1960 ELECTRIC SHOPPER (Apr, 1960)
Filed under: Advertisements — @ 12:55 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1960
Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1960
Buy on Ebay
1960 ELECTRIC SHOPPER
• All Electric
• 2 passengers
• 30 miles on single battery charge
• Operates for 1c per day
• Dependable for more than 25 yearsWrite for specifications and prices
ELECTRIC CAR CO. OF CALIFORNIA, INC.
495 Alamitos Ave. Long Beach, Calif.
Yeah, all that other stuff is nice, but the most important thing is that it has fins!! Woohoo!
Comment by Neil Russell — December 26, 2007 @ 8:27 am
This was as close as I could find for any more detail on this neat little electric.
Not sure if it is the same company but it was from Long Beach as far back as 1961, sadly the electric car shown doesn’t have the sleek futuristic design of the one above
http://www.3wheelers.com/electra.html
T
There’s also a link to a surviving (if you can call it that) car at the bottom of the page
Comment by Neil Russell — December 26, 2007 @ 8:32 am
That’s a painting, not a photograph, isn’t it? Did they ever actually build any?
Comment by MC — December 26, 2007 @ 10:46 am
Thirty whole miles?! Boy!
Comment by Blurgle — December 26, 2007 @ 11:40 am
There was a Science Fiction story from the 50s of a distopia where the Proles toiled to be consumers that supported the economy.
Some cube dweller was driving home in his car… a dressed up golf cart.
“Little Black Bag”?
The time frame seems about right.
Comment by jayessell — December 26, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Those are ‘energy fins’, they make the batteries last longer.
Honest.
I love “Little Black Bag”! there was a TV edition (Night Gallery maybe?) too. It has some very interesting points to make, one being that the only people who support and participate in Zero Population Growth are those of above-average IQ and education while the rest keep spitting them out like sunflower seed shells.
The end result being a world where the elite must hide their brains and let the morons think they control what goes on.
(thank goodness nothing like that could happen in real life, eh?)
Comment by Stannous — December 26, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Soundl like “Idiocracy”, except in that, the smart people die out entirely…
Comment by nlpnt — December 26, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Stannous
That’s right, starring Burgess Meredith. (As a present day unemployed and unemployable doctor.)
“The Little Black Bag” and “The Marching Morons” were both by C.M. Kornbluth.
Oops!: Rereading TLBB, no Golf Cart Car. Some other story. Sorry.
Comment by jayessell — December 26, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
There’s a great documentary called Who Killed The Electric Car?. It’s about short production life of the GM EV1 electric car produced in the mid 1990’s. Everyone who leased it (only way it was available)thought it was great. Eventually the cars were all recalled and destroyed. It seems oil companies had little interest in the EV1’s success.
Telsa Motors is creating a high end electric sports car. The price will be in the $95,000 plus range.
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Comment by Mike Brisendine — December 27, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
The problem with electric cars is they tend to cost a lot more than gasoline cars of similar capabilities, and because they’re only good for short trips you never drive them far enough to make up the difference in fuel savings.
Comment by Orv — December 28, 2007 @ 11:27 am
Downtown Long Beach used to be lousy with these slow moving deathtraps (early 1970s).
Invariably, they were being piloted by people old enough to have been Civil War veterans.
What I remember best though is how bad the paint was on all of them.
I do remember seeing both the kind featured in the ad here and the Electras in the link in another comment.
Comment by MALLTHUS — January 7, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
I own the electric shopper, it is now called the mouse rod because it is to small to be a rat rod. However it looks like a rat rod now. Built in 1959, this was a street legal electric car for urban use. Customized in Rat Rod style black suede paint. 50’s pin-striping, 59 cadillac tail-lights, wide whitewall tires, moon disc caps, tuck and roll interior, pistol grip steering, billet grille, custom windshield, coil over rear shocks and an Am Fm Cd radio. It has gone an extensive frame off restoration of the highest workmanship. Every piece has been polished, painted or replaced. Truly a one of a kind. Thanks you Ed Tozer
Comment by Ed Tozer — February 17, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Cute… I want one of those. Not one of the ugly modern electric cars.
Comment by Anne — April 8, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
there was a recent car show, in june 2008, called peggy sue’s cruise in santa rosa ca, and someone had a kustomized one… http://www.rodsandwheels.com/g.....emId=96151
they called it the mouse rod because it was too small to be a rat rod.
looks really clean and kool
Comment by troy vera — June 18, 2008 @ 10:15 am