At first glance it's a stunningly pristine 1968 Mustang - black with neon green racing strips and chrome trim. But take a look under the hood and it's immediately clear that this is not your classic restoration. Rather, it's the first of a series of muscle car-to-electric vehicle conversions planned by Texas-based Blood Shed Motors.
"Something about old school American muscle just really gets my blood pumping," said host Johnathan Buckley in a recent episode of Autoblog's Translogic video series featuring the Zombie 222. "But when you take two electric motors, in this case, producing 1,800 pounds of torque with 800 horsepower and you've got something really, really special."
Special, indeed. This classic Pony car's innards have been completely transformed from a 289-cubic-inch V8-fueled ride to an electric beast boasting twinned Warp 11 DC motors and a pair of fresh Zilla controllers that will serve as the basic blueprint for future vehicles. It's proven quicker than every super car in the world with a 0-60 time of 1.94 seconds, and recently set a new top speed record for electric street cars at the Texas Mile, an annual event wherein participants from across the US, Canada and Mexico test themselves and their motorize equipment on a one-mile track. There, the Zombie 222 hit a jaw-dropping 174.2 mph, but creators are driving a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for changes needed to help break the 200-mph mark.
Blood Shed Motors is the result of a collaboration between NEDRA co-founder John "Plasma Boy" Wayland, the man who helped bring electric vehicle drag racing into the spotlight with his unassuming White Zombie Datsun 1200 conversion, and Austin, TX business man Mitch Medford. The pair's long-term plan is to build a limited number of high-quality muscle car conversions on mint condition early Mustang, Camaro and Barracuda platforms. If you've got one sitting in your garage, you can land your own customized conversion complete with a serial number for your transformed ride. Of course, it will cost you - somewhere in the range of $200,000 and up.
But would you? Are you psyched about Bloodshed's aim of "the timeless beauty of American Muscle blended with lithium-fueled electric dragster power" or would you rather rev up your ride Old School style? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.
