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After Putting a V8 in a Tesla, Rich Benoit Wants to Give a Corvette Electric Motors

The nature of YouTube channels is always to have something new and exciting to present. When a project ends, another one has to replace it as quickly as possible. Rich Benoit and his team finished ICE-T (Internal Combustion-Engined Tesla) when it was taken to the 2021 SEMA Show. While they still owe us a new episode of how that thing drives, the Rich Rebuilds channel is already dealing with a new conversion: making a Corvette electric.
Rich Rebuilds Buys Corvette C4 to Convert it to Electric 7 photos
Photo: Rich Rebuilds
Rich Rebuilds's BMW i8 BillWhat Rich Rebuilds Thinks of his BMW i8Rich Rebuilds Buys Corvette C4 to Convert it to ElectricRich Rebuilds Buys Corvette C4 to Convert it to ElectricRich Rebuilds Buys Corvette C4 to Convert it to ElectricRich Rebuilds Buys Corvette C4 to Convert it to Electric
Before you scream “sacrilege,” you should know that Benoit bought the cheapest Corvette that was available. That honor belonged to a Chevy Corvette C4, not by chance the exact name of a plastic explosive: the YouTuber classified it as the worse Corvette ever made. True to his irreverence, he said C4 owners would get mad with him if they had internet access.

The adventure started on Facebook Marketplace, where Benoit found a cheap C4 40th Anniversary. GM produced 6,749 units of this vehicle, which was a regular C4 with the Z25 option. Benoit and his channel manager, Steven Salowsky, went to check the car and bought it immediately. Not because it was in perfect conditions but rather because it was cheap.

When they took it to the road, the car stopped working two times. In the first one, all it took for the C4 to get back to life was to select the “Perf” ride control mode. In the second, no charm made any difference. Benoit and Salowsky had the help of a service truck and a visit from state troopers until they decided just to leave the purple thing on the roadside. They eventually managed to haul it with a lot of difficulties.

Back to Benoit’s garage, they presented the plan to electrify this Corvette as if it had emerged due to the trouble. That’s part of the make-believe strategy of the channel: it seems pretty clear that the YouTuber already had the intention to convert the C4 into an electric machine.

When it is ready, Benoit intends to use it as a beater. He wants something fast and inexpensive. His BWM i8 would be precisely the opposite: slow and expensive, especially after it faced some potholes and lost. A more than $4,000 bill to replace only the front shock absorbers – apart from a bunch of other stuff – may have inspired the new project.

In a way, the YouTuber's new electric Corvette will follow the reverse path of ICE-T: the project will consist of recycling a car that barely worked to make it run on electrons with parts Benoit already has. Hopefully, it will have a decent range and be powerful enough to make the YouTuber happy.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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