Big week. Bear with me, update 2 is long-ish, but it's action-packed.

Market News & Happenings

• AA's in-flight magazine, of all things, wrote an excellent profile of the two key restomod outfits you've no doubt become familiar with if you've been getting these updates - Zelectric and ICON 4x4. Zelectric is essentially marketing/storytelling/order-taking on top of EV West as the actual conversion backend. ICON is much more vertically complete and poised to capture very high end conversions of unusual vehicles. I am working to get a warm intro to Jonathan Ward (ICON CEO) but will resort to cold-calling if necessary.
   
• I polled the members of Avants' Facebook group about their interest in the Reise concept, as-is. This was my question:
  
  “I am exploring a startup concept: build powerful and compact all-electric powertrains to restomod BMW E30s. Includes significant interior and instrument changes to create a driving experience that maintains the tenor, verve, and balance of the original Ultimate Driving Machine while providing the maintenance-whatever benefits of electric power. Plus smartphone integration and other 2019 in-cockpit features, a la what Jaguar did here - https://www.jaguar.com/…/ja…/authentic-cars/e-type-zero.html. 
  The final product could be (example): a 1988 325i with a refreshed interior, tightened-up suspension+brakes+tires, 200 ft/lb of torque at launch, a transmission-less direct drive, and an in-dash HD display that incorporates Apple CarPlay/Android Auto features for nav/music/EV charge/etc. But the original speedo/fuel (charge) gauge/etc. are preserved/repurposed, as appropriate.
  If such a vehicle priced out around $65K, and allowed you to a) name it; b) carry and add to a binder that documents the car's full history; c) could be serviced at any BMW dealership, where might you land?”
  
  And here is the highly unscientific result:
  
  
  Lots of fun comments. A few key takes:
  • "I think you have something here, but I’d spin it in the direction of creating a modular electric drivetrain with a list of supported vehicles. Priced similarly to a new crate LS swap kit and with support for popular platforms like the e30, 2002, vintage Mustang and other popular vintage muscle cars, maybe early 911, Datsun Z cars, you could have a successful product."
  
  • "Although the E30 is desirable to enthusiasts, it won’t be to the general public and fetching that price point will be difficult. The best thing about E30’s is the ability to work on them yourself and modify them to your own personal taste. It is a car that young and old enthusiasts both can afford, but also can be taken to an extreme level of modification if desired."
  
  • "I would love to see this kind of conversion for many vehicles. If you great to just have a basic kit that you could get your car going and then have ala carte options up to full-blown $65k."
  
  • "One of the great things about E30's and other old cars are that they have soul. If you remove the heart of an E30, you're removing the soul. It's not going to be the same 'ultimate driving machine' without the soundtrack. Thus the only potential buyers you're going to have are going to be diehard BMW fans that are also diehard EV fans....which is going to be an extremely small market."
  
  • "You’d get more interested restomod buyers if you went more the Singer 911 angle. Bespoke interiors with a classic touch, lightened chassis/bodies, and monster engines. That burn fuel god damnit." 
  
  • "Stick EVs in old Daewoos." ( 🙄– Ed.)
   
• One E30 conversion project that already happened years ago grew into a closely-watched Croatian EV vehicle & technology developer - Rimac. Mate Rimac is, perhaps, a Slavic Elon Musk – but he's come from much scrappier beginnings. Maybe they become Reise's Tier 1 supplier someday - they're much more interested in technology partnering than Tesla.
   
• Several of you forwarded the Russian http://aviarmotors.com Mustang concept. It's vaporware (as a fellow vaporware manufacturer, I should surely know) but the concept is compelling. I think there is something to completely reimagining American muscle cars; restoring them would be considerably cheaper. But do I have to bolt a giant speaker system to the EV motor and have it make Chevy big-block sounds?
   
• This little number went for $11,000 on BaT this week:
  
  
  The market for good-condition E30s is steady. It's much bigger than auction sites like this one, which usually represent the top 1% of examples available.

• Get a handle on Jonathan Ward's EV ambitions for ICON
   
• Keep pressure-testing the E30 as the launch platform
   
• Reach out to Rimac about supplier specifics for the hell of it
   
• Talk to another local EV conversion project lead this coming week (thank you Steve) who's doing a "spare no expense" job on a 911