It is projects like this that make us proud to be motoring journalists. One man with an excellent idea is given the financial backing he needs to make his dream a reality. The project is undertaken by Fifth Gear’s Johnny Smith, who will attempt to convert a 1970s Enfield 8000 into a Tesla Roadster-beating EV.
The Enfield 8000, a car killed just as it was supposed to go into production in the US, is a genuinely practical EV, of which only 120 were ever built in the mid 1970s. Officially, they could travel up to 145 km (90 miles) on one charge (under the right conditions), as well as reach a top speed of up to 129 km/h (80 mph), but those numbers were never achieved, in fact, the actual figures were nowhere near the official ones.
Now, Johnny has big plans for the Enfield, as it will be powered by two electric motors with a combined torque output of 1355 Nm (999 lb-ft), in order to put it on par with modern supercars. The project is not yet completed, but we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a bit excited as to what the final result will be like.
Old presentation of the Enfield 8000 by an elderly couple
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