At a show dominated by muscle cars and land yachts, I was quite shocked to see this red cheese wedge zip by, hardly making a whisper.  Turns out I’ve seen this car on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.  Can you say forty to fifty miles per charge?  No, friend.  This is not the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

Made in Florida by Sebring Vanguard,  the CitiCar is surprisingly capable given the era in which it was built.  Its eight 6-volt batteries can be recharged via a 110 outlet,  with a charging time between 3 and 9 hours.  Although  it can only reach 38 mph, it leaps right off the line — thanks to the fact that it only weighs 1300 lbs!  Appropriately,  the 6 hp motor was supplied by General Electric.  And not unlike another oddity from the same era (the Bricklin SV-1), the CitiCar makes use of exotic plastic processes.  Its Cycolac body, as you might guess, suffers from the same uneven fit and finish that dogs the SV-1.

Still, it was reasonably priced at less than $3,000 (you could spend several hundred more on a new Chevy Nova, for comparison).  And similar to today’s hybrid vehicles, the batteries lasted around six years.  Frankly speaking, I like the way it looks.  It reminds me of some Syd Mead paintings I’ve seen…