In a recent CNBC episode of Jay Leno’s garage, the famous car aficionado met legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and his ride of choice – a 58-year-old, all-electric Chevrolet Corvette droptop.
It is a common practice to modify classic cars using more recently produced OEM parts, but it so happens that General Motors fell behind the electrification trend and failed to come up with a single crate powertrain until 2019 when the conversion took place. As a result, Hawk opted for Tesla components instead. The only motor installed here hooks onto a single-speed transmission and hits the wheels with 304 PS (300 hp / 224 kW).
The stock V8 was carefully preserved and the car was otherwise modified in smart, non-intrusive ways specifically so that reverting it to OEM state would be possible. Still, Hawk claims it won’t make any sense to him because it handles just like it did when it was still gas-powered. The only drawback he could find is that he kept trying to grip the shifter, which he left standing in its place for some reason.
