopar V8.

 

[patrick66]

I've been wanting to find either a '61 - '71 Dodge pickup or a Dakota with a blown-up engine, and build an electric drag truck out of one.

 

[tbm3fan]

I saw on FastnLoud they bought a restored 1971 RT Challenger and gutted the mechanicals fitting all new suspension, engine, gearbox, radiator, etc. I don't look at it as an original challenger anymore, very much modded, but its still a challenger.

So are you saying what determines the car is the sheet metal and nothing else? The character of the car doesn't matter. The fact that it doesn't feel like an original, doesn't ride like an original, doesn't handle like an original, doesn't sound like an original and doesn't smell like an original has no bearing? I was wondering how people would see this since to me that Mustang, or it could be any other car with that monster electric motor, most certainly isn't a 68. I know it surely doesn't ride like my 68 and that is part of what I enjoy. My Park Lane and Polara ride very different from each other and that is part of their character.

So it seems that the sheet metal determines the year to some and to me the overall car, sheet metal and mechanicals, determine the year. From what the article said that Mustang is incredibly fast and does so with no sound. Don't think I can get into a car going 0-60 without the exhaust sound.

 

[bluefury361]

Take the heart out of anything and it's dead, no longer the same. It may be reincarnated, but is a different critter. Maybe better, maybe worse, but different.

 

[Xenon]

Soooo, tbm3fan ,,,

Lets say you have your heart removed and a pacemaker installed....
While we are at it lets replace your hips with artificial ones....

Are you still tmb3fan,,, or are you now freaka-zoid ......

 

[tbm3fan]

Soooo, tbm3fan ,,,

Lets say you have your heart removed and a pacemaker installed....
While we are at it lets replace your hips with artificial ones....

Are you still tmb3fan,,, or are you now freaka-zoid ......

Wrong analogy. Better one is your outer skin layer placed into on andoid body would be more to the point. So are you still you or are you Data?

So same here. A 1968 body placed onto a 2015 platform/drive train. The outer surface looks like a 1968 but under that it is all 2015 technology.

 

[commando1]

This is not a Daytona...

 

[300rag]

This is not a Daytona...

You are absolutely correct. It's a Superbird.

 

[67-Fury]

I know it's not, It is a Superbird look at the decal on the wing lol.

 

[commando1]

Well that backfired

 

[Xenon]

Stan....
One word ....

KA _ BAMMMMMM

 

[Wildaugust]

Well, at some point I guess it does become so far removed from original that it can't be call a '68 Anything anymore. But at what point?

I don't know if this '34 Ford is original or not, but at least it still looks vintage. Just for the sake of argument, let's say that it is original.

Obviously, this car has been modified and even has a different manufacturer's engine between the fenders now. So, assuming a metal body, is this still a '34 Ford?

For me, if the body was placed on a modern chassis with an electric powertrain, it would be very difficult to call it a '34 anymore. It would also be equally difficult for me to call it a 2015 Whatever, when the modern body is missing. IMO, kind of an automotive "Twilight Zone". :laughing7: