Wanted: Citicar/Comutacar
 

Citicar or Comutacar within reasonable distance of Clinton, Connecticut (RI, MA, NY, possibly even NH, VT, PA) Don't want to spend too much, but not looking to lowball.
Email: austin.haughwout@gmail.com

How much is to much? you can find them really cheap like when I paid $180 for the Citi-car I used to own, it took a few days of work to get the electrical all working right and the guy I sold it to for $700 (had about that much in to it when I sold it) spent a bit of time restoring the body but it and sounds like he's ready to paint it! not a lot of cash but a lot of work.
My Commuti-car cost me $3,500 and 5 years later I have over $6,000 in it but I also drive it every day and enjoy the solid state speed controller and modern charger, quite tires, full range of new batteries, but I feel like it was still a bargain!
So my point is, you need to spell out what you want, you are looking to buy a vehicle that is 30 to nearly 38 years old and the price and condition can vary a great deal and with those the price will vary, it took me nearly two years to sell my Citi-car at $700.

Other Makes : Citicar Black Other Makes : Citicar Black | eBay

Other Makes : Commuta Car Commuta Car Other Makes : Commuta Car Commuta Car | eBay

Cars Trucks | eBay

Michigan, California, yeah I already saw those, but I don't want to ship it, and there is no way I'd drive out there.
"My Commuti-car cost me $3,500 and 5 years later I have over $6,000 in it..." what do you mean? Are you saying that your labor would be worth $2,500?
That is out of my price range, but the $700 would've been fine, I would even be willing/able to go upwards of $1,200 for a much better one...

Actually, Ryland it's almost completely painted. Still, I'll have about the $3500 into the project once finished, but it will be pretty nice.

I'd expect to spend about $2500 for a chassis needing batteries and small repairs.

$2,500 for a rolling body? Damn, what's a running, ready for registration one? By that logic $4,000 at least.

many times yes, other times no, it depends on

1. year
2. controls (original or updated)
3. batteries
4. brakes
5. body
6. location
7. luck

i would recommend joining the yahoo c-car group, you may find one but its not 2001 anymore.

I am already a member with some crazy, ridiculous name starting with qwertyuiop. I found a guy , fairly close, I believe it's all or mostly stock, but he uses it once a year for a car show so I know, or am inclined to believe, that it is fully functional, and currently registered. He is willing to sell it, and it probably deserves new electronics, and batteries, but I'll take a bite on it.

top row of the keyboard qwertyuiop, just drag your finger across it. Pretty neat sig.

regards
Mech

Keep in mind that batteries are only good for 3 years or so. At 2500 a citi or commuta would have batteries but range wouldn't be optimal. A "perfect" example would be 3 to 4k easily. What other options do you have for a no gas aluminum tube frame car a with a regular title?

No, I paid $3,500 for mine that I drive every day, it drove when I bought it and had a 10 mile range with the batteries that were in it, I've spent over $2,500 on it replacing tires, wheels, batteries, speed controller, battery cables, battery charger, adding a DC to DC converter and installing LED marker lights, but those are all things that make it more user friendly and help with range and extend battery life, altho I did have to install the solid state speed controller and the battery charger because the stock parts wore out, right, I also had to replace leaf springs, wheel bearing and brake shoes because the parking brake was left on and wore the brake shoes out and the stock contractor speed controls are like dropping the clutch with your gas engine reved up to 3,000 rpm so that lead to a snapped leaf spring, the wheel bearing was annoying but a quick fix once I bought the parts but it wasn't cheap, so I'm closer to $3,500 in repairs/upgrades, not bad for a 31 year old car over the course of 5 years that doesn't use a drop of gasoline and is driven every day.
I ended up selling the Citi-car I had to HondaGuy72 (sorry I didn't get back to you about wiring! I was out of town for a week) and he's finishing the project that I started.
If you really want a C-Car, start telling everyone you know (that is how I bought the Citi-Car) then start posting Want Ads (With a photo of one) on Craigslist and any where there is a free bulletin board to place ads, when I posted on Craigslist I got 6 Emails back telling me about 4 of them that were around and I keep finding out about more of them! after all, there were nearly 7,000 of them built, for all you know there is one parked in the garage next door.

I found one less than an hour away. I believe it's stock, but functional. He I come.
Out of curiosity, what is the youngest C-car owner? I might have to be taking that.

I was 25 when I bought my first c-car and judging from the rest of the owners I've met I think I'm one of the younger ones by 10 to 20 years, I know that in our EV club I'm one of the youngest members.

People ask me from time to time about owning another one "for parts" but the nice thing about these cars is that they are so simple and used so many off the shelf parts that you don't really need used parts! the C-car list is also a great resource for getting help, along with EV Performance

So...15 is the youngest known? Sweet :) I hope it's really in the condition I believe it is. Oh please be good please be good please be good!!!!

Not happy at all :(
He emailed me today and said:
Hi. Austin
Since this car is an antique and has many things that could prevent it fron being safe on the road, I have decided not to sell it. I'm sorry.

I know it would need a looking over, but it's not like he would be liable for anything that might happen...I am not sure, but I feel that there is some other reason...

You could say that about any used car! and of course you, as the owner are responsible for making sure that your car complies with all safety regulations and inspections and that it is being driven in a safe manner.
He might not be interested in selling a somewhat rare car to a 15 year old, when I was trying to sell my Citi-car I told a handful of people that it was not the car for them.

Exactly what I was thinking...but he was fine with the idea of selling it to a 15 year old for over a day...
I have spent my whole life around motorized vehicles from boats to planes to go kart to cars to motorcycles, and I have never crashed. It would be just as likely for me to have an accident as anyone else on this forum being that I have enough experience to be comparable (once you hit a certain point, you don't really get too much better until you take it to another level). I really wish he would just sell it to me...he is soooo close and seems like a really nice guy.

I know a guy who had a handful of c-cars and one of them that he sold ended up with a gas engine being put in it, after that he decided not to sell any more of them to regular gear heads but only to other EV nuts.
You might try talking to him more about your ideas and goals with EV ownership, see if he can be convinced that you would be a good owner of such a rare vehicle, you might also see if there is an EV club in your area.

Well I've been putting a lot into a Razor Scooter... 3kw motor, 200amp esc (purposely did overkill just so it doesn't burn up), 9s (33.3 volt nominal) 12ah of lipos, and playing with gearing I've gotten to just over 65 mph, but it heats up a lot doing that, so it's geared for around 30+mph. I treat everything I have quite well, and I wouldn't convert the car to had. I may make a trailer that would carry a dc generator so I could run the car longer distances, but it would always be an electric car, and driven almost entirely off of electricity rather than gas.

So my father called him yesterday, and got a call back today. :)
His concern was about my/our knowledge with electronics. Well my father talked with him a while, and now he is going to sell it to me! This is my father's knowledge about electronics, "I plug this in the wall and it works." I however know quite a lot, especially considering my age.

Never posted back the results so this is what happened, drove up to the guys house on Thursday, talked to the guy a while, then did some estimating measurements with a ramp and decided that it would not fit in the truck. Gave the guy the money, bill of sale, title, etc, and drove back home. Getting a uhaul trailer on Wednesday (hopefully) and bringing it home.

What kind of truck? the Citi-car just fits inside of a (2002 or so) Ford Ranger F-150 with about 2" to spare on either side.

1998 or 1999 (I forgot which year) GMC Sierra 1500.
It might have fit, but we only did "measuring" with a ramp, and my father didn't want to bother trying to put it in and finding out it didn't fit. :rolleyes: