This UK restomod start-up has made a delightful ’70s Rolls-Royce feel even more like a Roller
It takes less than half a mile for the memory of the Corniche’s imperious Flying Lady, and the square shoulders of the prominent plinth on which she stands, to come flooding back.
It’s been three decades since I last drove a 1970s Rolls Corniche convertible – or the Shadow saloon from which this and the Corniche coupé are derived – yet the spread of the Lady’s wings is unforgettable. So is the graceful, strolling motion of the silent ’70s suspension beneath us. This is the first in a small series of electrically powered Rolls-Royces from restomod company Halcyon, a Surrey-based start-up that opened its doors three years ago and will busy itself for the next few years restoring and modifying 120 Rolls-Royces from this special era, half electrified and half with their original 6.75-litre pushrod V8 engine still in place.
The project is the brainchild of three young engineers – Matthew Pearson, Charlie Metcalfe and Will Burdett – who met at Bath University, worked together on the university’s Formula Student programme and launched themselves after graduation into the modern UK motor industry. For a time they went in different ways, but always kept in touch. “We’d talk about building cars that people like us could get enthusiastic about,” says Metcalfe. “We’d been through the Covid era, and it seemed to us that people were too pessimistic about the future of cars, and especially EVs. That led us to the idea of a series of electrified Rolls-Royces. After all, this was a company that had spent a century trying to build powertrains as quiet and refined as electric motors…”
The trio decided Shadow-era Rolls-Royces were right for the job. The cars were perfect for electrification: big enough to carry batteries unobtrusively and for their weight (and weight distribution) in electrified form to parallel the original. With help from early investors they set up business, along the way launching an adjacent company called Evice Technologies to offer the know-how affordably to other small firms. The specific models they alighted on were Shadow 2s (and offshoots) made between 1977 and 1980, because it was a well-developed car by then and there were few engineering changes during those years.
Then they bought an old Shadow and started spending evenings in the workshop getting to know every nut and bolt, and daytimes hatching a business plan. They now have a plan: to restore and electrify 60 Shadows and Corniches (both coupés and convertibles) – plus another 60 V8-powered examples – at an initial rate of six a year, ramping up to 15. The 800V EV powertrain is their own and uses the best proprietary technology. Bodies (Halcyon will accept owners’ cars or find donors) will get bare-metal restorations and be rebuilt with a high degree of owner customisation.
After a donor car is found, Halcyon will charge you £450,000 for its restoration and electrical conversion. For a Great Eight (V8) resto, you’ll pay £420,000. Clearly, bespoke paint, trim and options cost extra, but against the eye-watering prices seen elsewhere, these ones seem realistic.
The car we encountered was the first finished EV, an elegant metallic blue Corniche convertible with a 400bhp electric motor driving its rear wheels, a battery bank of 77kWh giving 250 miles of range and a charging speed capability of up to 230kW. If you insist, you can have a 500bhp motor, plus a 94kWh battery that increases your range to 300 miles.
The test car’s interior was a special picture, combining familiar-looking features – such as twin-dial instrumentation, organ-stop ventilation controls and an original 1970s switch-block – with a beautiful bespoke steering wheel and a lovely hand-crafted metal fascia plate.
I’ve had no close relationship with EV conversions of classics, but some I’ve seen harm the car’s character and styling. This Halcyon Rolls does the reverse. It has the kind of powertrain Rolls owners love, and its body enhancements only improve the essential character. Most of all, it imbues a 55-year-old Rolls with modern convenience and reliability. That’s proper car conservation.
On the road
We joined Pearson and Metcalfe to drive a route near Box Hill, Surrey, on roads that are fun but also bumpy and a bit narrow. Would they be okay for a car this big? Interestingly, this Corniche weighs ‘only’ about 2.2 tonnes, the same as the common- or-garden Ford Capri EV I drove to our location. It’s also 8cm narrower. Which is to say it’s no longer a big car, just substantial.
Performance and top speed figures are still being arrived at, but 0-62mph could well be in the 7.0sec region – especially since a limited-slip differential, just fitted, has allowed Halcyon to remove an artificial torque limit placed on the car to cull wheelspin on wet roads. The car now gets its full 435lb ft and feels very powerful. But it still has a carefully drawn throttle map, so it glides gently away from standstill, feeling as smooth and quiet as any Rolls ever made.
The steering wheel is smaller in diameter than they used to be, but it’s still thin- rimmed for a perfect period feel. I suspect this car will understeer when pressed, like they all used to, but who will drive one hard? The ride is laid-back. The steel wheels have beautiful standard hubcaps and Avon tyres, and the spring and anti-roll bar rates are very relaxed. The one concession to modernity is a set of adaptive dampers.
Mainly this electric Rolls is as easy and smooth as any. Henry Royce would be proud.
