What in the name of sharp cheddar is this thing? Most of you have seen the CitiCar and the follow-up version, the Comuta-Car, many times here. They’re always interesting to check out, at least for me. The mid-1970s was an interesting time in U.S. car history, to say the least, with government regulations coming down the pike and environmental groups getting into the act. This 1976 CitiCar SV-48 was born in that era. Thanks to Tony P. for this tip!
We have much to be thankful for as far as some of the things that came out of that era, and I don’t mean Sansabelt slacks. I mean, cleaner air and not choking to death while being stuck in traffic in the middle of a pack of leaded gas and non-catylitic-converter-equipped vehicles idling for hours. Plus, we all know that as corporations, automakers will never, ever willingly change things to make them better unless they’re forced to. It’s simple business physics: an action, in this case, an automaker, will continue down the same profitability path forever unless acted upon by an equal and opposite reaction. Just as tobacco companies, asbestos companies, and other giant, entrenched industries with billions of dollars to spend on lobbyists and advertising don’t want to quit selling products they know are harmful. I can’t really blame them, as a business owner I wouldn’t want to change either. I’m not saying anything we don’t all know, I’m just saying it out loud because that’s what I do when I’m not watching Andy Griffith.
I like corporations, don’t get me wrong. I’ve run businesses for more years than I’ve worked for someone else, so I’m not out there picketing random companies just because they’re profitable. I like money, but I also like funky little vehicles, and the weirder the better. It doesn’t get much more funky and weird than the CitiCar. One of the most instantly recognizable designs, maybe of all time, they were the brainchild of the Sebring-Vanguard Company out of Sebring, Florida in 1974. This example is said to have spent most of its life in a museum and is driven around the North Shore of Massachusetts quite a bit now, according to the seller.
They were inspired by a golf cart, so millions of angry online commenters will be partially correct when they say, “That’s just a glorified golf cart!!!” Although, in this case, it’s a street-legal one and not just for The Villages, FL, but in the majority of cities. That being said, with a top speed of around 38 MPH, you may not want to drive one in regular city traffic today. The CitiCar, as you can see above, had no permanent side windows in this era, but you could put in the screens. Later Comuta-Cars, the ones with the big battery bumpers, had sliding windows.
This car only weighs 1,250 pounds and the seller is also light on photos, sadly. There is not one interior photo and that’s supremely disappointing. I mean, it’s free on craigslist and the windows are open already, but it is what it is. Ideally, there should be at least two interior photos, a general driver’s side angle, and one with the bench seat pad removed so we can see the batteries and all of the fiddly bits underneath that make this baby go-go-go. It does look like a nice example and if you’re going to drive a 38 MPH car in modern traffic around 5,000-pound SUVs, most of them carelessly wielded by texting drivers, you want one in yellow to stand out as much as you can. The seller has this little gem posted here on craigslist in Groveland, Massachusetts and they’re asking $4,200. Here is the original listing in case someone snaps it up. Any thoughts on this little wedge?
Just over half the price of the Jeep lawnmower, but it won’t cut your lawn!!!
It reminds me of one of those “landing craft” from a sci-fi show of some sort. The kind that always have some malfunction or get stuck in goop to make more drama. I’d drive it around for fun, though.
You mention top speed, but what about range? Also, is it running/operating, or as a museum piece, is it merely decorative?
JDC, you’re right, I should have mentioned the 40-mile range. That’s approximate, as they say… It supposedly works well and the seller uses it all over the Massachusetts North Shore area.
I had one in the 70’s. Ran all over Denver in it, even in the Valley Highway (eight lanes)! Ran great until it didn’t. You could hear the contactors fuse, had to push it to the curb, take the contactors apart and sand with an Emory board. Wait for enough charge to come back to limp home. If a brake was rubbing, the range went from 25 miles to about ten. Wish I had it now.
I used to work for an electric utility that bought some of these for their meter readers back then. I don’t think they saved any, but they should’ve. I’ve seen pictures of them in the headquarters building.
One of my teachers in high school had a red one, bought it new in ‘74. It was quite a conversation piece.
How many clowns does it hold?
Hi Howie, I owe you and any other Howies an apology. Someone called me “Howie”, in what I deemed a derogatory sense, instead of “Howard”. I used “Howie” for many years as a younger man, and some family still call me that, but as an older man, “Howard” just sounds more like an old man than Howie. Hope we’re cool.
Hi Howard, no problem, i am on FB all day so i now have thick skin. That is also my nickname which i do like better than my real “H” name. I think we are about the same age. Have a great day.
This is the car that the guy in Los Altos had to make room for that caused him to sell his 66 Corvette recently.
Used to see a few of these roaming the streets of my hometown in the 70’s and early ’80s. Folks used to call ’em door stoppers or cheese wedges
but the same thing that killed the Henny Kilowatt was the range, or lack
thereof. That’s been the biggest road block for the EV for the last 125 years
or so. Were it mine, I’d at least give it
a fighting chance by updating the batteries and all that clunky old electronic stuff that’s holding this car
back with the latest and greatest goodies and gadgets that at least would make this car somewhat of a
viable alternative to driving my family
sedan all over town for short trips. I
would also mount a solar panel on the roof to trickle charge it as I drove it along with adding some type of
generator that could, a long with the
solar panel, create a perpetual charging unit that would keep it nearly
fully charged at all times. The only thing I haven’t figured out is just how
much parasitic drag would be placed
on the motor while driving it. Once I
figure that out, I’d use it to take myself
to work, to the smoke shop, or maybe
down to the Golden Corral for breakfast on Sunday morning. So much to figure out but my brain is tired and it’s time to get some sleep
before going to work tomorrow morning. When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.
This would be perfect for my frequent trips to the “dispensaries” around town.
So many historical flops, if only the timing was different. American cars of note then: Camaro, Firebird, Mustang, Torino, Cudas, Chevelles, see where I’m going? An electric car, tell it to Edison, pops, we want power. I was at a garage sale a while back, and under a clod of junk, I recognized the shape, it’s a Citi-Car. The lady said I was the only one who recognized it, and was not for sale.
Fast forward to today, vehicles like Crosley, King Midget, the various EVs that surfaced, could very well be applied today, but people aren’t that smart today to think that something like this may have existed 50 years ago. EVs aren’t practical in my situation, and could actually benefit from something like that 3 wheeler a while back, but EVs, I figure, will stay in a city arena, and gas for all other transport,,,unless we run out, and then no need to panic, simply time to summon that “miracle chunk” of energy, developed by scientists in the early 60s, that we won’t go into here.
There was a Ford dealer out in the sticks of NE Ohio that was trying to sell these things, when they came out. They sat there for quite some time, then went away. I guess the farmer’s weren’t impressed. These were infected by the same things that haunted every EV that came down the pike, back then. Weird looking, and a lack of range.
Anyone remember the “Dale” car? Man, that had all the makings of a Hollywood hack. Fooled them all, she( he) did,,,the car itself was another flop.
WADR, this wedge chunk of Cheese has the distinct SMELL of Limburger ! PeeYoo! Don’t think even folks in Wisconsin would want anything to do with it! Way Too Cheesey! 😁 🤣 😂
I like these old beasts. If you squint at the side profile, you can almost make out a Smart Car. Pretty limited in its use, I think – I wouldn’t be comfortable driving it in a busy, aggressive city – but if you used in a slow-paced, small town, to run downtown & back, it would be fine & cheap. I think these days, you’d have to rationalize it against, say, a modern electric cargo trike.
I like that the design appears to put function over form – you wouldn’t own this for it’s aesthetics LOL. I’ve often thought that a cheap vehicle should have flat panels, so that if one needed to be replaced in the future, it could be replaced with a sheet of whatever is handy at the moment.
This is a deal- my wife paid more than they’re asking for her E-bike.
I have a 1980 Comuta car. The local EV club had me bring down to the unveiling of the Cybertruck. Lots of comments, good and bad.
Our local “buy here, pay here” used car dealer, has a CyberTruck on his lot already. The guy usually deals in high mileage foreign junk, with a few classic American cars thrown in. Is the bloom off the rose?
This car NEEDS to find a Green Bay Packers fan to own it
Good Luck! Packers Fans couldn’t fit inside. Besides they’d want their QUARTER BACK 🙄. Just Another Cheese WIZ! 😉 😜
Good Luck with that! 😉 Packers fans wouldn’t give a nickel for this Chunky Cheese. And would want a QUARTER BACK before taking a Cheese WIZ! 🧀 😁 🤣
Scotty: I think you are being overly harsh on corporate manufacturers.
Ford made safety a central feature of its 1956 models with the “Lifeguard” campaign. Seat belts were a $9 option, and breakaway rear-view mirrors, reinforced door locks, padded dashboards, and steering wheels with recessed hubs were also available. What… a $9 option? (For what it is worth, Volvo made the three-point harness available in the 544.)
So, while Ford made seat belts available at least twelve years before the Feds mandated them, it appears that it was the public that was reluctant to use them
According to AAA, as recently as the late 1970s and early 1980s, seatbelt use was only between 11% and 14%. Seatbelt use grew the most between 1984 to 1987, when 29 states adopted mandatory seat belt laws.
When were hydraulic brakes mandated? How about disc brakes? Head rests?
You’re 100% right, Shelbydude! Not to mention, coming out with airbags way before they were required and many, many other safety features. Thanks for knocking me back to reality and, as always, for being polite.
I tried to restore one of these a few years ago. Biggest lesson learned…PARTS DO NOT EXIST. You will need to reengineer and build anything you need.
Looks like the Cybertruck had a yellow pup.
I started putting lap belts in my cars in 1961.
Just might be, Big C. Sis and I saw one on a used car lot here in Melbourne recently. It stayed on the
lot about a week and then it was gone. We’ve seen several of them on
our roads here of late and ya’ gotta
wonder just how are these folks able
to buy an expensive rig like that. I can
think of better ways to spend $100K
like putting a huge down payment on
s house. Yes friends, Florida is joining California and New York when
it comes to housing prices. A 3 bed
2 bath home will set you back at least
$500K at least. The girls and I are
seriously considering leaving Florida
for Alabama where prices are much
lower. Sure it gets cold there, but you
can find some home bargains if you look. And barn finds? They’re scattered all over those mountains!
When we lived on Sand Mountain, I
found at least 20 to 50 cars that could’ve been bought for $2K or under– and most all of them ran! It’s
not unusual to see someone daily
driving a 40 or 50 year old car up there. I even saw a guy driving a
Subaru Sombar pickup truck as I came out of the Piggly Wiggly on
Highway 168. As for the buy here/
pay heres, they’re pretty much gone
here in Florida after the Department of consumer affairs made them clean up their act. Every time I see a Cyber
Truck, it reminds me of how much they look like a rolling trash can.