BUCKET OF VOLTS

WEBB MOTORWORKS HAS CREATED AN ELECTRIC CRATE MOTOR THAT LOOKS FOR ALL THE WORLD LIKE A SMALL-BLOCK CHEV

- KIAN HEAGNEY

CANADIAN hot rodder Chris Webb has made something of a career out of taking the ubiquitous small-block Chev and disguising it as something it’s not. He is most famous for his Webb Motorworks line of flathead conversions, which allow punters to dress up the humble SBC as either a side-valve V8, V12 or V16. The idea is to get the classic looks of a flathead engine with the horsepower and reliability of the more-modern Chev.

Chris’s latest project has taken that thinking to the next level. This time, the SBC is the disguise, concealing an electric motor.

“My daughter came to me with an idea that she wanted an electric hot rod,” says Chris. “I began to do some research and realised how phenomenal electric motors are: no moving parts and immediate full torque. She was onto something.