With rarity comes a matching price tag...
Silverstone-based classic car electrification specialist Lunaz has unveiled what it describes as “the rarest classic car ever to be converted to fully electric power.”
Based on a 1961 Bentley Continental S2, the project is one of just four two-door S2 saloons built by coachbuilder James Young and eschews the car’s original 6.2-litre V8 engine in favour of a 400bhp electric motor and high voltage battery.
Lunaz currently produces a range of restored and electrified British prestige classics including first-generation Range Rovers, Bentley Continentals, Jaguar XKs, Aston Martin DB6s and Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and Phantom models.
As the company’s price list ranging from the £290,000 Range Rover to the £950,000 DB6 would suggest, however, Lunaz’s processes involve more than a mere EV conversion, and the latest Continental S2 saloon is no exception.
The company’s projects involve a total restoration to concours standard, and each one starts with a full 3D scan to create Computer Aided Design (CAD) models to serve as the basis of the restoration.
Testing is also conducted to precisely determine the weight distribution so that the installation of the battery and electric motor changes the car’s original driving dynamics as little as possible.
Before any stripping down takes place, Lunaz says it consults with the owner of the vehicle in order to set the visual direction of the build. That can include faithfully returning the look of the car to how it was when it originally left Solihull, Crewe or Newport Pagnell, or turning it into something with a few more contemporary and modern touches — known in the industry as a “restomod”.
Owners can, for instance, discard animal-based materials in the interior, opting instead for carpets and seats made from recycled plastics to closely mimic the characteristics of lambswool and leather.
The switchgear and gauges, even if they correspond to modern functions such as monitoring the battery level, sympathetically mirror what was originally in their place.
In the Continental’s case, the seat leather is made from hides tanned using naturally-fallen olive leaves, with carpets made from recycled nylon fibre and incorporating a backing made from recycled plastic bottles.
The body and interior of the car are then totally stripped down as part of the restoration, with traditional coachbuilding practices being used to bring the car back to life. Repair of existing materials is favoured over replacement, Lunaz says.
As well as a bare-metal restoration, Lunaz projects also see a significant mechanical overhaul. Rather than working with a wide range of vehicles in the way of conversion firms such as Electrogenic or Electric Classic Cars, Lunaz only works with a select number of models from certain manufacturers.
With the S2 Continental saloon, like other Lunaz projects, the aluminium-alloy engine and gearbox have been replaced by the Lunaz battery and motor combination developing 400bhp and 530lb ft of torque — significantly more than the car featured when new. It can travel approximately 250 miles on a full charge of its battery, the converter claims.
The new powertrain potentially allows the Bentley to sprint to 62mph in 6.9 seconds, but, as performance has increased, so too have other under-the-skin aspects of the Continental.
The suspension has been uprated to a fully-adjustable coil-sprung system, electronically configurable from inside the cabin.
Stopping power has been upgraded from the original all-round drum brakes to a system featuring a battery regeneration system, six-piston callipers up front and four-pots at the rear.
The car in question was originally delivered as a rolling chassis to one Melvyn Rollason of Ludstone Hall in Shropshire and dispatched to James Young of Bromley for bodying.
Although Rollason first appears to have commissioned the more popular four-door body, a last-minute change of heart saw the order changed to a two-door.
Rollason sold the two-door in 1967, and since then the car has travelled widely, having been kept by owners in Germany and Japan before returning to England.
Given the rest of Lunaz’s price list, it should come as no surprise that the S2 Continental saloon conversion/restoration did not come cheap, with a quoted figure, excluding local taxes, of around £750,000.
- After reading about the Bentley Continental S2 converted to electric power by Lunaz, you might like to read why we weren’t enamoured by the Healey by Caton restomod
- Want to know more about Lunaz’s Aston Martin DB6 electric conversion? Click here
- And click here if you want to see our guide to all the car makers’ electric vehicle plans
Keyword: Lunaz's electric Bentley Continental S2 is 'rarest classic EV conversion ever;