brucedp5 via EV
2018-12-07 03:23:09 UTC
'EVent: The Autoette, As Modern as Today: Long Beach and the Electric Car
1-3p 12/8 @Historical Society of Long_Beach-CA, part of
https://hslb.org/chrome/ “Chrome: Cruisin’ Cars and Clubs” exhibit'
https://lbpost.com/life/autoette-electric-cart-long-beach-history/
The Autoettes of Long Beach: electric cars before they were cool
2018-12-03 Tim Grobaty
[image
Loading Image...
A variety of the sorts of electric carts that once sped along the sidewalks
of Long Beach
video
1956 electric autoette car
]
If you spent any time walking the mean streets of Downtown Long Beach before
1971 or so, and you’re still alive against all odds, you can consider
yourself a survivor of the Autoette menace that terrorized local pedestrians
throughout the Vietnam-Cold War-era.
For our purposes, Autoette is a trade name for the little electric shopping
car created by electrical engineer Robert Tafel in Long Beach shortly after
he moved to Long Beach in 1936, but now it’s a generic term for the little
three-wheel, stick-steering carts that were manufactured under several
names, including Mobilette, Marketeer, Marketour and the Electric Shopper.
There were electric cars in existence in Long Beach at the time Tafel
arrived in Long Beach. They were called Custer cars, for their inventor, L.
Luzern Custer, and to call them cars is to engage in hyperbole. They were
basically electric-powered wheelchairs (the term “electric chairs” was
probably not much considered) and were chiefly used by polio survivors and
infirm veterans of World War I to get around town. The cost was about $300
(more than $5,000 in 2018 dollars), which was nearly prohibitive. Tafel
reckoned he could make it cheaper, and he did. Soon the little cars were
zipping all over town.
If this brings back memories, or dredges up a long-subsumed fear, or if you
want to know more about how Long Beach was the sun of the electric cart
galaxy, one of the nation’s premier experts on the subject, Larry Fisher,
will cover every aspect of the “low-speed electric vehicles” in a
presentation, “The Autoette, As Modern as Today: Long Beach and the Electric
Car” from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Historical Society of Long Beach [
https://hslb.org/
]. It’s part of the society’s “Chrome: Cruisin’ Cars and Clubs” exhibit.
Fisher is the executive director of the National Hot Rod Association
Motorsports Museum in Pomona, and when you think of hot rods, three-wheeled
electric golf-carts don’t automatically spring to mind. “I got into electric
carts by accident,” he said. “I collect vintage motorcycles and I was out
someplace checking one out at someone’s house, and I saw that he had an old
Autoette,” said Fisher. “I said, ‘I remember those when I was a kid,’ and
I’d forgotten about them. I passed on the motorcycle, but I bought the car.”
At one point, he said, he had 36 of them. Now they’ve joined the fleet at
the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation [
http://www.hevf.org/
], in Kingman, Arizona, of which Fisher is a charter board member. “After I
bought the first one, I started researching them and I began to realize
there was a lot of incorrect information about them in the websphere. And I
found out that Long Beach was the epicenter of their production.”
Tafel had the good fortune of inventing the Autoette just as World War II
was breaking out, and the defense industry snapped them up to use in
warehouses and factories, where they were put into use instead of
gas-powered Cushman carts.
“After the war, the momentum increased,” said Fisher. “They became popular
as a second car, and their names, like the Marketeer and the Electric
Shopper, reflected the idea that they were a viable alternatives to a second
car for housewives to do their shopping and run errands.
“They were sidewalk legal and curb cutouts allowed them to drive up on the
sidewalk, so they could park right in front of the store. Businesses along
American Avenue (Long Beach Boulevard) had Autoette parking.”
The cars, especially when they took to the sidewalks in large numbers, were
more of a nuisance than a peril, said Fisher. “There weren’t a lot of
accidents, but the cars were unstable at speed and if you turned too fast
you’d flip it over.”
At the dawn of the 1970s, the Autoettes had become enough of a problem that
they were basically legislated off the streets and sidewalks, and Downtown
pedestrians rejoiced. The three-wheeled vehicles are now just a memory.
But electric carts are far from dead. In fact, they’re making a resurgence
in beach communities, such as Belmont Shore and Naples, where parking is a
problem and they’ve become the vehicle of choice for people just wanting to
zip into town for a meal or shopping.
“People look at these modern vehicles and, yeah, they have better
construction and they look nicer, but their performance, ironically, is
about the same as the Autoette. They top out at about 25 mph and they have
the same 50-100-mile range. People talk about them being modern, but all
they have to do is look back 50 years,” said Fisher.
“We’ve already been there.”
The Historical Society of Long Beach Gallery is at 4260 Atlantic Ave.
Tickets for the Autoette event are $25.
[© lbpost.com]
...
https://www.google.com/search?q=Autoette+Long+Beach
http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/The-Autoettes-of-Long-Beach-electric-cars-before-they-were-cool-Long-Beach-Post-tp4691997.html
[EVDL] The Autoettes of Long Beach: electric cars before they were cool •
Long Beach Post 2018/12/04
+
https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/2752486/york-trials-electric-bin-lorry/
York trials electric bin lorry
4th December 2018 Electric vehicle technology has progressed at an
extremely quick rate over the past years, allowing larger vehicles to travel
... “We’re keen to try this new electric bin lorry in York to see how it
copes with our needs and to ensure it allows us to continue to collect waste
and recycling ... ” ...
Loading Image...
For EVLN EV-newswire posts use:
http://evdl.org/archive/
{brucedp.neocities.org}
--
Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http:
1-3p 12/8 @Historical Society of Long_Beach-CA, part of
https://hslb.org/chrome/ “Chrome: Cruisin’ Cars and Clubs” exhibit'
https://lbpost.com/life/autoette-electric-cart-long-beach-history/
The Autoettes of Long Beach: electric cars before they were cool
2018-12-03 Tim Grobaty
[image
Loading Image...
A variety of the sorts of electric carts that once sped along the sidewalks
of Long Beach
video
1956 electric autoette car
]
If you spent any time walking the mean streets of Downtown Long Beach before
1971 or so, and you’re still alive against all odds, you can consider
yourself a survivor of the Autoette menace that terrorized local pedestrians
throughout the Vietnam-Cold War-era.
For our purposes, Autoette is a trade name for the little electric shopping
car created by electrical engineer Robert Tafel in Long Beach shortly after
he moved to Long Beach in 1936, but now it’s a generic term for the little
three-wheel, stick-steering carts that were manufactured under several
names, including Mobilette, Marketeer, Marketour and the Electric Shopper.
There were electric cars in existence in Long Beach at the time Tafel
arrived in Long Beach. They were called Custer cars, for their inventor, L.
Luzern Custer, and to call them cars is to engage in hyperbole. They were
basically electric-powered wheelchairs (the term “electric chairs” was
probably not much considered) and were chiefly used by polio survivors and
infirm veterans of World War I to get around town. The cost was about $300
(more than $5,000 in 2018 dollars), which was nearly prohibitive. Tafel
reckoned he could make it cheaper, and he did. Soon the little cars were
zipping all over town.
If this brings back memories, or dredges up a long-subsumed fear, or if you
want to know more about how Long Beach was the sun of the electric cart
galaxy, one of the nation’s premier experts on the subject, Larry Fisher,
will cover every aspect of the “low-speed electric vehicles” in a
presentation, “The Autoette, As Modern as Today: Long Beach and the Electric
Car” from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Historical Society of Long Beach [
https://hslb.org/
]. It’s part of the society’s “Chrome: Cruisin’ Cars and Clubs” exhibit.
Fisher is the executive director of the National Hot Rod Association
Motorsports Museum in Pomona, and when you think of hot rods, three-wheeled
electric golf-carts don’t automatically spring to mind. “I got into electric
carts by accident,” he said. “I collect vintage motorcycles and I was out
someplace checking one out at someone’s house, and I saw that he had an old
Autoette,” said Fisher. “I said, ‘I remember those when I was a kid,’ and
I’d forgotten about them. I passed on the motorcycle, but I bought the car.”
At one point, he said, he had 36 of them. Now they’ve joined the fleet at
the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation [
http://www.hevf.org/
], in Kingman, Arizona, of which Fisher is a charter board member. “After I
bought the first one, I started researching them and I began to realize
there was a lot of incorrect information about them in the websphere. And I
found out that Long Beach was the epicenter of their production.”
Tafel had the good fortune of inventing the Autoette just as World War II
was breaking out, and the defense industry snapped them up to use in
warehouses and factories, where they were put into use instead of
gas-powered Cushman carts.
“After the war, the momentum increased,” said Fisher. “They became popular
as a second car, and their names, like the Marketeer and the Electric
Shopper, reflected the idea that they were a viable alternatives to a second
car for housewives to do their shopping and run errands.
“They were sidewalk legal and curb cutouts allowed them to drive up on the
sidewalk, so they could park right in front of the store. Businesses along
American Avenue (Long Beach Boulevard) had Autoette parking.”
The cars, especially when they took to the sidewalks in large numbers, were
more of a nuisance than a peril, said Fisher. “There weren’t a lot of
accidents, but the cars were unstable at speed and if you turned too fast
you’d flip it over.”
At the dawn of the 1970s, the Autoettes had become enough of a problem that
they were basically legislated off the streets and sidewalks, and Downtown
pedestrians rejoiced. The three-wheeled vehicles are now just a memory.
But electric carts are far from dead. In fact, they’re making a resurgence
in beach communities, such as Belmont Shore and Naples, where parking is a
problem and they’ve become the vehicle of choice for people just wanting to
zip into town for a meal or shopping.
“People look at these modern vehicles and, yeah, they have better
construction and they look nicer, but their performance, ironically, is
about the same as the Autoette. They top out at about 25 mph and they have
the same 50-100-mile range. People talk about them being modern, but all
they have to do is look back 50 years,” said Fisher.
“We’ve already been there.”
The Historical Society of Long Beach Gallery is at 4260 Atlantic Ave.
Tickets for the Autoette event are $25.
[© lbpost.com]
...
https://www.google.com/search?q=Autoette+Long+Beach
http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/The-Autoettes-of-Long-Beach-electric-cars-before-they-were-cool-Long-Beach-Post-tp4691997.html
[EVDL] The Autoettes of Long Beach: electric cars before they were cool •
Long Beach Post 2018/12/04
+
https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/2752486/york-trials-electric-bin-lorry/
York trials electric bin lorry
4th December 2018 Electric vehicle technology has progressed at an
extremely quick rate over the past years, allowing larger vehicles to travel
... “We’re keen to try this new electric bin lorry in York to see how it
copes with our needs and to ensure it allows us to continue to collect waste
and recycling ... ” ...
Loading Image...
For EVLN EV-newswire posts use:
http://evdl.org/archive/
{brucedp.neocities.org}
--
Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http: