eBay find of the day: Electric Porsche 356 Speedster replica
Electric Porsche 356 Speedster replica - click above for high res gallery
If you've been wanting to get yourself a low-carbon car and really dig the classic lines of the Porsche 356 Speedster, the unblemished beauty above could be your convenient response to "An Inconvenient Truth." EV-TV, the team currently converting a new MINI Clubman to run on electricity, has put their original Porsche project up for sale on eBay. This replica features a 3-inch tubular steel chassis underneath a sleek fiberglass body and is a great marriage of the technology available today and vintage styling from the '50s. It gets about 193 horsepower from a DC motor that will take it on up to 95 mph and boasts a 24 kWh lithium ion battery pack that easily fulfills its recommended 85-mile range. The suspension and brakes have been beefed up as well and the car is said to accelerate, handle and stop better than the original.
The interior has the clean look of a 1957 356 but closer inspection reveals a couple updates. The instrument cluster retains its speedometer and tach but the center circle now contains an EVision display that can feed all kinds of different battery pack information to the driver. Entertainment and navigation is also 21st century with a DVD/GPS rig that also displays a rear view camera feed on its slide-out screen when reverse is selected. If you want to know more about this proof-of-concept conversion or about what it takes to make one yourself, go ahead and check out the informative video after the jump in which this car is featured. We don't know whether this slice of sweetness will reach its reserve in the two days left in the auction, but if it doesn't we suspect the seller won't be too upset having to see this beauty in the driveway a little while longer.
[Source: eBay]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
contact 3:40PM (9/28/2009)
no link to the auction = fail.
Reply
contact 4:30PM (9/28/2009)
burn! I see it now! that green doesn't hardly show up on my monitor! sorry.
paulwesterberg 4:08PM (9/28/2009)
Look a little harder next time, see: [Source: eBay] and click on the link.
Domenick Yoney 4:12PM (9/28/2009)
The hyperlink colors the text slightly differently but it may be difficult to see on some monitors. Typically, we link our primary sources at the end of the post. In this post the eBay source is also linked in the text "for sale on eBay".
Sorry for your difficulties.
Ian 6:01PM (9/28/2009)
Great presentation. My learning curve was huge and I know of no other way I could learn so much so quickly.
Reply
Mike!!ekiM 6:34AM (9/29/2009)
Can't believe I watched all 10 youtube episodes.
- Fantastic Car
- This puts a Beat Down on GM and Toyota. If this guy can build this car in his garage, what they Hell is GM and Toyota waiting for.
Reply
Mark Kiernan 10:47AM (9/29/2009)
It is disgustinlgly embarrassing that a guy with off the shelf components and his own garage was able to do this. I think companies like Toyota and GM are too big to have the innovation that small businesses have.
Mark Kiernan 6:04AM (9/29/2009)
Fantastic, a beauty. I think when battery prices drop it will be become more common to see these types of conversions.
Reply
tom 12:35PM (9/29/2009)
If this was flat red instead (like the original speedster) of candy apple red, I would bid on it. I like the project.
The EVision gauge is tasteful, but the new radio is tacky. It needs an original looking radio and flat red Porsche paint.
Reply
tom 5:13PM (9/29/2009)
I should say, I really really like the project. This is impressive and I wish more people (myself included) were like this!