Today I received a Popular Mechanics magazine from July 1974 with a five page article for the CitiCar. I did a bit more research and found another magazine in the archives. I found a used copy of Popular Science for June 1975 (page 61-63) and made a purchase.
An adjustable angle antenna arrived for the car. I’ve already been successful installing another, so it’s not needed now.
Lots of critical components to replacing the power train are about to arrive by the end of next week.
Chevy Volt Battery Module Charger – Monday
Two Chevy Volt Batteries 48 volts, 50 amp hours – Monday
Two Bluetooth BMS – Monday (same package as batteries)
Replacement Portable EVSE – Saturday
Things to be shipped soon
ZERO J1772 adapter from Tucsan EV – pinged for a status update
New motor from D & D Motor Systems – any day ready to be shipped
As of this morning, I’ve lost 100 pounds this year. I started losing weight so that I could increase range and fit in the CitiCar easier. I couldn’t even get the seat belt to buckle when I first got it.
Too big for a CitiCar seatbelt
Before and after photographs losing 100 pounds.
Ice Cream Run
I really wanted to get some local ice cream yesterday. I enjoy training Teddy with ice cream at the park. It was time for another adventure. Teddy and I arrived downtown to find that main street was blocked off again. I took a detour and parked behind the buildings on Main street.
Band with a harmonica
Teddy and I walked over to the town square and meandered through the park. While we were there, a small band was playing some music on the side of the road. One of the guys had a harmonica. We sat down on the curb and listened for awhile. I kept giving Teddy back scratches and massages.
It was time that we headed over to C & C Frozen Treats for ice cream. In front of the shop, there was a dunking booth with a giant teddy bear setting on the seat, and some pie throwing cut-outs for people to stand behind. The little shop was packed with kids. We waited for people to leave before going inside. The dairy-free choices are often limited, but good. I got a quart of brownie ice cream to take home. Teddy got a scoop of strawberry mango.
It was getting late and I wanted to get home before dark. I decided to stop at the post office on the way back. I hadn’t been there to pick up my mail for roughly eight months. When I opened my PO box, I found that it was packed tight.
Storage Idea
Arriving home, I started working on an idea to utilize the empty space in the CitiCar a bit better. I wanted a place to install some car speakers, a camera, lights, and a few other things. Nothing really seemed to be ideal to do anything.
I can’t get anything around the roll bars to mount things onto. There isn’t anything to clip onto. Nothing is magnetic, and I’ve had trouble getting adhesives to stick. It’s difficult to mount anything.
Mocking up cabinets between the CitiCar frame
I got some inspiration when thinking about how my camping trailers had been built in the past. Almost every spot available is made into cabinets or made available in some clever way for storage.
I made a template of the area between the roll bars in the back. I decided to work on making an area that can have doors, drawers, hooks, and some magnetic metal bits to clamp, affix, or hook things onto. I’m mocking everything out using cardboard for now. I’ll upgrade to the final materials once I’ve got it all worked out.
Other News
I purchased an Alltrax SR-72500 Series Motor Controller (SR72500) and a Albright SW180 48 volt Solenoid Kit with a resistor and diode. I missed a call from D & D Motor Systems regarding the solenoid kit. I called back and left a voice mail and later followed up in an email with details for what I was using it for.
A few magazines arrived.
Hope on Wheels: New Cars for the Gasless Era, Douglas Bartholomew, New York Magazine, May 21, 1979, pages 38 – 42
The Electric Tropica, Frank Markus, Car and Driver, March 1994, pages 95-97
A Shocking Discovery, Pat Foster, Hemmings Classic Car, September 2018, page 38
Another magazine arrived today. The Mother Earth News took a trip to Israel. The found a CitiCar in the Engineering Department at Tel Aviv University. It was being used in a project by Professor Arye Braunstein to run off of solar panels!
For anyone who is familiar with the history of the CitiCar and its downfall, it is known that Consumer Reports often boils a bit of blood for some. The October 1975 issue of Consumer Reports has a fairly bad review when testing both the Elcar 2000 and CitiCar SV-48. Their opinion? “We rate both of them Not Acceptable”.
I’ve gone through a three page article in the November 1976 issue of Motor Trend. This one was simply entitled Sebring CitiCar. It starts off with the unfortunate experience of running out of battery power a mile from home, and the embarrassment of being towed home by a Toyota. The review covers improvements since the past issue in March 1975. He also goes over problems that many CitiCar owners including myself have had.
A magazine had arrived, Car and Driver, November 1977. I found it on Wolfgang’s. Within was a “short take” article entitled Sebring Vanguard Citicar: From the world’s leader in volts wagons. The author, Terry Cook, was listed as a turtle wrangler on the table of contents.
He goes over safety, shifting, handling, and cost savings.
Besides working on the car and ordering parts, I’ve also been doing quite a bit of research. Part of that research is digging up old magazine articles. One of those magazines arrived today from Motor Trend, March 1975. It had an article called “Charge!” written by John Pashdag.
I’ve posted most of the excerpts regarding the CitiCar along with my commentary. Go have a look.
The Chez 