Modern Micro Car: 2001 Corbin Sparrow
Have you been thinking about getting an electric car (most Barn Finds readers probably haven’t)? If so, why get a Tesla or some other highly touted vehicle when you could get a Corbin Sparrow? If you like isolation when driving, this would be perfect because it only has seating for one. In nearly new condition with only 642 miles, this 2001 Corbin Sparrow has spent most of its life in a microcar museum and is ready for someone else to have fun with it!
Corbin Motors built these interesting early EVs from 1999 to 2003 and then Myers Motors from 2005 to 2012. The Sparrow has three wheels and falls into the “personal electric vehicle” category or PEV. They all came with a 20-KW continuous output AC electric motor with a range as high as 40 miles and a top speed of 70 (how stable would it be with a truck passing you on I95?). Its consumption of electricity equates to 162 mpg in a gasoline-powered vehicle. The Sparrow’s 15 minutes of fame came in the Austin Powers flick, Goldmember.
When new, these little oddities would set you back close to $30,000. We’re told that you can upgrade the batteries to lithium (at what cost?) and increase the range by up to 50%, but the seller says all the batteries have just been changed on this one, so wait until next time. The wheelbase is a scant 72 inches, the length 96 inches, and the curb weight is but 1,350, not much more than a really heavy motorcycle.
This Sparrow’s battery pack is dated December 2023, so it has loads of life left. As does the little car with so few miles. It currently lives with at least three other Sparrows (does that constitute a flock?) in Tickfaw, Louisiana. If you’re looking for something to mystify your friends with and have the budget for it, this interesting oddball is available here on eBay. The current bid is $9,901 but the reserve has yet to be tickled.
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Comments
9 grand is 2017ish Nissan Leaf money and that’s much more of a real car in every possible way, so this is for hardcore EV historians and Austin Powers fans only.
True. But this is Barn Finds, not Carvana.
If I had “stupid money” I’d buy it and do a Gold Member tribute car. Yah baby, smoke and a pancake.
PLEASE Sparrow me even seeing this? Car? 🤮 IMO it could only be a Spare O in the trunk of a LAND YACHT! Even then it won’t be Electrofying! 😉
That color is “Shag a delic”!
I could put one in the trunk of my 65 Cadillac for when I ran out of gas.
Grooooooovy man.
And only 13 batteries!!
I saw these at Daytona Bike Week years ago and never heard of them again,until now. I think I will just wait and see if I ever hear about them again.
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,,,,,oh, mercy, wiping tear, I can only hope, I’m in the cold, cold ground when folks are relegated to something like this. At almost 70, that probably won’t happen, I think we are years away from that, but rest assured, this will happen. I’m not sure what will power these, these things, all I know, is the joy of driving will clearly be dead, and mere transportation will replace it. We’re almost there now. Many countries have accepted that fact long ago, but it will be a tough sell for Americans, I kid you not. Americans, as a rule, don’t like things they are used to, away. Taking away our cherished dually pickups would lead to anarchy of biblical proportions. Mass transit will be the only viable alternative to moving people once gas runs out. If modern usage says anything, that may be a while.
Now a 1947 Vintage Rolls Canardly (Roll down one hill and Can ardly get up the next) per my instructions, I will have my cremains driven to my grave in my 2007 Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited. No way will I take my last ride in a glorified truck masquerading as a HEARSE! 😉 Remember when LIFE was a GAS? 🤣
I have already stipulated that my cremains are to be spread at my favorite Pick and Pull, half in the “Imports” section and half in the “Trucks and Vans” section. While my wife thinks that I am crazy, she has agreed to honor my request. What car nut wouldn’t want to spend whatever comes next (if anything) in a junk yard?
Recall a cartoon with a sad looking man in front of The Pearly Gates saying No Cars? St. PETER, No Cars is NOT my idea of Heaven! 😉 Good Morning Land Yacht lovers. Hopefully all is well?
yestadee I put my typical Sat 1/2 day in. A dodge (I think) p/u – emergency break shoes only. It took a lill more than that (cable work too) to get it right BUT…
the thing was a total repro of the 60s Italian bombs I cut my teeth on. Coil springs all round or macphersons up frnt (didnt look close), full frame, panhrd bar and IRS, 4 discs, dual exh w/resonators.
’S weird in my life but also acceptable as is the development. Chit! take look at the steer linkage on the sm rickety 1 cyl cars 100 yrs ago:
tell me THAT’s safe @ a few mi p/hr…?
That’s a lot of money for a one person car with no left side door or rear window. Someone tell me what you do if you hit a corner too fast and wind up laying on the right side, a possibility with a 3 wheel car.
Kick out the front window?
If I had to drive it I would get a custom vanity plate that reads “COT-DED”
Okay, a show of hands from all who have actually been driving one? I had been driving both a Messerschmitt and a Fuldamobil so I felt like a 3-wheeler veteran when I got to drive one of these.
There are some errors both in the Ebay listing and in the write-up here. I don’t think Corbin ever used AC motors, they had brushed DC motors and rather finicky DC motor controllers. No idea why the seller writes about 256 V – presumably a typo? It has a 144V system (12 x 12V) and the Zivan charger will push that up to 156V at full charge. If you were to convert it for a 96V Li-Ion pack one effect is that you will limit the top speed to 96/144 of what it previously did unless you also change the motor and controller.
In 2005 the company I work for got tasked by Myers Motors to upgrade this “car” to an 84V AC drive system. It greatly improved efficiency, acceleration and regenerative braking and I got the opportunity to test it. First impressions were that the build quality was horrible. Was the door open or closed? Is the steering column really fastened? Will this button break if I touch it? Going down a steep hill I quickly found that the brakes were almost nonexistent except for the regen braking from the rear wheel which made it pretty squirrely. And then I headed out on the interstate to be dicing with the 18-wheelers…
It didn’t take much brilliance to see that very few buyers would shell out $25k+ for something that sketchy. We closed the project and Myers Motors had to go elsewhere for parts. Not a business decision we ended up regretting…
Spare me all the petroleum industry BS. I’ve never understood all the the some folks spew over someone else’s choice of transportation.
These have one of my favorite nick names, Pizza Butt! (They built a hatchback variant specifically for Domino’s Pizza.) I’m glad Corbin’s vision of the future of transportation never came to be! In yellow they look like a nose. In red they look like a human organ in one of those take apart people used in medical classes.
Drove one once. Off the line, pretty quick. Handled quite well considering it’s shape.
Looking at the 1964 GM Runabout, no one back then would predict the future would look like this thing – or for that matter, like any other current vehicle out there now.
Bananna
That sound you hear is me laughing.
There’s no room to put my golf bag.
Is it save to drive on city sidewalks?
They should make these mandatory for all Californians. Like baby steps, up to their Tesla. Since they seem to think this is their future.
I can’t wait for that future. Have you ever looked for a mountain range, but couldn’t see it because of air pollution? I have. However, there will never be a Tesla (🤮) in my future.
Nope. But I don’t live in a basin, with a couple million people. They’ve been whining about this since the 70’s.
@big c
Perhaps that’s why none of the cool bands come to your town. 😉
$15K when new, in 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/21/automobiles/behind-the-wheel-corbin-sparrow-electric-flight-of-fancy-for-the-empty-nester.html
What’s with the golf ball dimpled fenders? Does that help with aerodynamics to make it fly farther?
At least it has a custom steering wheel.
@SR
And those that do live in cities are f*cked anyway because city, state and federal governments can’t get their act together enough to come up with a decent 24 hour service.
@John Eder
I like the way you think.
If I was to ever be cremated (which I wont) being scattered in a junk yard would be my Afterlife dream.
I’ve already stipulated for a glass coffin and a mausoleum. Don’t want to be put in the ground either.
@Frog
Thoughts?
Thanks Frog for bringing back fond memories of My City By The Bay (San Francisco). When I was younger, there was a restaurant (Twin Peaks) at the intersection of Market Street and Castro with large glass windows. It was largely filled with older folks watching the Parade 😉 pass by. A friend and resident of SFO told me it was frequently referred to as The Glass Coffin. I didn’t find it funny, but now if I were there, I’d probably be in THAT Glass Coffin. But as stated, I plan to go out in one last blast 🎆 of glory!
We folks on the South Shore of the Lake in New Orleans always knew Tickfawinians were strange. Strange enough to have three of these. All kidding aside it looks interesting as long as you don’t get in a crash but you would not likely have to worry about the outcome of such an unfortitous event. If it were $1500 or less if would be interesting!
Recall a cartoon with a sad looking man in front of The early Gates saying No Cars? St. PETER, No Cars is NOT my idea of Heaven! 😉 Good Morning Land Yacht lovers. Hopefully all is well?
near 10 yrs of visits (?) has been fun as each yr 1 – 4 cars show I’ve never seen. Here’s #2 or 3 for this yr.
This one’s a mid/late 50s version “of what cars will look like in 1980 & beyond”. No, not even close. Doesnt have to B either. Tesla is our response to the Prius
(1’n only success in EV?). AND, again,
“No, doesnt have to”. I’m glad we got one but let’s show a lill better lines? And 39K$ in still near 10K too much (even the 30K is close to 500$ mo).
These cars are a cautionary tale. Corbin failed to sell more than half the cars they built. The public simply didn’t want them.
A couple years ago, the exact same founders created the Electramecca Solo. Again, it was a single-seat three wheeler with with a hatch for pizza deliveries. And again the public didn’t want it.