Switching a car like the BMW E9 Coupe to Tesla power might be enough to trigger a certain demographic, but what about this Tesla-powered Porsche 944? The Porsche 944 might be considered a beloved classic, but it wasn’t exactly iconic, and it certainly wasn’t one of the best cars to roll off the Porsche assembly line. In fact, one of the 944’s biggest faults was a lack of power. The 944 Turbo, which is what this car is based on, wasn’t exactly a turd at the time, and it had its merits, but it didn’t exactly have a reputation for being the smoothest car on the road, either.

When the 944 first launched, Porsche fitted it with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder that was basically half of the V-8 found in the Porsche 928. There were some key differences outside of the number of cylinders, but the engine shared a lot of components with its bigger brother. It didn’t take long before Porsche realized that the 944 need some more power, and that’s when it gave birth to the car you see here – the 944 Turbo, internally known as the 951.

The 944 Turbo launched with a total of 217 horsepower on tap, but it was eventually pushed up to 247 horsepower. It was at this point that the 944 turned out to be a pretty awesome sports car, mainly thanks to its perfect 50-50 weight distribution. But, the lack of power still persisted, and it lead a lot of owners to look for more power. In the case of this car, things have been taken to extremes with a Tesla Small Drive unit that’s powered by a 48-kWh battery pack.

According to Electric Classic Cars, the car now delivers 300 horsepower or 220 kW straight to the rear wheels. On top of this, it solves one of the 944’s biggest problems – there’s no need to wait for the turbo to spool up, thanks to the near-instant delivery of torque from the electric motor. What’s really cool about this mod is that the team behind it managed to keep the car’s curb weight nearly identical. They don’t give specific figures, but they do reiterate that point several times.

That’s also why this specific car has such a small battery pack. With just 48-kWh available for use, the 944 doesn’t exactly get the greatest range. It’s said to be good for around 140 miles up and down hills with spirited driving. Along with maintaining a similar curb weight, this smaller battery also enabled the retention of the 50-50 weight distribution, which means it should handle about the same. Even better yet, the team kept the car looking as stock as possible so, at a glance, you’d never know this isn’t a stock 944.

With all of this said, this Tesla-powered Porsche 944 should be decent enough for some weekend driving or a fun venture around town. Maintenance should be a lot easier in the long run, and it’s quite possible that we’ll see more of these mods in the future. It might not please all the purists out there, but it might be the only way to keep some of these classic cars on the road in the future.