(WXYZ) — If they ever made a movie called Honey, I Shrunk the Car, this would definitely be the star.
"I feel like it should play a song or something as it goes down the street," said Dave Brice.
Brice is the lucky owner of this cherry red 1977 Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar.
"I had seen a couple of them online, and I thought, what a great car. I wanted a golf cart. But Dearborn isn't necessarily going to be golf cart friendly for driving to work," said Brice.
And so for Dave, the CitiCar was the next best thing.
"It has ten horsepower. It's all electric. It runs on 48 volts DC. It uses eight six-volt golf cart batteries that reside under the seat where the motor also resides, it’s rear wheel drive, and it taps out somewhere around 35 miles an hour ... you can travel about 35 or 40 miles on a full charge," he said.
But aside from what’s under the hood … well, under the seat, this ride is somewhat of a showstopper.
"Every red light ... there's somebody who's rolling their window down and has a question, and I love answering them, because you don't see very many of them out there," he said.
When asked if he feels like a cartoon character driving around in his CitiCar, Brice said "occasionally, I really do."
He said his car has often been compared to a wedge of cheese.
But this wedge of cheese on wheels is not just a prized possession, it goes places. Brice takes it to work, the grocery store, and of course, the Woodward Dream Cruise.
"It's actually a perfect Dream Cruise car as many people are boiling coolant and having a hard time staying cool in their cars, all I'm doing is listening to my radio and not using any heat or generating any heat or using any power at all," said Brice.
That’s the beauty of an EV.
"I'm starting to see more electric cars out here, and this is kind of like their beginning as far as production cars go," he said.
Just don’t expect them to be as quiet.
"You will hear lots of the road. You will hear lots of the motor and generally laughing as you're driving, because everybody is waving and smiling at you as you're driving down the road," he said.
And while Brice said it’s a great ride to take places, some places are best to just avoid.
"You can feel the wind in this. It will push you around as it doesn't weigh much, and it has a generally high profile for being a small car," he said.
So, note to Brice: no Mackinac Bridge.
"Absolutely not. Although I'd love to have a picture of it, if it could ever happen. I'll have to throw some sandbags [in] or something," he chuckled.
So if you see this beauty rolling down the road in metro Detroit, give Brice a wave. The CitiCar may just make your day — or make you crave some cheese.
