Nicest One Left? 1981 Comuta-Car
A Hemi Cuda it ain’t, but I think these tiny EV wedge cars are incredibly fascinating and this may be the nicest one that I have ever seen. This 1981 Comuta-Car is located in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania and the seller has it listed here on eBay. There is a $7,500 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer and I don’t know if that would even cover the seller’s restoration costs.
We have seen quite a few Comuta-Cars here on Barn Finds and a few more of their predecessor, or ancestor, the CitiCar which is a much more pure design, not having the giant battery-filled bumpers as the Comuta-Car does. The Comuta-Car followed the CitiCar with additional frame strength to meet the DOT standards of the day. That’s hard to believe now, but please tell me that everyone knows that these cars were never meant to be driven on the highway or freeway?
This example looks pretty much like it just rolled off of the factory assembly line. It’s not unusual to see the battery bumper covers being either missing and replaced with a homemade material, or the originals being cracked or just generally looking junky. This car has both battery compartment covers and they both look like new. I have seen CitiCars and Comuta-Cars with LED lights which would help conserve power and make them more visible.
The seller has done an incredible job of restoring this example, it sounds and looks like it’s had a full restoration. They have added new batteries, there’s a new Curtis controller, a new motor, and contactors, the brakes have been gone through. It has had the battery tubs restored, new tires and hub caps, a new rear window seal, and much more. The interior looks great and they even added an FM radio.
This is the new motor which, yes, is also used in golf carts and that’s what usually comes up when these vintage EVs are shown here. They are somewhat similar to golf carts but are street legal and should have around a 40-mile range. Just don’t drive them on the highway or freeway… Are there any fans of vintage EVs out there?
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Comments
Scotty, I’m really charged up about this
car! I used to see several of these roaming around my hometown when I
was younger. Like you, I’ve always been
interested in EVs and follow them on
YouTube when I can. Just add a solar
panel to the roof, and you could charge
it while you drive it. The only physical
changes that I’d make to it other than
the solar panel would be to install a set
of lithium ion battery packs for faster
charging and longer range. Would be
a great errand runner as the Walmart is
just half a mile from our house. Kudos
to the seller and good luck on your sale.
I owned a CitiCar in Denver, the same color. I drove it all over, including on the ten-lane Valley Highway (I-25). Ran batteries down a lot; you could hear the contactors sizzle as they melted- time to push to curb, get file out and clean contactors, hope to get enough juice regenerating in the batteries to get to an outlet to charge. It would screech the tires in 1st and 2nd. Fun – wish I still had it.
Actually, I’d think that the solar panel won’t do much on that small roof and Li-Ion batteries will be prohibitively expensive. But if you upgraded to a modern brushless permanent magnet motor and inverter you will likely get 25-30% more range and better performance. But even that would be 2 grand and given the limited use something like this will see it’s still hard to justify those kind of costs.
EVs are certainly growing on me – the idea of “fueling up” your own vehicle, from any excess power produced by one’s solar/wind generation, sounds like a great idea. I tink storage density has to improve, yet, though.
Can’t say I “get” this car though. I’d call it a grocery-getter and part-runner, but there really isn’t any storage capacity. The range is short enough, that you can do on a bicycle what this can do with a battery, and do it during the same kinda season(s).
Maybe a rainy-day work commuter, for those who cannot get wet? Or just something to tool around in, on a pleasant day, run to the beach or something -shrug-. I guess it was a good (re)start to EVs, maybe some day when a battery (for it) can hold enough power to give this big, big range, it’ll be a collectible?
These are all so fascinating. To think there was a time not that long ago when good old “Yankee ingenuity” attempted to solve problems (gas crises of the 1970’s and looking to alternatives) rather than just grumble about problems. Glad to see this one preserved to teach HISTORY first hand!
I used to think that electric vehicles were a 70 s thing, but I was wrong. Electric cars were around 100 yrs ago.
Cute little collectable, great for mall cops LOL.
What a great find. This is an amazing example and perhaps collectible, eventually. One shouldn’t spend any money trying to make it more practical, though. For practical purposes, one can buy something like a used Nissan Leaf for less money that has more range, can be driven on the freeway and has all the safety and creature comforts like AC and heating.
That’s a nice vehicle but do you have so much money that you would throw $7500 at this thing?
Anyone see Roli on Count’s Kustoms? He actually bought a used, beat-up one of these Commuta Cars and fixed it up with a custom paint job. Pretty funny segment.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BibR_9XIYAATzLV.jpg
I had a new one of these for about 2 weeks, It was the earlier Citicar. Made them take it back because the motor kept overheating on the PA hills. Was great on flat roads. Was fun but not anything great.
Death trap. No thanks.
I bought a 1980 Comutacar last Fall.
It’s in great shape as well.
I have yet to have another pull up beside me.
This is not a nice looking car. Not sure what the fuss is about…I do like the battery idea but the styling is not very attractive….
I had an early Citicar, Red, with out those “windows” in the doors, it had see through plastic side curtains on a metal frame that you could remove and put behind the seat. I thought the side curtains were better than the solid plastic sliding type… yes they open but badly restrict the air flow in the heat of the summer. The earlier cars had the batteries under the seat…I welded a screw driver to the frame once when I dropped it across the battery terminal and the frame. It also “killed” that battery. Really enjoyed the car, got me to work every day for two years, only about a mile and a half from home so I only charged it about once a week. When I was negligent and let it run down on the road, I just moved to the shoulder and waited 10 or so min. for the bat.s to build up enough power to move another 50 or 100 yards. I always got home.