PHOTOGRAPHER JONNY FLEETWOOD
It used to be old airfields, now it’s exfarmyards. Boy there’s some fascinating stuff happening at the back end of these tucked away yards. This one’s in deepest Dorset, smartly reupholstered with fresh concrete, paint and buildings. One side of Silent Classics is Rotron, doing fascinating things with rotary engines for drones and more, across the yard is Parajet, using them to drive fans to help people fly.
Jack Kerridge used to work there before setting up by himself. He’s tall and keen, with something of the wild professor about him. The sort of guy you know would be up for a mad project. His first was converting a Fiat 126 to run on electric. That still sits outside, a little unloved these days as he’s moved on to greater things. Why cars in the first place? “It’s in the blood. My dad is a classic car restorer, so I grew up around all that and it sort of spiralled from there.”
What it spiralled into was a familiar rabbit hole, Jack one of many spotting the niche for converting classics to electric power. Unlike some he was inspired by the engineering rather than the business opportunity. The 126 taught him huge amounts about repurposing existing electrical components and getting them to work together. His bread and butter is the Fiat 500, “It’s just so suited to electric power, and all the bits fit so easily to the existing chassis.” They’ve built around 15 so far and demand has been so strong that he’s planning on separating that business out into its own high-end brand. Not bad considering Silent Classics itself was only set up a couple of years ago.
“I’M INCLINED TO CUT THIS SOME SLACK WHERE I STRUGGLE TO WITH ELECTRIFIED 911S”