Personally, I think this is about the most exciting thing I've heard in Mopar A-Body lore since I found out you could get 300HP from a slant six. I posted a link about this over at slantsix.org after reading about it on Jalopnik.
I'll agree that most electric cars we see have no "soul," but this is not your grandma's electric car. All I see here is potential for immortality. Eventually, and it could be beyond our lifetimes, gas engines will go away, and the sooner we start developing systems for updating these classic rides, the more we can save from being sent to the crusher. I'm all about 12 second cars and roaring V-8s, but let's be practical here. Less and less people are able to stow a gas guzzling car for the occasional weekend jaunt. 56 bucks to drive 80 miles in your big block Barracuda kind of muffles the call of the road.
This is pure innovation. We have classic soul AND the ability to give the finger to the oil companies. The engines lack range and speed, but we're just getting started. I know I'm going to get rocks thrown at me for this analogy, but this is right in the spirit of the So Cal hot rod scene of the 50s and 60s. A generation of bright young people with a ready access to dirt cheap cars and dirt cheap gas changed the automobile as we know it. Now, coming from a generation that grew up on radio controlled cars that could be customized with burnout-inducing, wheelie-pulling power, I'm excited to see what happens as bright minds start putting this kind of creativity into full size hot rods.
Finally, in regard to it being a 71 Duster, I think it's a great choice! It's a simple base without all the tacked on business you get from a later model car, lots of custom options, AND a good looking body that's still common enough to not warrant sacrilege (like those photos Useless posted. Yeesh.). You're not going to entice anyone to try this with a K-car or a 74 Valiant. It's a great poster vehicle for anyone with the dream to try this. It can be done. It can look good. And most importantly, it can be both without destroying the integrity of the car. (I have yet to see a Duster that didn't need a new trunk pan anyway. :P
My current goal is to get a decent performing slant six that gets 25 miles per gallon. Something like this would be an excellent choice for my next option. Thanks for the inspiration, Bruce. I just might join you over there someday.
