I recently spoke to Rebecca, the co-founder of Sebring Works.
Alongside her husband, Gary, Rebecca has helped shape a company that began through a love of classic cars and a goal to rethink what they can be.
From taking on a historic brand to developing an entirely new platform for retro-inspired electric sports cars, Rebecca’s journey is a fascinating one.
This is how our conversation went:
Tell me about Sebring Works
What started as a solution to the difficulties experienced with our own classic cars became something much more! We are a husband and wife team who began a journey of developing a classic car electric conversion company after believing that the reliability issues we experienced with our own classics could be solved through electrification.
However, in electrifying our first car and subsequent customer vehicles, we felt that whilst the reliability issue no longer existed, the conversions were compromised by fitting battery packs in awkward spaces, and each vehicle often required substantial restoration, causing challenges in managing clients’ budgets and expectations.
In fact, our very first conversion, which was sold on some time ago, has recently been retrofitted by a conversion specialist with more battery packs to improve the range for its current owner!
We realised that if we could build a brand-new electric classic-looking car, then all the frustrations that we’d experienced would be removed. By designing our own electric skateboard rolling chassis, known as The Sebring Performance Platform™, any retro or other body style can be placed on top, and so Sebring Works was born!
Was there one classic car that inspired you to make a more sustainable version?
All three models currently offered by Sebring inspired us, and in fact, we had owned a petrol Sebring many years previously. On approaching the owner of Sebring International, who manufactured the petrol Austin Healey 3000 replicas, we were fortunate enough to be able to acquire the assets, and work began on bringing that and the other models to market on the Sebring Performance Platform™.
Manufacturing a new product has its challenges, but we are working on initiatives to build cars with truly sustainable materials, including going back to plant-based materials for the body and interior finishes. I am looking forward to progressing these in 2026.
Do you have a favourite in your current line-up?
Ah, the company favourite is yet to come!
Both Gary and I love the look of the sports cars from the late 50’s and 60’s – cars of that age sport a smiley face with their round headlamps and grills – and the feeling they provide of times gone by is something that isn’t replicated with more modern cars.
The simplicity in design, no screens, analogue dials and actual buttons to press makes for a fun experience. As for being electric, the driver then has the best of both worlds – a great performance and enjoyable drive with the look and nostalgia of a classic.
What would you say to the people who aren’t a fan of EVs and classic cars becoming EVS?
There are many people who feel it is important to maintain classics as ICE, and we’re not challenging that viewpoint. However, very few classic cars have their original drivetrain today – a little like Trigger’s Broom, from Only Fools and Horses Fame, which he had looked after well over the 20 years but had in fact had “17 new heads and 14 new handles”. The majority of classic cars have been upgraded and maintained over the years, and a classic car conversion is effectively an upgrade or replacement of the drivetrain to ensure the car can continue to be used and enjoyed.
Our offering, however, is a brand new electric two-seater sports car built from the ground up – giving the driver the emotional enjoyment and beauty of a classic looking car without the nuances of older technology, the all too familiar oil stain on the garage floor, the compromise of fitting battery packs in awkward spaces and so on. This provides the owner with a contemporary, reliable, easy and enjoyable drive.
It is a choice. At Sebring, we are building classics of the future and cars we hope their owners will pass down to their children.
Is there a common reaction when people drive one of your cars for the first time?
Yes, and the experience follows a few stages!
Firstly, there is surprise – for starters, the car has instant torque! Then the quiet drive is unnerving as the brain tries to reconcile the expectation of a classic car, which should have noise and challenging handling, with an electric car that drives smoothly, much quieter and without those expected rattles and bangs! Then once the brain resets, the Sebring Smile appears!
After a test drive, comments have included, “I’m so glad the seats are brown!” through to, “It’s a grower, the first time you drive it, it’s great, but as you continue to use the car, you fall more in love with it and want to find any excuse to take it for a spin!”
Are there any new models on the cards?
Whilst currently scaling our production, there are further models and short special edition runs in the pipeline. As classic cars change over time – ie a Babyboomer may perceive a classic as a car from the 50’s and 60’s, younger generations will perceive a classic as an ‘80s or ‘90s or even the noughties! The platform can cope with these changes.
We offer the Sebring Performance Platform™ to other low-volume vehicle manufacturers to enable them to bring their EV models to market more swiftly than developing their own. The platform is also available to the film and production industry, so already some interesting models are sitting on the platform – expect to see some more unusual forms of transport in the coming months when you head to the cinema!
How can interested people find out more about Sebring Works?
Of course, our website is the first port of call, where you will find more information on our cars and our story. Expressions of interest can be completed online, and a member of the team will be able to discuss more with you and invite you for a test drive and meet our staff at our North Cotswold facility.
We are also active on Facebook and Instagram, and LinkedIn, both personally and for the business.
What are your plans for the next few years? What’s next?
We are currently scaling our production capabilities, which will enable us to fulfil our current order book and look to extend to other territories. This takes time!
But both sides of the business have much more scope for growth in terms of new territories, new collaborations and more derivatives, so we have a clear plan of where we would like to be, but the main target remains of scaling from our current situation to 50 vehicles per year and then up to 200 vehicles per annum by 2029.
It has been an incredible journey so far – a real rollercoaster ride – we are so grateful to those who have supported us from the start or joined recently in our journey, and we’re excited about the future.
Enjoyed Talking Classics With Rebecca Denyer?
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