Electric Speedster: Ride the Lightning, In Style!

Teslas are for wimps and people named after glandular animal secretions. This 356 Speedster replica, however, captures all of the style and panache of mid-century sun-kissed California motoring, added only by the sexy, sexy hum of the future. Motoring con elettrico, baby!


Built by Porsche replicar experts Beck, this 356 Speedster’s got an AC motor good for 50 horsepower: about half the power of the original Porsche 1600 engine, actually. Even with the added torque, it’ll still feel slow. You can get up to 75mph in that thing, but that will seriously kill the 80-100 mile range in the 17.2kWh battery pack. Have fun dicing it up the 405 against speed-addled truckers and and bros in jacked-up Sierra Denalis…when they can’t see you or hear you, it really puts into perspective the phrase “life is a gamble.”

There’s not much in the interior otherwise: climate control amounts to putting on a sweater and installing the solo-seat canvas top. There’s no radio, but you know what that means—less battery power sucked out from the motor, and more chances to listen to the, uh, melliflous engine noise. You can’t store your Snickers bar in the front, either—’cuz that’s where the batteries go, bucko! Plus, it might melt, and whatever warranty Beck might con you into tacking on offer won’t cover spraying the remnants of melted chocolate and nougat with a can of Febreze.

Hey, you want a practical car, buy a motorcycle. But if you fancy owning the future from 1955, the buttock-engined slot car of National Socialist origin is a $49,000 dream machine.