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How much would it cost in total parts/labor to find someone to buy and restore a 1978-1995 F-150 with new paint job and replacement of rusty parts, and then add

How much would it cost in total parts/labor to find someone to buy and restore a 1978-1995 F-150 with new paint job and replacement of rusty parts, and then add this motor and a ridiculous amount of batteries? I'd sign up tomorrow if the opportunity fell out of the sky. Also is the intention here to just leave it in 3rd gear while running, like the Genovation GXE Electric Corvette mod?

bjourne 5y ago
There's a French startup that does exactly that: https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ The company has generated a lot of press but the concept hasn't caught on in other countries so I assume it is not very practical.
- TheCondor 5y ago
  It's not a turnkey sort of thing. Every 1981 F-150 is going to be a unique snowflake of rust, broken parts, etc.. There will be some amazing barn finds where you could pull the motor out and bolt in batteries and an electric motor on a weekend and then there will be trucks where you basically rebuild the entire truck from scratch. What might be interesting is an electric rolling truck chassis production and then various vintage looking bodies you could attach to them.
  - jermaustin1 5y ago
    I'm waiting for something like this IRL. Ford already sells chassis only trucks, so if they would just make that with the battery pack and motors, I could bolt on the body myself.
jacquesm 5y ago
$25 to $50K or thereabouts for a one-off. Series might get cheaper. Keep in mind that just the electrical bits will be $15 to $20K, and depending on how far the truck is gone you could easily spend that much more on getting it serviceable and pretty. Car restoration rarely is economically viable unless you go for something exotic.
- vortico 5y ago
  Ah, but that's a reasonable price for something as low-key exotic vintage as an '80s F-150. They're beautiful cars, just like in the article photos. A decent quality Power Ram 250 can go for $35k (and they'll run for another 500k miles in that condition) so 25-50k for an electric restoration isn't that bad.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Cost is not the only factor, the other one is time. Merely getting an old, broken vehicle back on the road is lot of work. Completely restoring a vehicle to like-new is an order of magnitude more work. Adding in an equipment swap from one version of a model to another (maybe auto->manual swap, or V6-V8 swap) is again so much more work. Complete conversions like this take an insane amount of time. Probably months of time working on it full time. Part time, you're looking at a multi-year project. There is going to be a lot of trailblazing going on here, and there might only be 3 people in the world who can help you answer your problem.
theluketaylor 5y ago
The sky is the limit when it comes to car restoration prices, but if you started with a reasonably straight body and frame without a ton of rust it would likely in the ballpark of 10-15k for the restore and another 25-35k for the EV conversion on the low end to get 100-150ish miles range. You could spend any amount of top of that for a better restore, modern suspension and brakes, or more range. Old trucks will be among the cheapest to convert since there is tons of space for battery boxes under the hood, between the frame rails, or just in the bed without much cutting or welding. Downside is old truck prices have really jumped in the last few years and are no longer the classic bargains they once were. There are conversion kits for a number of vehicles already available and I'm sure tons more are coming. * EV West has an air cooled VW kit for $8000 (plus battery) * Swindon Powertrains has a Mini kit for £10,000 (plus battery) * 2ECV has a Citron 2CV kit for £16,000 (inc battery) * Zero EV is working on a Porsche 911 kit for SCs, G body and 964 that includes DC Fast charging, but I haven't seen pricing yet.
- skrbjc 5y ago
  10-15K to restore a classic truck is not possible. Unless you're just talking about getting it to reliably run on the road. If you're talking about a paint job and new interior, and you're not doing it yourself, then you are easily in the 30K+ range.

bjourne 5y ago

There's a French startup that does exactly that: https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ The company has generated a lot of press but the concept hasn't caught on in other countries so I assume it is not very practical.

TheCondor 5y ago
It's not a turnkey sort of thing. Every 1981 F-150 is going to be a unique snowflake of rust, broken parts, etc.. There will be some amazing barn finds where you could pull the motor out and bolt in batteries and an electric motor on a weekend and then there will be trucks where you basically rebuild the entire truck from scratch. What might be interesting is an electric rolling truck chassis production and then various vintage looking bodies you could attach to them.
- jermaustin1 5y ago
  I'm waiting for something like this IRL. Ford already sells chassis only trucks, so if they would just make that with the battery pack and motors, I could bolt on the body myself.

jacquesm 5y ago

$25 to $50K or thereabouts for a one-off. Series might get cheaper. Keep in mind that just the electrical bits will be $15 to $20K, and depending on how far the truck is gone you could easily spend that much more on getting it serviceable and pretty. Car restoration rarely is economically viable unless you go for something exotic.

vortico 5y ago
Ah, but that's a reasonable price for something as low-key exotic vintage as an '80s F-150. They're beautiful cars, just like in the article photos. A decent quality Power Ram 250 can go for $35k (and they'll run for another 500k miles in that condition) so 25-50k for an electric restoration isn't that bad.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Cost is not the only factor, the other one is time. Merely getting an old, broken vehicle back on the road is lot of work. Completely restoring a vehicle to like-new is an order of magnitude more work. Adding in an equipment swap from one version of a model to another (maybe auto->manual swap, or V6-V8 swap) is again so much more work. Complete conversions like this take an insane amount of time. Probably months of time working on it full time. Part time, you're looking at a multi-year project. There is going to be a lot of trailblazing going on here, and there might only be 3 people in the world who can help you answer your problem.

theluketaylor 5y ago

The sky is the limit when it comes to car restoration prices, but if you started with a reasonably straight body and frame without a ton of rust it would likely in the ballpark of 10-15k for the restore and another 25-35k for the EV conversion on the low end to get 100-150ish miles range. You could spend any amount of top of that for a better restore, modern suspension and brakes, or more range. Old trucks will be among the cheapest to convert since there is tons of space for battery boxes under the hood, between the frame rails, or just in the bed without much cutting or welding. Downside is old truck prices have really jumped in the last few years and are no longer the classic bargains they once were. There are conversion kits for a number of vehicles already available and I'm sure tons more are coming. * EV West has an air cooled VW kit for $8000 (plus battery) * Swindon Powertrains has a Mini kit for £10,000 (plus battery) * 2ECV has a Citron 2CV kit for £16,000 (inc battery) * Zero EV is working on a Porsche 911 kit for SCs, G body and 964 that includes DC Fast charging, but I haven't seen pricing yet.

skrbjc 5y ago
10-15K to restore a classic truck is not possible. Unless you're just talking about getting it to reliably run on the road. If you're talking about a paint job and new interior, and you're not doing it yourself, then you are easily in the 30K+ range.