◀
Our team (from left): Bryan Maynard, Steven Mark
Salowsky, Rich Benoit, Chad Hrencecin, Joshua Dodge.▼
We fabricated a triangular brace instead of a strut bar
(above the engine) to add rigidity to the frame.THE SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT Market Association trade show
in Las Vegas is extravagant, it is inspiring, it is perhaps the
greatest automotive pissing contest you’ll ever witness. It’s an
annual gathering for every somebody in the car world to show
off the fanciest thing they can create on four(ish) wheels.
My business partner, Rich Benoit, and I thought we finally
had something radical and bold enough for the event. We
didn’t just want to exist there. We wanted to steal the show.
That also meant we needed a car that could actually move
under its own power. Most of the cars at SEMA get pushed onto
the expo f loor, but nobody’s happy about it. The shame of an
unfinished ride is something to avoid at all costs. And yet with
30 hours until our transport truck arrived, we were approach-
ing the city limits of Shamesville.
After two years of patiently converting a Tesla to an
internal-combustion-engine muscle car—we’ll get to why
on earth anyone would do this—we were down to just hook-
ing up the fuel lines but were caught waiting for fitments to
arrive in the mail. And they weren’t going to make it in time.
Rich and I have been revitalizing Teslas for about six years
now. It started when Rich, an intrepid tinkerer, wanted
a Tesla Model S but didn’t think it was reasonable to pay
$100,000 for one. His solution: Take a couple of salvaged
Teslas and put them together. Simple, right? Start with a
f looded electric vehicle—good for its shell,
not its corroded batteries—and wait for
a second Tesla with a battered shell and a
good set of Duracells. After a year and a
half of wrenching, our first fully functional
electric car emerged for a total of $6,500. It
also launched our YouTube channel (Rich
Rebuilds) featuring odd and eclectic EV
projects in 2017, and eventually the Elec-
trified Garage, our sister company that
performs EV maintenance, repair, and con-
versions for the public.
After a couple of years, we were running
out of Tesla projects and started building
up cars that we simply wanted to enjoy.
We resurrected a BMW i8. We gave a 1932
Ford Model A an electric powertrain from a
crashed LAPD motorcycle. And we restored
a neglected twin-turbo Audi RS7—too beau-
tiful not to save. Not every project had a
battery, which upset the die-hard EV hive,
but we love all things automotive.
All the while we were buying up salvaged
Teslas (we’re up to 17 in various stages
of destruction). Despite our well-docu-
mented love for Tesla, the feeling isn’t
mutual. We buy so many wrecked TeslasMarch/April 2022 65