Just an off-the-wall thought about written-off Priuses and classic cars

anything can be done. it's a matter of talent, knowledge and cost. over here, we have the velocity channel which has a number of shows where cars are disassembled and completely remodded. they do some incredible things, and the talent and skill is amazing to behold.

 

ya, me too. most of these guys have been doing it their whole life and their fathers before them. they can go to a junk yard, pull out an old 60's car, completely wrecked and rusted. rebuild the body and frame, new upholstery, and completely different mechanicals than original. when they are done, they are showroom quality. great to watch, almost like magic.

 

new bentley?

 

Talk to the guys at West Coast Customs, anything is possible with enough money.

 

It is humanly possible, but I would rate it as a very difficult project. All the various parts inside the Prius are tightly integrated, they would probably need to all go together. You might be better off to just save up for a tesla or maybe one of those Hydrogen Beamers...

 

This might have a simple solution: just reverse the hybrid's layout. Put the engine, motors, transaxle, etc. in the rear of the classic car, and the battery and radiator in the front. Gear selection is electronic, so there is no need to have the tranny mounted near where the controls will be. There might be issues will cooling. There is some direct airflow over the ICE and invertor now, but cooling systems tend to be sized for worse case scenarios now.

Getting the regenerative brakes working and feeling right might be the biggest issue. But you can skip them. Unless this is going to be a daily driver, the efficiency loss may be a fair trade to have such a hybrid classic.

Of course, simply dropping in a newer engine and transmission is going to be easier and cheaper. Going with an EV conversion would likely be easier than the hybrid one. While not a boon in hot locations, the Leaf's air cooling for the battery will simplify the process. It will probably require two Leafs' worth of batteries for a decent range though.

 

Having experience in restoration of classic sports cars I can only say that be prepared to spend a lot of money north of $100K USD. The Rover 110 and Armstrong Siddley are not desirable classic cars that everyone craves to own, thus the cheap value today. It takes the same amount of labor to restore these cars as well as highly desirable classics like Jaguars and Rolls Royce. The cost of parts may vary due to availability. The other thing is someone has to engineer this powertrain swap so that not only is it functional but safe which means rewiring the whole car to current 12Volt system. There will be periods of trial and error on top of the normal restoration process. The brakes may have to be updated because the Prius engine is several times more powerful than these sedans of yesteryear. (Not too many opportunities to say this. LOL.) You also need someone who you can trust or know someone who can make sure you're not being ripped off every time you sign a new check especially if you are not savvy with what goes on during a restoration.

So you need a lot of money and patience and understand that when its all finished and done, the car will still be worth close to the original value that you bought it for or less because you have radically changed it from its original configuration. So why would you do this? LOVE! You loved this car as a kid. No one else would understand but there are countless car enthusiasts in the UK that restore hopelessly shot English sedans, pour enormous time, energy and money into it and live happily thereafter.

Saving up for that Tesla looks attractive. Good luck

 

I've been contemplating a "reskinning" of a Prius... what I've learned about it so far, is I will loose the airbags... pretty much everything else can be done with the swap if it is just plugging a new body over the chassis... that way you'll have the exterior look like the older rod, but have modern components underneath... drive systems, regenerative brakes, and the other modern systems for managing the comfort of the cabin and lowered emmissions.

I saw a conversion of a Subaru Brat onto a Prius a while back... but that ain't anything like what the OP was thinking... this will require some significant work... it ain't like stuffing a V8 into a Vega.

 

How much are you willing to spend for a restored or upgraded version of the car?

If the restoration/conversion is going to cost more than that (and it will) then it doesn't make any sense.

Just because a thing CAN be done doesn't mean a thing SHOULD be done.

 

Splended idea ol'chap. I think it a piece of cake, though you would need to lighten things up a bit.

 

Dropping in a Prius drivetrain would likely be difficult, expensive and maybe impossible. There would be space constraints in the engine compartment and the car structure would have to be modified to mount the hybrid system components. If you really want a Rover 110 or Armstrong-Siddely sedan, you would be better off investing your restoration money in a total rebuild of the car's original engine, transmission, brakes and suspension, which would then be acceptably reliable if driven gently and with proper maintenance. Installing a Prius drivetrain would also make the car worthless for future sale to a classic car collector.

 

Seems I'm not the only one having such thoughts, although I'm more partial to convertibles.

Bill the Engineer

 

I'm not sure its all that crazy. Been dreaming about doing something similar for a while now

I think part of the key would be to find a donor platform that allowed you to re-use as much of the Prius as possible. Something with a very similar track width and body on frame construction would probably be ideal. That way you could lift off the body work, modify the frame to accept the Prius engine / transaxle / front suspension / steering / brakes, and then modify the body work to fit around it. This would avoid much of what would probably be the most challenging aspects of adapting the Prius systems, as they are all pretty tightly coupled and convincing them to work in the absence of any of the major systems they expect to be talking to could be very difficult.

I'm not sure it would have to be all that expensive either. Restoring / updating any classic vehicle can be expensive, but it seems like the real cost is often in the details. IE just how perfect do you want it to be. Of course the more of it you can learn to do yourself the more reasonable it might be. For me that would be half the fun, but I realize not everyone shares the same definition of fun

Rob

 

Here's one with a 59" track width

Cobras N Vettes

 

I like that!, I remember kit cars that were desigined to go onto vw beetles. that is what we need a kit car that is desgined to fit the prius. that way you would unbolt the body panels and bolt on the new body ect... and you would have a well working kit car.