IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Everrati's electric luxury restomod business is picking up pace. Stephen Dobie drives its latest model, a Mercedes SL Pagoda with twice the original power

Who spends almost half a million pounds on an electrified restomod? According to Everrati, it's a very eclectic bunch: many of its customers are in the US; around one-third of them are female; and some don't yet have a driving licence but are instead the fortunate beneficiaries of petrolhead parents foreseeing a zero-emissions future and ordering an EV classic to ensure their offspring will have something truly special to drive. Perhaps what's even more striking is that some buyers are already on their second or third Everrati.

The Oxfordshire-based EV conversion specialist has grown impressively since I last drove one of its cars, the Porsche 964-based 'Signature', almost three years ago. The model range now encompasses various Land Rovers, a Ford GT40 tribute and this 1960s MercedesBenz SL, which, alongside a new 'Engineering by Everrati' consultancy division, ensures its workforce has swelled. Founder and CEO Justin Lunny smiles as he lists the previous companies on his employees' collective CV: McLaren, Bentley, Rimac and Singer are the most impressive. "People are coming to us, we don't have to go looking for them," he says.