A restomod as a birthday present you can never forget, one might say. He did it Nissan, to celebrate 35 years of permanence in Sunderland, in the United Kingdom, with a production plant that will be completely renovated in the future. The Japanese house has made a fully electric Bluebird, and it is no coincidence: the model was the first, in 1986, to leave the British assembly line.
The Bluebird, named for the occasion Newbird, has been repainted with a ‘rainbow’ theme, and today features an electric motor exactly identical to the one found in the current Leaf. Precisely, the classic car acts as a link between what was produced in Sunderland and what will instead be set up in the future. More precisely, the original Bluebird petrol engine and gearbox have been removed and replaced with a motor, an inverter and a 40kWh battery from Leaf. The battery modules have been divided between the engine compartment and the trunk to distribute the weights in a balanced way.
Power steering, brakes and heating system have been modified to be electrically powered. Furthermore, custom suspension was installed to support the additional weight of the battery pack. To symbolize the electric heart of the car, the Nissan logo on the hood is backlit with a specific LED. The original fuel flap leads to the battery socket, which can be recharged up to 6.6kW. The original dashboard has been adapted: where the fuel level was read, there is the state of charge of the battery.
Even if not approved, the autonomy with a single charge of the model is estimated at around 210 kilometers, with an acceleration from zero to 100 km / h in 15 seconds. The thermal-to-electric conversion was handled by Kinghorn Electric Vehicles, a family-owned company based in Durham, North East England, approximately 38km from the Sunderland plant. Kinghorn EV specializes in converting classic cars using Leaf second-life motors, inverters and batteries.
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