Sebring cars for sale
About these listings
Every Sebring listed on MotorLoop.
Overview
Sebring-Vanguard built the CitiCar, a small electric commuter car made in Florida between 1974 and 1977. It managed a little over 30 mph and a dependable 40 miles of range in warm weather, and it sold for just under 3,000 dollars — less than most compact petrol cars of the day.
It is a far more significant car than its wedge-shaped bodywork suggests. Around 2,300 were built, and the CitiCar held the record as America’s best-selling electric vehicle until the Nissan Leaf arrived in 2011.
History
Robert Beaumont, a former Chevrolet dealer in central Florida, set up Sebring-Vanguard in 1974, and the timing was no accident — the company was a direct response to the fuel crisis of the mid-1970s. By 1975 Sebring-Vanguard was the sixth largest car manufacturer in the United States, a statistic that says as much about how small the American industry’s tail was as about the CitiCar’s success.
The company closed in 1977, with most assets sold to Frank Flower, who formed Commuter Vehicles Inc. Beaumont returned to the idea two decades later with the Renaissance Tropica.
Buying a CitiCar
These are historically interesting rather than practically useful, and they should be bought on that basis. The lead-acid battery pack is a consumable that will almost certainly need replacing, and the motor and controller are 1970s technology that a modern electric-vehicle specialist may not be familiar with.
In Australia a CitiCar has been imported and needs the corresponding approval paperwork. Given the top speed, check what roads it can legally be used on in your state before you buy.