Category: Administration

I am giving this post a number as I am sure it won’t be the last one on the topic.

Several more phone calls later, the agreement was made and the first invoice sent to get the engineering started and to order the modified gauges that will display motor/battery temperature and voltage. Now, I thought, before paying the first amount, let’s make sure I understand the process of bringing the car into the UK and back to Germany and what it means for customs and paperwork.

Here’s what I learned:

• Bringing the car from the EU into the UK is an important. It is irrelevant if I plan to bring it back. It’s an import. If I have the correct paperwork and registered the transport in Germany as well as in the UK, I will not have to pay duty for the car.
• Having the car worked on is initiating a customs relevant process called “inward processing of goods“. The company performing the work needs to be registered with the HRMC (HM Revenue & Customs). If they are, I can export the car and pay duty only on the value of work that was done in the UK.

The paperwork and administrative hassle for all of this is a nightmare!

However, Retro Electric had a good consultant and they will manage everything in the UK, while I will manage the Germany/EU custom side of the process.

If you are in Europe, these two companies are a great start for your research. I did find companies in Germany that do electro conversions, but most of them specialise on German Brands – Mercedes, Porsche, Volkswagen – and none of them got back to me on my inquiry.

It was in August 2026 when the decision was made between my wife and me to embark on this journey and spend a considerable amount of money on a dream we both want to come true.

I won’t bore the reader with a long personal background, but I will mention a few points in my biography that seem to be relevant and if anyone is reading this who considers a similar project, it might help putting things in perspective.

I’ve been a car guy all my life. I still remember the very date of my Führerscheinprüfung and the conversations I had with my driving teacher. I started car life with an accident damaged 1981 Honda Civic, that my engineer father gave to me for free if I promised to fix it myself. Not a bad educational act I think.

From Fiat to Jaguar to Bentley

I went on with a 1980 Fiat 124 spider and after a few years I got myself a rather rusty 1964 Jaguar E-type Series 1 Coupé in opalescent silver blue, the best colours of all. I restored it from A-Z incl. engine and Moss gearbox rebuild, interior trimming (I feel I still have glue in my hair from the headliner I removed). The metal work and welding was done by a friend and I assisted as much as I could. I learned so much and the car was fantastic to drive.

I’ll skip a few cars, I might mention the 1962 Bentley S3 Standard Steel Saloon in Regal Red (what a beauty) in a later post.

Driving an electric car makes you not go back

Now the problem: In 2018 I purchased a new Tesla Model S, solid black paint, light grey (not white) interior and free supercharging. Beautiful car, in fact, I enjoyed driving it so much that I sold all my other cars because I did not use them anymore. The Tesla had everything: Space for the family, unbelievable performance, great design, modern digital conveniences. I never wanted to sell it.

That was until the owner of a company became bros with a criminal leader of a country.

I am not going to continue driving a car with that jerk’s signature on it. I looked at the BEV market and there was absolutely nothing that I wanted. Two years later: Still nothing.

British. Nothing else.

And I always wanted to get a classic British car again. I love the British culture, their design, their language, their literature, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Poppins, Hogwarts – and I started looking around.

Lunaz does fantastic Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover electromods – starting at 600.000 pounds. Sorry – I am not going to spend that much. RBW creates new MGB’s: They purchased the old body shell presses from British Motor Heritage and a producing new cars for the UK and the US market at a price point of approx. 120.000 GBP. I talked to them. Unfortunately, they are unable to make the car road legal in Germany at this point.

Next one: Halcyon in Sussex fully restores and rebuilds Rolls Royce Silver Shadows and Bentley T model. Lovely car with modern design, prices around 450.000 pounds. Doable, but still very expensive, and to be honest, the design is a little too blinky blinky to my eyes.

Settling on the concept

I then researched getting a well restored Silver Shadow or T model and getting the drive train replaced by an electric one. Obviously, I would need to find a company that had done this a few times – and there are quite a few. And I realised I was now flexible on the choice of car model! That made me decide very quickly to focus on the Jaguar Mk2. I always wanted to own one but never had!

For now, I have settled on Retro Electrics. I talked to one of their founders, Tim, and I should receive a concrete quote soon. The costs are going to be around 100.000 pounds, plus the donor car of course. Still a lot, but not much more than I spent on the Tesla eight years ago.