Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semitrucks — email jormond@ksl.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.

OGDEN — Steve Nestel says his 1967 "Herbie" Volkswagen Beetle is a look into the future of hot-rodding, which won’t be gas-powered.

Nestel’s look into the future started in 2014 when he bought a Tesla and loved it, especially the technology. So, he decided to do his own electric car conversion and started searching for something with soul and character.

After talking about it at work for a couple of years, a co-worker offered a 1967 Beetle that had been sitting for years in his backyard. The engine was shot, but that wouldn’t be a problem for Nestel, who got the beaten bug for $1,000. He says old VWs lack — or are free of — most of the modern conveniences that add weight and electrical drain to vehicles.

Nestel did the basic restoration work you would on any older car, including interior, brakes and steering — work that added up to about $12,000. He researched electric conversions, settling the electric vehicle conversion company EV West in Southern California after checking them out in person. Nestel did the installation himself, though he said EV West had already come up with adapters and parts to tackle most of the problems.

One thing he shipped out was the transmission. Another California company rebuilt it, changing it from a 4-speed with reverse to just two forward gears. When he wants to go reverse, the motor runs backward, not the transmission. Nestel said he has essentially third and fourth gear, and the motor has so much torque that he can start off in third and change to fourth when the vehicle reaches around 55 mph.

A totaled Tesla Model S donated two-thirds of its batteries to the Beetle, which Nestel said is now faster than gas, going zero to 60 mph in about 10 seconds. It’s so quiet you can hear squeaks and rattles — but pedestrians can’t, so Nestel has to be careful not to sneak up on them. He said he gets about 70 miles of range but can go 100 miles with careful driving. He estimates he’s invested $20,000 in the electrification.

The car came to him with the Herbie treatment of stripes and No. 53 to resemble the car in the Disney movies. While contemplating whether to keep it or change looks, he noticed his electric motor claimed 53kw of power. He figured that was enough alignment, so he continued the theme, adding a small "kw" to the number badge.

The reactions to an electric Herbie have been mixed, to say the least. Nestel took it to six car shows last year, leaving exhausted from talking all day long. The general public peppers him with questions, but he said the purists hate it and he’s never had a judging organization talk to him or even acknowledge his battery-bent bug. He figures that’s because it falls so far out of any categories that it hasn’t been accepted yet.

Nestel makes a case for that to change, pointing out the original hot rod, the Ford T-Bucket, was a slow car with a wimpy engine from the factory. American hot-rodders put newer V-8 engines into them, and a simple street rod was born.

With a swapped-out power plant, Nestel’s Beetle accelerates in about half the time it took with its original German four-cylinder engine. He predicts that the independent spirit of modifying cars will take to electric power, that it will become 21st-century hot-rodding and you won’t win at a dragstrip unless you do.

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