The BritishV8 Pub

Hello,
My Name is Kent Simpkins, I am planning to put the Triumph TR6 1976 back into production, but plan to make it all electric, it will be called the Triumph EV6 , plan to produce it in the USA from original parts made at the British Motor Heritage, after I get the the EV 6 off the ground plan to the Austin Healey 3000 next. What do you think ? Would like to hear your thoughts web site classicsportcars.net to see pictures. Thank you

I doubt there's much market for cars that can't be registered and insured for use on public roads. And I expect that's what you'll be up against, because new cars have to meet so many safety requirements that didn't exist in 1976.

I know in Colorado there's a loophole to allow simple electric vehicles with speed governors. (I think the speed limit for them is 25mph.) Two electric car dealers in my old town went out of business while I lived there. What they were selling looked like cars, but operated like golf carts.

Now, you could sidestep many issues by producing three-wheeled "motorcycles".

Have you checked out Morgan's awesome electric Three Wheeler? [www.morgancars-usa.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2018 10:37PM by Moderator.

Curtis - The EV3 is definitely cool! And, I'm with you on the market being relatively small -- and shrinking as most of us who remember these cars from our youth are aging. You are WAY closer to the industry regulations than I am, but, for low quantities I'd think there must be a way. Look at some of the Cobra "kit" companies. If I'm not mistaken, Backdraft only sells fully completed cars and you can get one fully built from Factory 5. And isn't this similar (albeit not electric) to what Costello did recently?

Kent - even if I'm right about a way to do limited production without meeting all of the modern safety regulations, you still have to consider the market being pretty small. While I'm a huge fan of British cars of the era, I think from a business perspective, the Miata would be a much bigger market (still small by automotive standards, but plenty big for a small business) and it'd have a longer runway than LBC's from the 50s/60s/70s. Consider a Miata with Tesla performance :).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 12:33AM by rficalora.

The laws changed to allow up to - was it 50 or so PER YEAR of any given model of car to be recreated. Federally, I believe they can be registered as 2018 models but I'm not sure about the channels to go through.

Yes, if enough of us wanted to get together and build a Triumph, MG or some other car and we pooled our resources, marketing and so on, this is possible. If someone like Kent can do it, More power to you. (Electrically speaking)

I agree the market is limited but there is someone out there that wants it and I am glad to see new faces join the British car game. Rather than looking at things as if they are dying, get new people involved. There is a lot of fun to be had no matter whether a person grew up with these or not.

Speaking of this project, what are you planning for a gearbox or are you looking at a direct drive system Kent? Are you planning a different rear pumpkin or the TR6 pumpkin with the stock ratio and all or?? Please, tell us more.

-BMC.

Dana has a new CVT that might be worth looking into.

Jim