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Electric vehicles are in use everywhere. They have proven to be efficient, quiet, economical and clean. The price, range, speed and load capacity of electric cars today fit as much as 80% of the driving needs of commuters in the United States.

This is a journal of my attempt at...

A 4CV to 4EV Conversion

8. Current condition

Repeating the previous photo:
Not exactly ideal working conditions. It's still missing the chrome trim from the left headlight. You'd think in 27 years of nesting it would be able to grow a new one. There is a green fuzz and flakey rust on all the chrome. The green is likely the copper corroding under the chrome. All of that will need to be replated and that is definitely not a job for the backyard or barnyard. Leave such toxic operations to the professionals with the licenses, experience and means to handle the serious chemistry involved.

Lots of junk around it. That dust really does have a green cast to it; must be some form of algae. Lots of small animal tracks in the dust, too. The little scratches they made won't matter since all of that paint will be sanded off. It is listing to port because the wheel under the left front sank into the ground slightly. All tires are hopelessly cracked and rotted.

There it is, all 747 cc of it. Note the carburettor is missing. It's in a cylinder of rust that was a coffee can 27 years ago and in all that time, it didn't reassemble itself. The missing heater blower is in the left rear floor. The battery box was eaten by a battery.

The spark plugs are inside that finned aluminum valve cover, not because they belong there, but because that was a convenient place to put them when I removed them from their proper place in order to squirt penetrating oil into the cylinders.

Not bad inside the trunk -- fine layer of surface rust, no holes or pitting, lots of rodent nesting material, handle of the crank is visible in the lower front in the center. All of the plates are legible (except in the photo).

At least the interior hasn't been eaten. The view is looking rearward from the right front suicide door. I can't remember where that long metal piece came from. Maybe the parts CD from Robin, of the UK Renault 4CV Register will show me.

View from the right rear, looking forward (it's a left-hand drive model made for the U.S.A.).

There is the missing heater blower fan.

I think there's a slight visibility problem here. Can't tell how fast the ghost driver is going because the speedometer is in the floor under the front passenger seat. No radio? What kind of taxi is this? There never was a door on the glovebox.

Enough of this; time to get to work. More later.

It's later. Here's more.

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