Pat L. is going to get me in trouble one of these days by sending in these tips. This 1975 CitiCar looks like a winner, at least for anyone who likes these cars and I know that some of you do. It can be found here on craigslist in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. The seller is asking $5,500. Thanks for sending in this tip, Pat!
The seller of this CitiCar has included a number of good photos and even some evening photos showing the lights. They mention that this car has all new wiring and also LED taillights which are a fantastic idea on a car this small. Not that a yellow “cheese wedge”, as they call it, isn’t noticeable on the road, but most people these days drive big, hulking SUVs and pickups and a good percentage of those folks are texting in their vehicles as much as everyone else is. I would, without question, add a roof-mounted LED third brake light to this tiny car, or any small car.
Here are the LED taillights in question. This car, in general, looks absolutely fantastic! I have wanted one for years and have never pulled the trigger, yet. Dang you, Pat. The shipping would probably be $1,200-$1,500 even for a car this small so that really makes this one a head-scratcher for me. I’d have $7,000 into a $4,000-$5,000 car which is never a good way to start out vehicle ownership. Fun Fact: the CitiCar was the most prolific electric car made in the US after WWII until the Tesla S recently knocked it off of its perch.
As with the exterior, the interior looks almost like new. There’s enough room behind the seat for groceries but not much else. The CitiCar came first, made by Sebring-Vanguard in Sebring, Florida, and there was a follow-up with a slight upgrade in the Comuta-Car made by Commuter Vehicles, Inc. The seller has really done a lot of work on this car, including all new wiring with an updated solid-state drive system in place of the old relay system, new brakes – including brake cylinders, and brake lines – and even new batteries. The Comuta-Car had the batteries in both front and rear bumpers but the CitiCar has them under the seat.
Speaking of those batteries, here they are, and they’re new. I prefer the more “pure” wedge design of these early CitiCars over the later Comuta-Car with the ungainly/ungodly bumpers, and yellow is my preferred color for one of these for visibility. But, I don’t know if I like the idea of soaking in all of the EMF (electromagnetic field) waves just an inch or two under the seat, and under my seat… Remember two or three decades ago when “they” (whoever that is) said that we’d all have brain cancer from our cell phones? That never happened and maybe it’s the same with EMFs in electric cars, I haven’t heard of a huge wave – no pun intended – of problems with drivers of EVs so maybe it’s just a scare tactic by the oil industry. Naaaaahhhh.. that would never happen… (crickets) In any case, unless you’re commuting every single day for decades in this car you have nothing to fear, other than texting SUV drivers! This really looks like a winner and the price is right on. If it wasn’t for the shipping costs, this one may be heading east.
How much does a nice used golf kart cost? This is worth almost that much. Three grand buys a used Nissan Leaf from a dealer if you don’t know how to negotiate. Is this a special interest vehicle of some sort?
Come on Scotty, it’s a small car. How much trouble can you get into?
I would definitely buy this if I lived in The Villages. But I Live in Buffalo, so I have a Ski-Doo.
Is the 0-60 the same as a Tesla?
Worth 5 bucks
Rancho Santa Margarita , quite possibly the best name for a city ever .
Pat, if he’s married, he can get into all kinds of trouble with his wife. Some ladies out there don’t appreciate the
hobby like my late wife did. She was a
good sport about it, God rest her soul,
and we owned quire a few quirky classics
together. A few AMCs here, a few Citations there, and a really nice ’74 Pinto
wagon to boot. She’d even read the paper and look for our next big “find”in
the local classifieds. Oh sure, they were
just run down, beat up used cars back then, but today they’re all classics. Best
thing was, we worked on ’em together.
Sure hope Mrs. G is like my wife was
when it comes to old cars. RIP sweetie.
With all the cheese stores here in Wisconsin, I would not be surprised to see it end up here. A great promo piece. Fasten a one foot plastic mouse on the roof and your good to go. I agree on the roof mounted LED brake light. Maybe a strobe. I see those on everything driving around now days.
A cheesy little car. Did they have removable round ventilation panels for the Swiss version?. Door handles shaped like mouse traps? Gouda get one…
Come on folks, you can do better than this…
Maybe get Menace Mouse from Western Exterminator on the roof?
Stick my wife in it, tell her she can’t smoke, then we’ll have lots of whine to go with the cheese!!!
You’re right Mike, that would be a great
promotional tool for you cheeseheads
up there! But to make it better suited for
that purpose, it needs to have a swiss
cheese wrap on it to make it more convincing. Wonder why they don’t have
one at Lambo Field yet? It would really
fit in there. And yes, I am a cheesehead
too! I eat as much of it as I can even
though the doctor says I need to cut down on it some, bur do I listen? Hell no,
not yet!
LOL Ken! What do doctors know about cheese anyway? Going to Decatur Dairy today for some fresh curds and cheese. https://decaturdairy.com/ Taking some down to my big brother in Cape Coral next week. If you see a rental car pull in your driveway, don’t shoot its me! Take care, Mike.
If you want to punish your kid ,this could be a great first car for him our her😭😪
The front plate should say I want to die in a head on….
If you think your car has rattles, drive this puppy over a railroad track…
This car gives me a wedgie.
No EMF from the batteries, but hydrogen gas might be an issue, especially when charging. I hope the windows open!