AutoPuzzles - The Internet's Museum of Rare Cars!

Puzzles, Games and Name That Car => Solved AutoPuzzles => 2015 => Topic started by: Paul Jaray on December 28, 2014, 09:24:57 AM

Title: Solved -PJ631- Minicar All-Electric (Ride and Handling chassis)
Post by: Paul Jaray on December 28, 2014, 09:24:57 AM: What is this?
1 point for you!
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 07, 2015, 07:28:20 AM: Experts?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 07, 2015, 09:36:01 AM: Is it electric?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 07, 2015, 09:40:04 AM: Yes...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 07, 2015, 02:07:02 PM: by any chance,was it built in India?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 07, 2015, 02:30:13 PM: Not India...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 07, 2015, 05:02:45 PM: Europe,If so france?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 08, 2015, 06:46:16 AM: Not Europe.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 08, 2015, 08:27:59 AM: usa?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 08, 2015, 08:33:37 AM: Yes!
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 08, 2015, 09:33:27 AM: any connection to sebring-vanguard?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 08, 2015, 11:07:10 AM: Not that I'm aware of...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 08, 2015, 03:23:32 PM: was it a production car, mass produced?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 08, 2015, 04:27:28 PM: Nope...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 27, 2015, 07:31:51 AM: Another one easier than you may think.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: richard cuyler on January 28, 2015, 11:36:57 AM: To me, those look like Crosley wheels and given the small size of the car, plus its sturdy-looking rollover bar inside, is it perhaps a special closed-car racing version of a Crosley?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 28, 2015, 12:21:05 PM: Nope..it's just an electric car by a company. ;)
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on January 28, 2015, 12:47:24 PM: was it built in the 1980,s?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on January 28, 2015, 03:53:52 PM: Late 60s ;)
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 09, 2015, 03:53:29 AM: This company was already featured here.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 09, 2015, 10:27:59 AM: was it general electric?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 09, 2015, 10:50:09 AM: Not General Electric.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 09, 2015, 02:13:22 PM: west penn power?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 09, 2015, 03:01:53 PM: Not that.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 09, 2015, 03:19:48 PM: near-term electric?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 09, 2015, 03:57:08 PM: Not that.
I hope I won't mislead you, but I think this one is better known.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 09, 2015, 06:42:08 PM: would it be electro-master?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 10, 2015, 04:17:40 AM: Not that.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 10, 2015, 10:08:23 AM: is it electricar?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 10, 2015, 10:19:59 AM: Not electricar.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 19, 2015, 05:30:26 AM: Go Pros!
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 19, 2015, 10:14:25 AM: was it Gulf-Western?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 19, 2015, 02:01:39 PM: Not that...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 19, 2015, 05:25:08 PM: Electrodyne?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 19, 2015, 06:29:32 PM: not that...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 19, 2015, 08:17:38 PM: was it built by the same company that built the copper electric city runabout ?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 20, 2015, 04:12:10 AM: Not by CDA (Copper Development Association).
We already had some of their cars at Autopuzzles.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: kwgibbs on February 20, 2015, 12:34:31 PM: Anderson power products?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 20, 2015, 12:52:49 PM: Good guess but no.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Wendax on February 20, 2015, 12:58:28 PM: Omega?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 20, 2015, 12:59:22 PM: Not that.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Wendax on February 24, 2015, 03:08:36 AM: Transportation Systems Laboratory, also called Electromotion?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 24, 2015, 04:00:25 AM: Good guess but not the name written on that sign ; )
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 24, 2015, 06:36:15 AM: Quote from: Wendax on February 24, 2015, 03:08:36 AM
Transportation Systems Laboratory, also called Electromotion?
I can add that it's not that, but somehow close to the full name of the company.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 27, 2015, 04:05:11 AM: 2 of their cars were previous puzzles.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: pnegyesi on February 27, 2015, 04:40:35 AM: Transportation Laboratory at Pratt Institute?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 27, 2015, 04:49:51 AM: Not that, but I'm sure there are not many left!
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: oko94 on February 27, 2015, 12:04:47 PM: US Department of Transportation ?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 27, 2015, 01:13:37 PM: Quote from: oko94 on February 27, 2015, 12:04:47 PM
US Department of Transportation ?
Very close...locked for you.
That is not the name of the company, of course...but there is a strong connection I can't reveal.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: oko94 on February 27, 2015, 06:09:03 PM: Minicars ?
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Allemano on February 28, 2015, 06:51:13 AM: I've got the feeling it's somewhere in a forgotten corner of my HD, but can't find it back...
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 28, 2015, 07:36:41 AM: Quote from: oko94 on February 27, 2015, 06:09:03 PM
Minicars ?
:thumbsup:

Now, the easiest part. What is that?
Locked for you ;)
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: oko94 on February 28, 2015, 12:00:18 PM: I've found lots of pictures of this car in a certain online digital library, but there's no information available there except for a year : 1969.

Digging deeper, I've found two conflicting stories :
- in 1969, Minicars Inc of Goleta, California (near Santa Barbara) designed the Minicar, a 2-door 3-seat small car fitted with an air-cooled six-cylinder engine, automatic transmission and air conditioning. There's no picture in this source.
- in 1969, the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Urban Research and Experiment unveiled the Minicar prototype, designed in cooperation with Minicars Inc of Santa Barbara, California. It was a hybrid car, powered by both an electric engine and a 40 hp flat air-cooled engine. The project started in 1967 and was funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and by the US Department of Transportation. There's a picture in this source : it has roughly the same proportions as the puzzle's car but it looks like a real car, not like a crude prototype. See the attached picture.

So I would answer that the puzzle is an early prototype of the Minicar.
Title: Re: PJ - 631
Post by: Paul Jaray on February 28, 2015, 04:13:34 PM: Minicars Transit System built 2 electric prototypes, Prototype A was equipped with an internal combustion engine, and Prototype B had an hybrid power train. There were also an interior/exterior buck ( the one in your picture) and a chassis developed for testing ride and handling, the puzzle car.
We already had the Safety Sedan and the RSV.
Well done, point for you! :applause: