Everrati 911 (964) Gulf Signature Edition 2022 Review

Intro, Price, Options and Verdict

Introduction

In the race towards electric cars, many are concerned about the loss of the character they enjoy from older classic vehicles. But that character does come at a cost compared to new cars, particularly EVs, which usually offer better performance, features and reliability. One solution is to take a classic car you love and convert it into an EV. This can retain a lot of the original personality, while offering some of the benefits of electrification. A company making some of the most bold EV classic conversions is Everrati, taking iconic models and giving them a new electric lease of life. One of the company’s most feted cars yet is the 911 (964), which we had the opportunity to drive. It’s like the legendary original… only faster. Much faster.

Price and Options

Everrati has chosen to electrify cars from the 964 era of Porsche 911. Lovers of the German brand will know that this was the first full model update from the original 911, which had developed incrementally from its launch in 1964. In 1989, Porsche decided that its new 911 was sufficiently different to the original to warrant a new model number, the 964, although it was still branded 911 as a product.

The Everrati process starts with a donor original 964, but this doesn’t have to be a mint concours car. In fact, that would be a bit of a travesty. Much better is to use a car that is mechanically sound but in need of refurbishment. Everrati will strip the car right down and restore it, while also replacing panels with lightweight alternatives made from carbon fibre and other materials. There were over 60,000 964s made, so Everrati isn't using a particularly rare vehicle and isn’t messing with a irreplaceable piece of automotive history.

You can get two main versions of the Everrati 964, although there's also a Gulf Signature Edition that comes with an even more iconic Gulf Oil paintjob that Everrati has full permission to use. This was the version we got to drive for review. The Pure is based on a narrowbody 964, and the Signature on a widebody 964. The Gulf version is the Signature model too, so also a widebody chassis. You get 17in Fuchs wheels with the Pure, and 18in Cup 1 splits for the Signature, but as all Everrati’s cars are custom made you can have pretty much anything you like.

While this restoration will be (mostly) in keeping with the original vehicle, the obvious area that isn’t is the one that will be most controversial to classic car purists. The shape of a 911 is one part of what makes it iconic; the flat 6 boxer engine is the other, and that motor has been replaced by an electric alternative. Losing the engine is a major alteration to the character of the car, but it is not entirely sacrosanct. After all, the switch from air to water cooling in 1998 with the 996 raised hackles as well. What you get with Everrati alters the 964’s character in a very positive direction, too.

The 964 was a powerful car for its day, with 247 bhp and 310Nm of torque. But the Everrati versions have much, much more. The Pure has 440bhp with 460Nm of torque, while the Signature with Performance Pack has 500bhp and 500Nm. In other words, the Signature has twice as much power and over 60% more torque. Don't worry too much about the loss of a lovely boxer engine, either. You also get to keep the original powertrain, which can either be stored for you or made available for display.

As you can guess, as this is a complete custom car refurbishment and upgrade, it’s not cheap. On top of a donor car – the bottom end of which is currently £40-50,000 – you will pay at least £200,000 for the Pure, £250,000 or more for the Signature, and the Gulf version we drove is “Price on Application”, which is probably as ominous as it sounds. So this car is not about the affordable running costs of electric, it’s about taking period classic and making it even better.

Design, Comfort and Storage

Exterior Design

Everrati’s choice of the 964 as a platform is quite a canny one. The 964 is mechanically more modern than the 911 of the previous 25 years, but it still retains the iconic bug-eyed look of the original. With the 993 that replaced it in 1995, Porsche smoothed out the front so there were still round headlights, but these did not protrude anywhere near as much, fundamentally changing the appearance.

It’s almost irrelevant whether you think the original 911 design is attractive or not. It has such a classic look from the front, side, or rear that its recognisability is unquestionable. This is one of the most memorable vehicles ever made. With the 964, the wheel arches did start to fill out a bit, particularly with the widebody variants, but otherwise it is clearly the same car as that introduced in 1964. Everrati can also provide the ducktail rear spoiler that was another iconic feature of the 911 in that era, particularly RS variants.

In fact, externally there aren’t many cues that the Everrati 911 isn’t just a restored car. There will be lots of customer options, but the Gulf version we looked at had 993-style door handles and wing mirrors, with the latter introducing LED turning indicators. However, Everrati told us that it won’t be using this design for production models, as it’s not very aesthetically pleasing. Obviously, that Gulf paintjob is incredibly eye-catching, and it is somewhat ironic to have an oil company’s livery on an EV. But if you want to turn heads, this car will achieve that in spades.

Interior Comfort

The interior will be another area where customers can exercise a lot of choice. Everrati says that seats can be covered with leather, Alcantara or cloth. The ones in our prototype were the Sports Comfort variety of the era, which are an excellent halfway house between sports buckets and more leisurely GT seating. They are well upholstered but have high bolsters, which hold you in place extremely well on high-G corners. But they also rub when you get and out of the car, which means the edges wear quite fast.

Everrati has tried to maintain the period feel of the interior while also providing some mod-cons. A gearstick like the one used by the Tiptronic system is supplied for selecting drive direction. The dials aren’t original Porsche and have different functions in keeping with an electric drivetrain, but their style is from the period. The steering wheel is the same design as that era. You don’t get any cupholders, again just like the original car, or much space to put things in the car. But that’s not what this car is about anyway.

There are electric windows, air conditioning, and a hi-fi head unit that still fits in the original space but supplies modern features we will discuss shortly. Everrati has tried to make the interior experience as classic as possible, with the modernisation extremely subtle. You still get the two extra seats in the rear, thanks to the 911 engine bay being so far back. But as with all 911s these are definitely “+2” and only good for children. They will be uncomfortable for adults on anything other than a short trip.

Storage and Load Carrying

The fact that 911s have their engines at the back has always meant they have no boot. Open up the rear and there’s the motor (the mid-engine Cayman and Boxster do have a tiny bit of space here). There is some space at the front, but not as much as a basic Carrera of the 964 era. It’s also slightly less than the four-wheel-drive C4.

Everrati has placed a battery box in this space, plus some other electronics. The small cargo box would be enough for a couple of shopping bags or an overnight holdall, but not your golf clubs. Those would have to go on the rear seats.

In-Car Entertainment and Controls

The overall cockpit experience of the Everrati 911 is extremely like a Porsche of the early 1990s. You use a physical key to turn the power on and turn it a bit further to enable the motor power. The lights and windscreen wiper stalks are original. The Tiptronic-style gearstick has a button on the top to enable its function, and then pulls back for drive, forward for reverse, and the middle is neutral.

The dashboard dials start with a clock on the right, just like the original car. Then there’s a speedometer, again like the original car. The big rev counter in the middle of a petrol 964 is now an engine power/regeneration indicator, and then you have a dial with some system health indicators, plus motor and battery temperature. Finally, there’s a charge percentage and voltage display.

The air conditioning has three knobs for fan speed, defrost, temperature and air direction. This isn’t period in design. There are some large original switches in the central console. The Pure car will have a switch to choose Sport or Eco drive modes. In contrast, the Signature car we drove incorporates a TracTive configurable suspension system that also integrates engine power levels.

Cars of the late 1980s/early 1990s basically had radios, cassette players, and satnav hadn’t been invented yet. So the space for the media unit is limited. This is another area that is likely to have plenty of choice, but the unit installed in our test car included a DAB radio and Bluetooth phone connectivity. It also supports Apple Car Play so you can hook up your phone via an appropriate cable and use the Maps for navigation. We found this worked adequately, although the screen is very small and quite low down so not optimal.

Performance, Running Costs, Range, and Safety

Performance and Driving

Electrifying a classic Porsche would be a travesty if it really did make the driving experience bland and devoid of personality. The good news with what Everrati has done is that it has kept a lot of this but made it better – faster and safer, without losing the visceral feel of an early 1990s Porsche. The steering is incredibly responsive, with precise directional control and every contour of the road communicated to your hands.

This car is also much, much faster than the original – which was no slouch to begin with. A petrol-powered 964 took 5.5 seconds to hit 60mph in its heyday, but the Everrati 911 Pure achieves this in 4.5 seconds, and the Signature Edition under 4 seconds. This will give most modern cars a hard time, even Tesla Performance models. It’s close to a modern Porsche Taycan Turbo too.

You’re also probably now arguing that without that flat 6 sound behind you, you’re still missing the thrill of high-speed Porsche 911 driving. Well, Everrati has a solution for this. The car we had was fitted with a pair of exhaust pipes, which lead to a sound generator that is connected to the chassis. There’s a smartphone app you can use to configure the noise this makes, and at maximum chat it can be very loud indeed, vibrating the vehicle. Obviously, the engine note doesn’t change with gears because there aren’t any gears. But it sounds pretty realistic otherwise and could easily fool bystanders that this car is not electric.

Until the 993-era 911 introduced a Weissach axle, 911s had a reputation for being unforgiving for driving mistakes. The primary issue was that having the engine literally behind the rear wheels might be good for interior space and rear-wheel traction, but it led to some “interesting” dynamic characteristics. The most infamous is lift-off oversteer, where taking your foot off the accelerator in a corner could lead to the rear kicking out much more than expected, resulting in many 911 drivers ending up facing backwards in a nearby hedge, or worse.

Unless you really like living dangerously, you will be pleased to hear that Everrati has tamed this aspect considerably. For a start, there’s a Quaife ATB torque biasing differential to help lay the power down from the rear wheels. Secondly, thanks to liberal use of modern weight-saving materials, and despite the batteries, this car is around 30kg lighter than the original. Finally, the motor weight is a little further forward, and the front batteries mean that the overall balance is more central.

In other words, you still have the awesome ability to lay down mammoth amounts of acceleration, which is perhaps the 911’s most unique performance characteristic. The throttle response isn’t quite so immediate as, for example, a Tesla Model 3 Performance. But once the Everrati gets going, it really takes off. The drilled discs and race pads on our test car also meant that this car stops incredibly well, too. This is more progressive than most modern brakes. A little dab won’t slow you much, but a hard press will most definitely bring the car to a halt quickly.

Overall, this car is an absolute joy to drive, with a real sense of occasion. Even without the fake engine noise generator enabled, interior tyre noise is very high – but again, that’s exactly what an early 1990s Porsche is like. They were not famous for their noise dampening. If you're a 911 lover, and you can get over the lack of a real boxer 6 behind you, the Everrati 911 gives you the same raw handling, but even more performance and less fear of death. It’s an absolutely engaging and brilliant drive.

Range and Charging

In terms of driving dynamics, therefore, the Everrati improves on the original. But range is one area where it doesn’t. This car has a 53kWh battery, which is about the same as a current generation Renault Zoe. You could go around 345 miles in the petrol 964, whereas the Everrati 911 does around 180 miles.

That’s not terrible, and it is supported by AC charging up to 11kW, so with three-phase power you could fully charge this car in under five hours. The CCS port also supports DC charging up to 80kW, allowing 80% to be replenished in 40 minutes. In other words, driving longer distances isn’t out of the question, but you're probably going to need to stop every 100 miles or so in this car. It’s more appropriate for a fun day out, an hour or so of track action, or nipping to the local golf club.

Running Costs

The electrical economy of the Everrati 911 isn’t terrible. It will do 3.4 miles per kWh, which equates to 4.1p per mile on a 14p per kWh supply. There isn’t any information on warranty or insurance group for this car, although you can be certain the latter will be very high.

Safety

Although Everrati has upgraded quite a few things with its 911, safety features aren’t on that list. The brakes already had ABS in this era, and the early 1990s were when airbags were just starting to roll out, initially only in steering wheels. This was an option with the 964, but Everrati has chosen not to include it. There are no high-tech driver aids like lane assistance and no cruise control, although you can have parking sensors and a reversing camera fitted.

Key Specifications

*based on electricity costs of 14p per kWh