Since he quit football, David Beckham he became a businessman. And beyond the world surrounding football and fashion, as of 2021 the former England team captain is a shareholder of Lunaz designcompany specializing in electromobility.
Among other business units, Lunaz is dedicated to the conversion of classic cars into electric (retrofit). As an example, we can mention the Jaguar XK140 that Beckham gave to his son as a wedding present.
The truth is that in this sense the company has just presented a Bentley Continental S2from 1961, restored and powered by electricity.
A high voltage British jewel
Bentley is one of the UK’s most prestigious car brands. Between 1959 and 1962 it produced the Continental S2, a variant of only 388 units of the Bentley S2.
Very popular and highly regarded by collectors, the Continental S2 was equipped with a powerful 6.2 liter V8 Developed in collaboration with Rolls-Royce.
To the detriment of the purists, Lunaz took care of bringing it back to new and replacing its engine system with another 100% electriccreating a work worthy of being told in detail.
The first step was to make a millimeter 3D scan create a digital model and thus be able to validate the feasibility of the project. Aesthetically, the employees of David Beckham’s company have studied every centimeter, respecting the external figure of the car almost to the letter.
Once the first stage was built, Lunaz took care of completely disassembling it to restore the deteriorated parts, while those that could not be recovered were re-manufactured with similar materials.
For its part, the engine-case assembly was removed, refurbished and preserved, as both Lunaz managers and the vehicle owner agreed that it is “a piece of automotive history”.
In its place was placed a 299 kW electric motor (equivalent to 400 horsepower) and 719 Nm of maximum torque which allow it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 6.9 seconds. And to further enhance the ride, adaptive dampers and a regenerative braking system with six-piston brake calipers on the front and four-piston rear wheels have been fitted.
Lunaz also went into the interior, which was completely restored with sustainable materials.
For example, the leather upholstery has been tanned with naturally fallen olive leaves, the wood used for the front panel has been obtained under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate and the carpets have been produced with a 100% recycled nylon fiber and bottles of plastic.
In Lunaz they claim that this transformation, the value of which has not been revealed, will allow its owner to use it on a daily basis at a very low cost and without any type of restriction from a low emission zone.
Source: Clarin
Ben Stock is a journalist working for News Rebeat, where he covers the automobile section. With a passion for cars and the industry, Ben brings insightful and in-depth reporting to his readers.
