Rich Benoit has had it. He probably had it long ago, when he tried to do other stuff related to electric vehicles and no one cared, but having a video taken down twice and the new one follow the same path must have confirmed his choice. The YouTuber decided he could not be stuck with Tesla stuff all the time. Doing so, he’ll probably get rid of “the club” and reinvent himself. This is what the video above is about: Benoit’s cry for independence.
Luckily for those who did not see it before, this new video is back (for now, at least) after being pulled. It also has part of the one that was previously taken down. It was about a Tesla Model S he recovered and decided to auction for cheap after wrapping it. Would that be the reason why it was taken down moments before this text was published? We bet it wasn’t. The beginning of the video, full of the sarcasm Benoit is widely known for, is more like it.
The YouTuber bought a 1969 Austin Mini that is still not running, but he cleaned its carburetor and posted a video on Twitter.
That shows Rich Rebuilds whatever he wants from now on. And the next car to be rebuilt is probably this lovely red Mini. It is called Sebastian, by the way. Cleaning its carburetor was just the first tip Benoit gave that this machine will remain as Sir Alec Issigonis designed it: with a combustion engine.
Benoit says that is because he likes cars, not necessarily only EVs. This is a frequent criticism about Tesla apologists, who would be more into gadgets and technology than into driving. He also did not enjoy the fact that people thought he would put a Zero motorcycle motor in this classic as if all and any electric conversions summed up to that.
For the ones sad to see a YouTuber that was dedicated to EVs get tired of speaking about them, Benoit reminds that people did not want to see EVs in his videos: they wanted to see Teslas. All his videos about other EVs, such as the Spark EV/Domino’s DXP or converted Wrangler did not have the same audience numbers. A similar phenomenon happens at InsideEVs.
That said, it comes as no surprise that Benoit is giving away a lot of EV components that can be used to convert combustion-engined cars into EVs. The message is clear: we’ll see a very different channel from now on.
Benoit promised he’ll keep his EVs. He also said he’ll keep rebuilding stuff. It will just not be only EVs. For what happened with his recent videos, we’d bet he’ll stay away from them for quite a while. Congratulations to all people involved – yes, that’s also sarcasm.
Source: Rich Rebuilds
