EV Swap the World: The Polarizing Story of America's First Electric Restomod Shop

He's the owner and founder of Moment Motors, an Austin, Texas-based restomod shop that specializes in the types of custom builds that purists would call blasphemous. From Porsches to Alfa Romeos, classic 4x4s, and just about everything in between, you wouldn't believe the kind of wizardry inside this tiny shop. During my recent visit to Austin, I had the privilege of not just driving a Moment Motors EV-Swapped E-Type Jaguar, but also sitting down with Marc afterward to discuss how his shop and the creations therein came together.

As we squeezed our way out of that tiny E-Type cockpit and sat down in his office, there was a sense that Marc was about to piss a lot of people off with what he had to say about his unique restomod business. Is he stark raving mad, completely insane, and unhinged to the max? Well, no, it's a hell of a lot more complicated than sheer lunacy. "People don't often believe it, but what we’re doing is preservation. We put these cars on the road, faster, stronger, and more reliable than they've ever been. That means they will be driven, loved, and cherished, instead of rotting away in a garage or barn," Davis said.

"Whether we're starting with an E-Type, a Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, pickup trucks, or whatever, the approach at the high level is similar. But at the detail level, it gets very unique and very complicated," Davis went on to say. With a prior career in computer science during the 90s, Davis was among the first of the .com tech bros that forged Austin’s sprawling tech sector. But through the soaring highs and the crashing lows of the .com bubble, that inner child fawning over classic sports cars never left Marc. If anything, that primordial passion only increased beneath the surface as he played his humble but not inconsequential part in quite literally shaping the Austin tech sector.

In those days, Austin was in the midst of transforming into a Silicon Valley satellite city of sorts. One where computer engineers of all stripes gathered to stake their claim on the fastest-growing industry of the decade. It's these years immersed in big tech and people with laptops that ultimately informed Marc's perspective on the kind of restomod shop he'd always wanted to run. "I graduated in '94, right as the internet became a thing. Eventually, I built a recruiting company that helped build up the Austin software startup scene for many years, recruiting top software talent to our growing startup industry in Austin," Davis said of his time pre-Moment Motors.

"All the while, I was a closet car guy building and customizing cars in my spare time. Eventually, I just snapped and thought it was time to bring my tech background and cars together, so I started Moment in my garage. That's how it started." If that's not the archetypal garage startup company success story, we don't know what is. "Then it was about 2016 and I decided it was time to make a change. I kind of found this emerging EV industry that was happening that was headed towards something magical. I thought there was an opportunity to bring classic cars and my tech background together and make something special out of that."

Things started slowly, a couple Porsches, Datsuns, and an Alfas with drivetrains pieced together from salvaged Tesla parts here and there. Back in those days, this was the only viable path to supplying a restomod shop with functioning modern EV drivetrains. Well, unless you wanted to use an electric motor from a piece of mining equipment or something. But eight and change years on, the Moment Motors team has reached a point where almost nothing in the classic car space intimidates them to work on. In one corner of the shop, you'll find a mint 1988 Porsche 911 with an iNetic iEV-180 three-phase AC motor sitting pretty on a lift. It still has the OEM manual transmission to boot.

On the other side, we found a vintage 1968 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL coupe, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT, a late 60s Mustang fastback, and no less than two Austin Healey 3000s, one a '61 and the other a '66, in various stages in the EV-swap process. Outside, a pair of early-to-mid 60s GM trucks, one a GMC and one a Chevrolet, don't indicate that their engines are gone, long replaced by electric motors. Neither does an all-wheel-drive Tesla-swapped '72 Chevy Blazer or yet another 80s Porsche 911.

Using parts from reputable EV component suppliers like Cascadia Motion in Oregon, iNentic Traction in the UK, and, of course, Tesla, classic dinosaurs with hardware that fails constantly are easier to live with and arguably easier to drive. Of course, none of these things mean much to the person who attributes their entire perception of a vehicle to the sound its engine makes. To that set of folks, Marc's outlet is nothing short of rage-inducing. A house of sin where sacred cows get tipped over on the reg'.

To a degree, Marc knew this reaction was what he was in for. But as he himself puts it, he's prepared to take the heat. "I knew what I wanted to do would ruffle some feathers. You never really understand until you do it, and in the beginning there was a lot of pushback," Davis said of the seemingly endless haters posting on his social media, hitting up his DMs, and generally getting very angry at his life's work. "I think a lot of people assign the soul of a classic car to the combustion engine. There's something about the sound, the smell, and the feel of that which people believe is intrinsic to how these cars are."

As Marc recalled, his very first EV swap was a 1968 Porsche 911, a build he put together with some of his car enthusiast buddies, some of whom helped him found Moment Motors later. He made sure to drive the snot out of that cute little air-cooled flat-six engine before he ripped its guts out. In those days, the thought that he might be ruining the essence of how a creaky old Porsche is supposed to feel did come across his mind. "Thankfully, when you get to the other side of it, you realize that the sound is only a part of it. When you combine the torque and that feeling of acceleration and seamless power delivery with a classic vehicle, the end result is actually quite entertaining."

Over time, various aspects of the EV swap process, like motor suppliers and computer-aided design (CAD) software, have been streamlined. Nowadays, OEM quality components and rapid manufacturing techniques are within arm's reach, and helps Moment Motors quickly design a complete drivetrain for every build under its roof. This innovation dramatically increases the scope of the company’s capabilities.

After a ride in a Moment Motors customer's E-Type, and getting the inside scoop on the clever tech behind the scenes, I was certainly more open to Marc's ideas. Out on the interstates and back roads of Austin, the feeling of looking over that iconic long, swooping hood of a classic Jag was still very much intact. As was the heavy, non-power-boosted steering and those delightful little creaking noises you've come to expect from old cars.

Better still, the Moment Motors EV-swapped E-Type is far quicker off the line and faster at the top end than a perfectly preserved OEM survivor. Thanks to the latest 3D scanning technology and that top-notch CAD software, Moment Motors can build miraculous EV swaps of this caliber while cutting out as little metal from these precious classic bodies as possible.

In every way, apart from the powertrain, the essence, the soul, and the unmistakable aura of a classic vehicle are still right where they need to be. For this reason, we here at autoevolution are now believers. So please, if you think EVs are the work of Satan, send Marc an e-mail, and you might drive home with one of his builds one day.

But what do you all think? Would you take a spin in a Moment Motors restomod? Or would you drop a dozen vomit emojis on his company Instagram page? Let us know in the comments down below! Many thanks to Marc for inviting us to Austin for a first-hand look at his shop. Hopefully, it won't be the last meeting.