I hope that I’m not the only one who was around in 1975? I wasn’t quite at driving age yet but I was close to it, and I was already driving anyway (hey, we lived in the country). I used to literally dream about getting something like this 1975 UrbaCar. These were marketed in magazines and this one is marketed on Craigslist in Amboy, Illinois for $2,500 or best offer.
In 1975, Mechanix Illustrated ran a story on this innovative little commuter in an article titled, “An About-Town Car You Can Build For $1,400.” This was the era of the gas crunch and fuel shortages in the US so there was a big push for small, light, fuel-efficient commuter vehicles and wacky little EVs, like the CitiCar and others. The wedge shape was hot, hot, hot. And, if you’ve ever gone to camp, you know about wedgies.. no wait, that’s a different thing, never mind.
This car appears to be in surprisingly good condition, maybe because of being in storage for the last 40 years. It comes with the original plans to build it, or in this case, to finish building it. From the owner’s description: “Body is made of 3/4″ polyurethane foam; hand cut and covered with 2 layers of fiberglass on each side. (To construct the fiberglass body required 18 gallons of polyester resin and 500 square feet of fiberglass cloth.)”
Good grief, drivers were sure spoiled in those days with their posh interiors! This thing is about as basic as it got, although having four gauges is more than a VW Beetle and some other cars had. You are correct, crash protection in this 650-pound car will rely on how many pillows that you can stuff in and around your person. The seats look comfy, though, don’t they! There’s a bit of a to-do list left to finish this one, including the “gull wing doors, battery, wiring, brake lines, interior, paint.”
This is a 19-hp, one-cylinder, two-stroke snowmobile engine, which they recommend replacing unless you’ll be driving it in the winter or cooler seasons as it can tend to overheat. Believe it or not, a person can still order plans to build your own UrbaCar through Robert Q. Riley Enterprises. Or, for $2,500 or offer you can get this one and in a few weekends you’ll be the envy of your Camaro and Mustang-loving friends! This car has a “centrifugal clutch, dual master brake cylinder, 10 gallon gas tank from a VW bus, ford starter motor for the electric reverse function, 10″ wheels with 10 ply trailer tires, safety glass windows.” I think this would be a super fun project. Have any of you seen an UrbaCar? How would you power this one?
The things I could do with this!
I would use this once a year for Trick or Treating.
Eighteen gallons of polyester resin can do serious damage to your brain cells. Whoever thinks that they could get this car registered to be driven on public roads is living proof.
Depending on local laws you might be able to do just that…
but it has safety glass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Eighteen gallons of polyester resin could also produce 5,682 leisure suits.
Ha!!
Scotty- I can tell by the Ha!! you had a leisure suit. Mine was powder blue.
I concur, missing title (if it even had one) is the kiss of death on that one.
It would be neat if you lived on a farm, but that’s about it.
I think in most states you can get a title for a home built car.
Ya if you lived on a farm ,it would be a great little car to build with your young teen ,could drive around on the farm
Hayabusa swap?
Thats what I was thinking
Forget Kevorkian, hayabusa swap this bad boy and go play in traffic…
I must be about the same age as Scotty. I remember this little car in PM from way back then, I thought it was pretty neat and I still do.
Just can’t imagine driving this thing on I-40 though!
The nice thing is (for your family) if you get in a wreck they save on money for a coffin, cause you’re in 1 already!
Looks like a leftover prop from an early ’80s Sci-Fi movie. I can picture this pulling up and Peter Strauss or George Peppard jumping out with lasers blazing…
Or running around in the Martian tunnels in Total Recall.
Urba-car. In town. Non highway. In many cities, golf cart type vehicles are licensed to drive on streets posted 35mph.
R.I.P – Rest in pieces
Ok, time for a bad pun – styling is bad enough to maybe even make Geoff hack!
There, I had to say it, hope someone gets it. Actually it doesn’t look any worse than so many similar efforts all done about the same time . . . but that still doesn’t mean it was a good idea then or now!
@Brakeservo….I like your post and pun :-) Guess what’s coming to Tampa, Florida next week…..Check out Facebook page for me. Best, Geoff
The Urba Electric had a longer body and maybe a slightly longer wheel base and looks so much better than this one.
The original Urba Car had a gasoline engine and was a different looking body when compared to the Urba Electric. Volkswagen has a concept built by an Italian coach builder in 1970 and it was a wedge design too but the proportions were much better than this. The underpinnings of the VW design was a Beetle chassis, suspension and drivetrain. The intent of the Urba vehicles was to create a simple to build grocery getter or commuter vehicle. The latter three-wheel designs from Riley had better and more appealing body shapes.
Flammable too !! No smoking
Looks like a mini Gremlin to me. I wonder if one of Harbour Freight’s 22 hp V2 would work with this.
Got a wiper and headlights! Almost there in Texas!
Don’t even need thay in the area of Tennessee I’m in now. They will let you license damn near anything.
Looks funny with the flares and wide tires/wheels. Originals on this car were skinny, and they fit under the body. the “roller skate” appearance is silly, even if any serious thought of running this car were to be entertained.
I’m thinking that an electric version was around for a while, is that possible?
I think you are thinking of the Vanguard CitiCar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citicar
I wouldn’t even bother with the gullwing doors. looks better without them. Maybe drop the body over a modified quad and put a roll cage in it. It would be a hoot to drive.
Any Polaris CVT drivetrain off an ATV would drop right in. The 300 single would send this to 50 mph and the 500 twin would probably do 80. But neither of these engines gets good fuel economy.
Remove the rear glass, toss a bag of clubs in, and you have a way cool golf cart!
For $2500 you could easily get a running golf cart, some glass mat and resin then have a complete running machine that would be street legal here in Michigan.
the first smart car
With a dumb buyer.
I am still driving my Urba Electric from Quincy-Riley plans of the 1970’s. It has been upgraded to a 30 HP 3 phase Curtis AC electric motor and controller from EV West. Uses 4 12 volt lithium golf cart batteries. Range is 50 miles. Top speed is 60 MPH. It is used almost daily for local errands and yes, grocery getting. It does well in city and urban traffic. Painted it yellow for visibility.
William, What size is the Tesla battery packs that can be bought in the market? The ones I have seen fit in the luggage space behind the rear seat and the other pack goes where the gasoline tank would have been. The former air-cooled VW Beetle’s range is close to 150 miles with two battery packs and a Tesla motor. If it fits in the space behind the rear seat then it would fit in the space where 4 batteries were supposed to go in the Urba Electric. The other pack might fit between or just in front of the front suspension of the Urba Electric.
The body for the Urba Car and the Urba Electric are not the same and the structure is much different, The Urba Electric used a self constructed MacPherson strut and Honda 600 suspension parts. No sure why the rest of the Honda 600 parts were not used.