If there is one thing I find particularly exciting about this whole electric vehicle revolution it’s the increasing importance batteries and electric motors seem to have in the custom and bespoke industries.
Technically speaking it’s a lot easier to rescue classic vehicles and put them back on the road by remaking them as electric vehicles. More and more custom garages seem to become aware of this and, even if we’re probably years away from this approach becoming a trend, we’re seeing exciting projects come to life already.
We’ve only recently brought to your attention an electrified Porsche 911 America equipped by a crew called Sacrilege Motors with a Tesla Model S drivetrain. As spectacular as that car is, it doesn’t even come close to the 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II we have here.
The luxury car is no ordinary Silver Cloud, if there ever was such a thing, as back in the day it was owned by Sophia Loren, one of the greatest names of classical Hollywood cinema as per the American Film Institute.
The car is now in the possession of a Portuguese hotel called The Largo. Located in the city of Porto, the location has an official rating of four stars, but those seem enough for the establishment to have its share of VIP guests in need of being chauffeured to and from the airport.
The Silver Cloud is ideal for such duties, but in its natural form it was no longer able to fulfill its duties. So The Largo tapped an EV conversion specialist called Lunaz with not only giving the car a new heart, but also upgrading it a bit elsewhere.
Lunaz is one of the biggest names of the EV conversion scene, and it specializes in luxury machines, the likes of Aston Martin, Bentley, Range Rove, Rolls-Royce, and Jaguar. The crew does not use some Tesla-source powertrain, but relies on something made in-house instead, which also made it into the former car of the Italian actress.
The exact specs of the EV system fitted inside the Silver Cloud are not known, but when used in a Jaguar XK120 Lunaz also made back in 2021, it translated into a 80 kWh battery and electric motors capable o delivering 380 hp. Closer to our time, a 1961 Bentley S2 Continental was revealed with 400 horsepower.
Regardless of the specs, the Rolls is now a most modern EV, despite its classic look. Aside for the battery and motors, Lunaz also installed heated seats, Android and Apple Carplay compatibility, USB charging ports, and even parking cameras and a six-inch display.
As said, the car will be used by the Portuguese hotel to move its guests to where they need to be, but it also marks the first entry in an entire series of similar builds Lunaz is making for hotels all over the world. We’re told to expect electrified Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, but also at least a Range Rover.
I said earlier that technically electrification of classic cars is easier than a restoration using the original or some new ICE powerplant, but that doesn’t necessarily makes this type of cars cheap. Lunaz says the EVs that’ll be made for hotels have a starting price of 550,000 pounds. That’s $694,000 at the time of writing.
