This Little Weirdo 1960s Electric Grocery-Getter With A 30 Mile Range Cost Only A Penny A Day To Run

A little electric car you don't need a license to legally drive isn't a new concept at all, and modern cars like the Citroen Ami and Fiat Topolino carry on a proud tradition. As early as the 1930s, California was a hot bed for little electric runabouts, helping the elderly and drunk get about town, as one journalist put it. The little weirdo pictured above is one of them, known as the Electric Shopper.

This little three-wheeled machine began life essentially as a copy of another three-wheeled electric vehicle made at the time called the Autoette. Several individuals who worked on the Autoette and other electric car companies left to form The Electric Car Company of California in 1951. Its first "pleasure cars" were unsurprisingly styled after the Autoette. But the Electric Car Company's car came to form in 1960 with its new model, the Electric Shopper, model FG-75, which took on its own look under the guise of its new president, Byron T. Cline.

The Electric Shopper featured details similar to other, largers cars on the road in the 1960s: long tail fins, a retro-looking (faux) grille and vinyl seats. The little electric motor was rated for 30 miles on a single charge, costing only a penny a day to run, while delivering 1.5 horsepower and a potential top speed of 18 mph. It had enough room for two passengers, as well as a little trunk for your groceries, and steered via a tiller. Buyers could get on with a steel body, listed at around $750, or fiberglass at $945. Today those prices would be closer to $8404 and $10589 respectively.

According to the company, "The new look offered 'a low, sweeping silhouette of the distinctive new big cars. Silent while in motion, yet strong in construction, the same Electric Shopper dependability you have enjoyed for more than 25 years." But the company didn't even last 25 years — it was consolidated by one of its original owners into Electric Car Sales & Service, and the Electric Shopper died in the transaction.

These electrified runabouts were technically street-legal in California at the time thanks to fairly loose regulations. Those who were unlicensed were able to mull them about on the sidewalks rather than on roads, which led to a mixed public reception.

Herman Glotz, a man who happened to frequent the "letter to the editor" of the Santa Barbara News-Press in the late '50s sent a note published in 1958 on his discourse surrounding these machines. Glotz says "Every year I pay an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege of driving an automobile, and I do not wish to thave the privilege curtailed by a pack of truculent old ladies and their "battery-mobiles" or whatever the devil they're called."

A couple of ladies clapped back at him the following week, exclaiming the helpful nature of these electric mobiles, especially for the disabled. One Primrose Newman painted for Glotz a grim picture of an individual who with a broken hip, lives on $75 a month and is forced to walk on their pained hip six blocks to get groceries. Something like the Electric Shopper could provide relief for an individual in those circumstances. Another, Margaret Guildford, who had suffered a hip fracture in 1949, admitted she had owned an Electric Shopper for 18 months and was "...grateful and happy I can get around so comfortably and not have to rely on the poor bus service in this town."

The folks who bought these new were grateful to have them, and you, too could know that gratitude via this 1961 Electric Shopper for sale on Craigslist. Even the owner didn't known much about this little electric runabout. Not many of them seem to exist, especially in drivable condition. But the few found floating about on social under their own power gives one hope. At least one of these era Electric Shoppers is housed at the Electric Vehicle Museum located on Route 66. One of them was also loaned by the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation for an exhibit for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The Craigslist car is original outside of your common maintenance items like tires and bulbs. The owner told Jalopnik that prior to his acquisition of the car, it had undergone a full restoration with a close-to-match paint job, reupholstered seat, and a rebuild on its electric motor, which still consists of a lead-acid battery. The prior owner spent years looking for the original turn signals to ensure it was a complete and accurate restoration. It is registered for the street in Michigan as a low-speed electric vehicle.

In a time where gas prices are going up at an alarming rate, perhaps the return of these electric runabouts can be a lifesaver for those in need for easy transportation. The Topolino, as expensive as it is, might not be as practical, but Changli-like vehicles, and relics like this Electric Shopper could potentially be a more viable option in the interim. Or at least something fun to run about in.