Lunaz turns this electric Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Weddings, bar mitzvahs, sometimes a car industry ceremony – I don’t just wear The Suit, there has to be a good reason for it. Driving and being driven by my faithful driver Jeeves in a three quarters of a million Bentley is such a reason, especially if it is not just a Bentley Continental Flying Spur by HJ Mulliner from 1961. They cost a quarter each and are stuck in the past. This here, this is the future.

One of the great things about this whole electric revolution that we’re all witnessing is that some old cars are getting new life. Like these. Yes, this phenomenal ‘ship for the tarmac’ has undergone a complete electrical heart transplant. It is the work of EV restomodders Lunaz Design from Silverstone, who have been shaking things up in the classic world for a few years now with their meticulous conversions and restorations.

Even more classics that Lunaz electrifies

Bentley not for you? Then Lunaz also has a colossal Rolls-Royce Phantom V from the sixties for you, or a Rolls Silver Cloud, or a Jaguar XK120. The latest addition to the range is a first-generation electric Range Rover – yours from around £250,000. The intention is to make short production series, to keep costs substratospheric, but if you still have a blank check lying around somewhere, Lunaz is also happy to make something entirely according to your wishes. And it doesn’t even necessarily have to be a British brand – everything is negotiable.

“The aim is always perfection,” says David Lorenz, founder of Lunaz. ‘Singer was a huge inspiration to me when I started the company; so much attention to detail. But when I met Rob (Dickinson, founder of Singer – ed.), the first advice he gave was not to think about perfection. No car is perfect – it’s better to set a course and stick to it. Perfection is impossible.’ But of course you can always try to get as close as possible.

This is how Lunaz converts a classic into an EV

The process goes as follows. Lunaz will provide a donor car, or you, if you have something in your 18-car garage that’s rotting away anyway (this Bentley cost £160,000 before Lunaz even looked at it). Each car is rebuilt from bare metal; First everything is scanned by 3D laser, then a CAD model is created, the best location for the batteries and electronics is determined and imperfections in the chassis are corrected. This is clearly not a case of ‘shoe in the batteries, insert the motors from a crashed Tesla and you’re done’ – this is high-quality technical work.

John Hilton is in charge of all drive technology, which is designed and developed by Lunaz itself. He was previously a director at Renault F1 and helped Fernando Alonso win two F1 titles. He and Lorenz met completely by accident – ​​they happened to end up next to each other on a plane when the whole company was still just an idea – after which the latter did everything he could to pull Hilton out of retirement; a gamble that paid off well.

Lunaz recently moved to larger premises and doubled its workforce and design facilities, now able to build 120 cars per year. In addition, there is room to develop two new models every year. “I already have the cars in my head for the next five years,” Lorenz tells us.

Specifications of the electric Bentley Continental Flying Spur S1

Back to the Bentley. It contains two electric motors that provide all wheels with about 350 hp. An 80-kWh battery provides a range of about 400 kilometers, fast charging can be done up to 150 kW, braking provides energy and there are modern trinkets such as cruise control and traction control. The batteries are separated and placed in the front and rear to optimize weight distribution.

Inside, the idea is just as clear: retain the charm of the original, but subtly integrate all that technology we can’t live without today. When your driver opens the back door for you, you will notice a USB connection under a chrome button for the rear seat heating.

Up front, the beautiful Smith clocks look original, but they display strange things, such as the battery charge and temperature, and whether you are consuming or regenerating power. There are masses of veneer and heavy-duty sliders and buttons – the small button for the cruise control is therefore barely noticeable, nor is the switch to operate the charging opening.

But once you take your seat, slide your thighs under the huge, thin steering wheel and sit on the leather throne, there’s nothing new or futuristic about it – it’s a classic car through and through. The smell, the view over that endless bonnet, it’s one big journey back in time.

Driving is a lot more relaxed in an EV

Turn the key, put the steering lever in D and you drive away as smoothly as if you were running a hot knife through soft butter. No hassle to revive an old engine, no waiting for the fluids to warm up, although strangely enough it takes a respectable moment for all systems to start up – that will be solved when the car is really completely finished, they say.

Some calibration still needs to be done here and there, such as the torque curve (it could use a little more when driving away). That’s something that can be done on a laptop, which is far preferable to a complete rebuild of an old engine. Furthermore, the performance is extremely adequate.

Who will buy such an electric Bentley Continental Flying Spur?

But who is the customer for such a classic Bentley EV conversion, which starts at £350,000 but can go horribly north of that if you go crazy with special paint colours, lightweight bodies and interior furnishings? Well, the future owner of this car happened to show up at Lunaz unannounced.

He was wearing some rather peculiar shoes, so ‘eccentric’ seems like a good starting point. He is also the owner of one of the largest collections of pre-war cars in the world, so he clearly loves classics, but also knows their quirks. He wanted something he could drive every day, without worries and hassle. Something that just does it. And very good too.

Lunaz keeps these cars alive

You may find this whole enterprise sacrilege. Not me. These big Bentleys were never about the growl of a big V8 engine, but about buttery smooth, whisper-quiet gliding, and electric drive fits that perfectly. Lunaz claims that in this way it ‘safeguards the heritage of one of the most beautiful cars in the world’. In other words, it does not kill history, but preserves it for future generations. If Lunaz keeps these kinds of beautiful shapes on the road, I support them 100 percent.

Many thanks to Burghley House for providing this photo location