Some of the junkyards I’ve been to have a small area in front where occasionally they sell some of the cars. The establishment where I found this thing at had one of the larger for sale areas but one of the worst selections. The same went for the yard itself, it was mostly junk which shouldn’t be a surprise, but…tucked in the weeds between the lot and yard like a diamond in the rough was this little gold nugget.
At first I thought it was a CitiCar, then I realized it was actually a Comuta-Car, which is the renamed version. The CitiCar was produced by Sebring-Vanguard between 1974 and 1977, after which the company was sold to Commuter Vehicles, Inc., who took over the tooling and with some changes including the name revived production.
It’s a little hard to make out, but the bumpers were extended significantly as compared to the original in order to move the batteries from under the seats to within the bumper assemblies and rework the frame to meet safety standards that were changed since the original vehicle was produced. The design holds eight 6V batteries. While apparently the structure did comply with all applicable safety standards in effect at time of production I’m not sure that I’d want eight acid-filled batteries popping if this was crushed between two cars although there is an aluminum cage-like assembly under the plastic skin.
The motor was a 6hp GE unit and this vehicle would run at up to 40mph for up to 40 miles of range. It is a little unclear if it could actually do 40mph for 40 miles though (I doubt it). The wire hubcaps are a nice touch and serve to class the thing up, Tesla tries to do something similar with their “Aero” wheel covers I think but they aren’t gold and thus look worse than no covers at all.
It’s no Tesla inside either but our readers at CC seem to prefer knobs and buttons so we are all set in that regard, there seem to be a fair number of them and at least there’s no touch screen to go bad. I’m sure all this stuff works just fine once you hook the battery charger up to it or maybe insert a couple of AA’s somewhere. That instrument panel has a wood finish under the dust all the way across the cabin. Hey, just like a Tesla Model 3! And the vents are hidden here as well, or at least I can’t see where they are.
Speaking of batteries, this one was under the seat, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, they are supposed to be housed outboard as I mentioned above. That’s perhaps the charging unit to the right of it.
At least there’s a wiper, and the windows are glass sliders. It also apparently had a heater but no A/C. Here in Denver you can do without the A/C if you have to but no heat would be a problem, although in the winter you’d better have a very short commute, perhaps you wouldn’t have time to get cold anyway. (Side note: I had a hard time focusing with that sweet little Honda in the background, but it was in a fenced enclosure so I couldn’t get closer.)
Production finally ended once and for all in 1982 with over 2100 Comuta-Cars and some Comuta-Vans(!) produced. This is in addition to the 2300 or so CitiCars. Every now and again one pops up at a show or on ebay or the like. This one below may actually be for sale too but wasn’t explicitly marked as such. How much? Who knows but you know what they say: “If you gotta ask….”
Related Reading:
The Cohort has provided a Comuta-Car in fine form
Tesla Model S Commuter Car Rental Review
I saw a new CitiCar as a kid, and for years that is what I thought we’d be driving after humans had used up all the gasoline, which was only 20 years away or so. Eventually small cars like the Honda EV Plus and various converted RAV4s and Rangers made electric propulsion look less bleak, but I still was resigned to the future being night-long refueling to power a dinky car for 85 miles at a time, until Tesla happened.
The white car off to the right in the first picture looks like a three-wheeler, maybe a Chinese brand like Fulu? Or is that just an illusion of perspective?
I think it was the Zap or at least very similar, there were a couple over the years that I think used the same body.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-zap-xebra-the-assassination/
Some years back, I saw one of those three-wheeled, four-door cars in the neighborhood near where I work. I would see it every once in a while, and then I stopped seeing it. It was an odd-looking little thing, in a painfully bright green.
Sure looks like a Zap Xebra. Some time ago a local dealer was closing them out for around $6000. Took a test drive in one. Words fail me when it comes to how bad a vehicle this was. I wanted an electric badly, but even I have my standards.
We had the Enfield 8000 around the same time (1973) in the UK, though very few were built. It didn’t look that angular futuristic on the outside, but check out the Cd figure in the article here: https://www.flux-capacitor.co.uk/the-car/
I remember seeing these in magazines and on TV when I was a child – looks like a forerunner of the Smart ForTwo.
So what is it – a Commuta or a Comuta? The ad spells it both ways. I realize that proofreading and engineering/manufacturing quality aren’t necessarily related, but to me, attention to detail is attention to detail, especially when it’s your brand name. And who bought the 4000+ Comuta (or Commuta) and Citi vehicles? My part of California was no stranger to bizarre small cars, but we had more Messerschmidt Kabin Scooters and Isettas, and later Honda 600’s, running around than any of these. I’m also curious about the OEM tires, developed specifically for an electric car. Not much of a market for those, I bet.
The badge on the car has one “m” so I’m going with that. Anything to keep the weight down 🙂 You probably had a bunch of these out in your neck of the woods, but they were probably plugged in most of the time.
“Up to 40 miles… at up to 40 miles per hour…”
Two miles at 5 mph would qualify!
Sorry but I’m more interested in the Z600 and Pontiac Convertible in the background.
That Z600 would be a fun ride, wouldn’t it?
I had a N600 back in the day and at one point worked with a guy that had one of each, that were roadworthy and a parts car or two. So yeah they are a fun little ride.
Yeah, couldn’t help but notice that big Pontiac convertible, either.
Another vote for the Tin Indian…
That vision of the future kinda came true, didn’t it?
Aging Wheels did a video on the Citicar, showing how it was originally operated and its many shortcomings. It’s worth a watch.
Who else sees a face in the first image?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
Pareidolia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep.
(Paraphrased with apologies to the band Buffalo Springfield.)
No future for Debbie Downers, is there?
“What do you mean electric cars were dorky before Tesla???” asks former Comuta car owner.
I’ve been to this junkyard!
So on a dark, cold rainy morning with lights, wipers and heat, the range would be – – – the end of the driveway?
I don’t know why these fascinate me so, but they do. Maybe because I remember when the Citi Car came out.
As a kid working as a lot boy at the local Chevy dealership in 1976, I had the the opportunity to drive a Citicar for about 10 miles in fairly heavy traffic, to and from the state vehicle inspection station. What a scary piece of machinery. It was a ‘74 or ‘75, so it was only a year or so old at the time. I still remember the ozone smell, the clicking of the speed controller (solenoids?), the shaking of the steering wheel every time you hit the brakes, the feeling of utter vulnerability without the ability to get out of your own way, even in slow-ish city traffic. My daily driver 175 Yamaha trail bike felt infinitely safer on the road. Unbelievable to me at the time, it passed the state vehicle inspection.
I drove one of them regularly back in 74-75, owned by an eco-freak friend of mine who owned a bicycle shop. My memories of its performance parallel your recollections. Just the same, I’d love to restore one now. I oft wonder what putting more modern batteries and a controller would accomplish.
I saw a citicar when I was a kid in the early ’80’s. Never seen one since.
This is one of those things which, McNamara style, perfectly answers what someone’s actual needs are versus perceived needs. No one NEEDED an 8 mpg, two ton, v8 powered Thunderbird to go 8 miles to work and 8 miles back. This perfectly addressed what most people used a car most of the time for, while allowing for the Country squire to be used on weekends or to take Bob And Carol and Ted and Alice to the disco.
Why didn’t this car do better, in an era when any idiot fad was embraced uncritically?
Was it the eccentric styling? This is not even a poverty spec car, this is a car which makes the Chevette look sexy and luxurious.
Was it the fact that this car incarnates fear, the diminished expectations, the good days are over and we now can look forward to expensive gas, cold homes, stagflation, baby poop coloured everything, politicians which vacillated between being corrupt and ineffective, environmental collapse, totalitarian governments, and the collapse of American power?
In retrospect, we should all be proud that Americans resisted this stain on the American character and continued expecting and demanding better. If Americans had embraced this thing, we WOULD have ended up with a really dreadful future.
There’s just no way getting around that, unless you’re a starry-eyed idealist who thinks it’s worth the hassle and effort to completely swear off gasoline, the Citicar/Comuta is nothing more than an electric golf-cart with an enclosed body and quasi automobile level creature comforts. I can’t imagine anyone taking one of them out on a real street or (shudder) highway than you would that golf-cart. It certainly seems to have the same level of engineering.
Still, it might have had a remote chance as a slow, short-range urban commuter if the price of early eighties gas had continued its upward trajectory. But, alas, oil prices settled back down to reasonable levels and the few of these early, rudimentary EV efforts that actually got sold quickly disappeared.
Good luck getting lucky when you pick her up in this! Might as well not even bother.
Interesting car. You can use it to drive down to your job at the amusement park where you man the bumper cars. The car is electric, has big bumpers, and is just crying out to get on the rink and bump a few cars. With that top speed you would be the terror of the rink and really teach Newton’s Third Law of Motion.
One of my Middle School teachers (female) bought an EV that I remember looking pretty much like this one, which created quite the stir in the parking lot. I wasn’t so much into cars then, but I also don’t remember it being used through the full school year – it was definitely gone the next year.
My parents actually bought a 74 Citicar in 2005 when gas started getting really expensive. It wasn’t a very smart purchase as my dad wasn’t a car guy and wasn’t prepared to do maintenance and repairs on a 30 year old vehicle for which there were no parts or mechanics available, but I loved it. It was aqua blue. It was not very well assembled and began to fall apart basically the instant we got it home. My dad was able to successfully drive it for about a year after putting in new batteries. It was hard to get up for 40 mph but torque was very good. You needed to stop the turn signal manually as it didn’t snap back to “off”. Eventually he gave it to a friend to use for a college engineering project. Don’t know what happened after that. My parents had no love for it, however they were still in the aqua blue electric game and bought a new aquamarine Prius in 2009. I’d love to see a full write up of these things soon!
It kind of sounds like you might be the most qualified person to do a full write-up, perhaps you or your parents even have pictures of yours? Let us know if you’d be interested…
Wow, I remember when these came out. A local rag ran a story on them, and addressed head-on the fear of getting broadsided by an Impala. It said something like, “Because of its small size, in an accident it will be quite safe because instead of being crushed, it will stay intact and bounce around like a ping-pong ball.”
Awesome, I’ll take two.
This is timely! Last week they gave the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to three scientists who made today’s lithium-ion EV possible, and monstrosities like the lead-acid Comuta-Car obsolete.
Here’s a very good article about how that happened: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/10/a-chemistry-nobel-we-can-use-lithium-ion-batteries/
Consumer Reports tested a Citicar in the mid-70s, and what I remember most from the test is that their “bumper basher” inflicted damage to the body during a simulated 5-mile-per-hour crash. I’m pretty sure that CR reported the incident to NHTSA.
And for the life of me I can’t understand how someone thought it would be a good idea to put the batteries INTO the bumpers of the later Comuta-Car.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this Colorado Auto and Parts? From what I’ve seen online, “one of the worse selections” definitely wouldn’t cover their classic section; I’m pretty sure classic cars are their specialty, so the new car sections would likely be pretty sparse. If you were to ask, I’m sure you could take photos of the classic yard- unless the opening line is a red herring, and there’s a major CC photodump coming . . .
Correct, this is near the entrance to the late model yard, though there are usually a handful of classics to buy there at a given time. The classic cars are on the south end of the street, but in my experience they don’t have regular public access to that section. I asked last time I went and was told to come back the next Saturday, I presume they have an employee surpervise activity for a short window of time, which is understandable but definitely not what you’d expect
I kind of remember these things from back then; they really weren’t on my radar as I wanted a fast car, not one that didn’t use fuel. That was, until gasoline hit about $1.00/gallon…
Even as bad as these seemed to be, they were a step in the evolution to the hybrids and BEVs we have today that are quite livable for many people.
I drove a Citi Car for about 200 feet. A friend of mine worked at a think tank which owned a new one. He allowed several of us to drive it on the empty top floor of a parking garage. I think the construction was cruder than a golf cart.
I did own a 1972 Honda Z600 as a daily driver.
I remember seeing these at the Don Simmons dealership in Athens, PA when I was a kid. I wonder who bought them? My sister I thought they were pretty neat. Couldn’t talk my Dad and Mom into one. They were looking at a Subaru I think (they didn’t buy one).
Ive seen a Citicar in a museum never in the wild and I havent seen this update Comutacar version at all, electric cars have certainly come a long way since these efforts hit the road, I followed a Leaf in stop start crawling traffic on the Auckland motorway recently with the ironic for the circunstances personalised plate I H8 Qs, 20kms of walking pace motoring he could have been in the wrong place.
I remember reading an issue of Car and Driver as a kid, drudging through their usual guff about “Big Cars are gonna die, V-8’s are history, no more gasoline in the future, blah blah blah…” when I came across the article in that issue for this little turd.
THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE! The article practically screamed in my face.
I shuddered. Eight year old me was terrified at the prospect of by the time I got my driver’s license in eight more years (an eternity to a kid) that this pathetic, bug-eyed, ugly pile of dung would be the vehicular standard, and no more gasoline fired V-8’s or manly swagger of a big, stylish American car.
“If this thing is the automotive future, I don’t wanna live to see it!” was my irrational thought that only a knucklehead kid could muster.
Thank God the dystopian future predicted in that issue never materialized. The electric vehicles that eventually became the future are actually quite good, and not the awful, Orwellian nightmare that this pitiful little lump represents.