1975 Sebring Vanguard Electric Citicar

1975 Other Makes Description

The CitiCar was an electric car produced between 1974 and 1977 by a U.S. company called Sebring-Vanguard, Inc., based in Sebring, Florida. It was the first attempt at producing a modern-day electric car until the arrival of Tesla. It was developed as an urban, people mover and was sold through Harley Davidson golf cart dealerships, among others. Its exterior design lives on in the Norwegian Kewet.

This car is chassis number 1267. CitiCar frame numbers are believed to start at 1001 and end around 3000.Due to the year and chassis number,this carwas most likely produced as a 36V car but upgraded to a 48V version with the 3.5 HP motor.

I am assisting my 95 year old father-in-law in selling the car. He bought it in 2004 as the third owner. The previous owner used the car in parades only. My father in law had the brakes rebuilt, blasted and powder coated the wheels and installed 8 new batteries. He drove it once, about 5 miles, and parked it in his garage around 2008. (His wife would not ride in the car). Top speed is listed as around 28 mph with a range of 40 to 50 miles.

The body is ABS Cyclolac and the frame is rectangular and tubular aluminum so no rust. The vinyl top and windows need cleaning. There is minor damage to the front left fender due to a slow motion bump with a garage wall. I could not get all of the tubeless tires to seal on the car - hat’s why the pictures show the car on dollies. All the tires have lots of tread; there is one spare. The tires will most likely have to be removed to be inflated. All the wheels rotate freely.

It has four wheels brakes – disc in the front, drum in the rear. The car has an on-board charger. The batteries are currently discharged but in good shape.

Two different owner’s manuals are included along with an original January11, 1975 Autoweek that has a feature article about the Citicar.