No Insane Mode: 1980 Comuta-Car
My prediction for a surge in vintage EV values hasn’t quite panned out yet (crickets), but cars like this 1980 Comuta-Car are still super interesting to see, in my opinion. This little edgy wedge can be found here on Craigslist in East Wenatchee, Washington, about as close to the middle of the state as you can get. The seller doesn’t really know too much about this car but they’re asking $1,850 or best offer for it. Thanks to Wyatt M-K for sending in this great tip!
We all know what a Dodge Challenger and a Ford Mustang look like, cars like this tiny battery-powered wedge give a nice balance in life. If we eat bacon and chocolate every single day we’d soon get tired of it. Wait, scratch that. Bad example. Most of you have seen the Comuta-Car and its predecessor, the CityCar. The seller refers to this as a CityCar but it’s clearly a Comuta-Car by the huge battery-filled bumpers both front and rear. I like the look of the CityCar much better with its small bumpers (plastic-covered 2×4, basically) but it didn’t have quite the oomph of the Comuta-Car with extra battery storage in the bumpers.
The Comuta-Car came after the earlier CitiCar which was made by the Sebring-Vanguard, Inc. in Sebring, Florida, a state that knows a thing or two about golf carts. The company stopped production in 1977. In 1979, a company called Commuter Vehicles bought the rights to produce the arguably better Comuta-Car which stayed in production until 1982. A fun fact about the CityCar and Comuta-Car, with almost 4,500 of them being made in America, they were the most popular battery-powered vehicles after WWII to be made here before Tesla grabbed that title recently. The Comuta-Car doesn’t have an Insane Mode like some Teslas do, as seen in this YouTube video, but a person can dream.
There are no engine photos, or I should say, motor photos and/or battery compartment photos, and this is it for interior photos. It does look complete and in good condition here, though. The seller apparently just got this Comuta-Car recently, they say that this is “a project car looks like the car is complete but I don’t know nothing about electric cars”. The bumpers look a little cracked up and you’ll have to figure out how to reskin those, and then there’s the electric portion that’s a big wild card. Are any of you into oddball vintage EVs?
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Comments
I’ve always wanted a CitiCar, but one is a different model. Would get it if it was a CitiCar.
I’m guessing that with modern battery technology the next owner could ditch the ‘battery’ bumpers. Looks like a fun project for someone…
It doesn’t really turn my crank but go back a hundred years and show me a good Baker or Detroit Electric and you have my attention. It is going to take a lot of convincing to get me to change my attitude. On a more positive note: I really do appreciate the modern designers/builders because they go against the odds and build it anyway. And that’s what this country is all about…
Now you’re talkin’, either of those cars would be a great piece to have for sure. A good friend of mine lived in an old mansion (before they were all bought up the restored) in the town that I grew up in and the garage was made for a Detroit Electric, along with a period charger and the whole thing. I’m kicking myself for not taking photos of that back in the early-1980s.
Briggs Cunningham had a Baker or Columbia electric car (I’m having a Senior Moment and can’t remember which) that had come off his family’s estate. It was used as transport around the property; I was told that that was very commonplace over a century ago.
A number of those early electric cars were sold to women, as the vehicles were considered easier to operate, compared to contemporary gasoline or steam-powered machinery,.
Rolli on Counting Cars restored one of these.
Rolli on Counting Cars restored one of these.
If this little cars a zapping
Don’t come a rapping
That thing is just so 70’s that I wanted to make the conversion van thing work with it.
There was a large fellow (with an equal-sized sense of humor, evidently) who used to have a yellow one of these lettered as “The Big Cheese”, off of Main Street in Hyannis, MA. Used to see him driving it all the time, and I have photos somewhere. This is 20+ years ago so paper photos would have to do once I locate them.
Needs an LS swap.
It would fall apart above 50 mph
Boy, I must be living right! Two EVs in
one week! If it were closer, I’d be trying
to convince my MIL to let me buy it. As
I stated earlier this week, having one of
these would give me an emormous
amount of independence. As you folks
know, I have a sight impairment that has
kept me from driving a motor vehicle
my entire life. I can only imagine what
it might be like to take myself anywhere
I like without having to ask someone for
a ride every time I want to go somewhere.
Here in Florida, vehicles like these don’t
require a driver’s license to operate. And
since we have no public transit that comes to our neighborhood, this little
wonder would get a real workout if I
owned it! Just add lithium-ion bsttery
packs, slap some flexible solar panels
on the body for aid of changing, and I’d be
out and about just like the rest of you.
Of course, I’d have to practice driving,
but I think I can do it. If you can, I can too! Keep ’em coming folks! I really
enjoy this site!
Stay tuned, Kenneth!
One of these was featured in the early-2000s series “Grounded for Life”.
Eddie was trying for a getaway in this car, and his girlfriend ran after him, caught the car with her hands, and stopped it!
I don’t see the point. Inferior technology from the 80s is never a good thing. Battery storage has come so far in the last few years. Save your money for the real thing.
Does Amazon stock replacement batteries ? 🤣
I got a real ch……out of this. No; I won’t say it.
Years ago, I traded a Doodlebug for a street legal electric car; basically a golf cart. I couldn’t afford to replace the dead batteries so traded it for something else.