Old electric car - 1974

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Bouldergramp

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2018
Messages
188
Location
COLORADO
Prof Gless was an instructor in the Electrical Engineering Dept. University of Colorado. I never had a class with him but he was famous locally for driving around town in battery powered cars.
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I believe that my interest in electric cars began in the Eighties when I read a local newspaper piece about a local engineer who had converted a Plymouth TC-3 into an EV (using lead-acid batteries, of course). The car was supposed to have a lot of power, and retained the 5 speed manual.
 
I went to CU but I don't remember a Prof Gless. From the pictures, he was a bit before my time....

Thanks for posting that. It's a nice slice of history.
 
1974! Right in time for the oil embargo and gas lines and all that. I was too young to have a car then so I don't remember much about it but it must have been quite a shock at the time.

Looks like the corner of Colorado and Folsom, looking East. I think the Engineering library is now at the site that was that parking lot. There is less and less open space at CU these days and I kind of miss the open areas, even if they were just parking lots.
 
I had to google it but yeah....I remember seeing one of those somewhere. Happy to say technology has progressed since those days :mrgreen:
 
The sitcom "Grounded for Life" featured one for a few episodes. The driver carried an extension cord with him everywhere, so he could plug in at whatever house he was visiting. It sort of foreshadowed the Gen I Leaf. ;-)
 
goldbrick said:
1974! Right in time for the oil embargo and gas lines and all that. I was too young to have a car then so I don't remember much about it but it must have been quite a shock at the time.

I was a kid at the time and yes it was a shock. It seemed like every time you turned around the price went up. You didn't make trips unless absolutely necessary. Forgot to get something at the grocery store on the way home from work? Well, you just did without it that night.

And the lines were long...very long. A few times I got up early in the morning and kept my father company as he waited in line for gas. At the time he drove a Plymouth station wagon with a 318 cubic inch (5.2L) engine 30 miles one way, so it hit his pocketbook hard. My mother also worked, but her job was only 15 miles away and she drove a VW Beetle.
 
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