Craigslist find: TWO 1982 Cub Commuter microcars!

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About four-fifths through the previous Century, a category of car that had lain dormant for a while suddenly went through a renaissance. The microcar. There were many reasons that people should be tempted by a tiny, lightweight, basic car – cost savings to the driver, reduced environmental impact and the smug feeling of grabbing that hard-to-use last parking space.
We’ve all heard of the most popular microcars – the KV MINI naturally leaps to mind, but others are a little more obscure. If Mr Hollis Danley is in da house, smash him a high five for unearthing this buried gem from the vermont Craigslist. It’s a Cub Commuter. Of course it is.

Here’s the Craigslist Ad in image form, lest it crash and disappear under the sheer weight of interest it generates.
advert
Those who wish to respond to the advert (and why wouldn’t you?) can link to it here. Better act quickly! $1,800 takes both!
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I’ll only give a brief synopsis of the Cub Commuter because I can already hear Friend Of Hooniverse Mike Harrell warming his keyboard up ready to fill the blanks. It was made in Taiwan (“get right out of town!”) and sold by a concern named Convenient Machines Inc, as a US exclusive. Apparently. It had three wheels, a 400cc single-cylinder engine, and space for two.
There were two doors and a hatchback, and evidently, 50mph was possible. I’d have thought it would be terrifying, but Microcar Museum reckons it was offered as the “ultimate in driveability and convenience“.
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I find its looks even more fascinating than its period political bumper sticker. There is a resemblance to certain other, rather more conventional vehicles, presumably in a bid by Taiwan to make it look like a ‘real’ car.
Like the AMC pacer, which the hatchback and wrap-around rear glass has more than a hint of, though the extremely generous could say that the Porsche 928 had similar features. And then, if you look at the swept back b-post and the profile of the rear glass – are there tiny flavours of Mitsubishi Starion there?
Am I on drugs? Decide for yourselves in the comments section.
(All images remain copyright property of the vendor, or Craigslist, I never can remember which. Hat tip to Hollis Danley!)

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9 responses to “Craigslist find: TWO 1982 Cub Commuter microcars!”

  1. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    That rear hatch picture looks more E-type than Pacer.
    http://www.gbclassiccars.co.uk/images/modelgalleries/jaguaretype6.jpg

    1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

      It does a bit! Even classier.

    2. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      I think it looks like an oven door. If it were, this might be the ideal purpose-built pizza delivery vehicle.

  2. mdharrell Avatar

    I took these photos of one at the 2010 Microcar/Minicar World Meet. As I recall it won a trophy for “most unusual microcar” but I have to assume that was in large part due to its unexpected country of origin, as from a design standpoint there were several stranger cars present.
    If most of the bits and pieces are included, $1800 is probably a fair price for the two offered here, particularly if one of them really is, as the ad claims, serial number one.
    http://www.microcar.org/gallery/d/22390-3/DSCN8070.jpg
    http://www.microcar.org/gallery/d/22394-3/DSCN8071.jpg

    1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

      It’s got to be worth that for the Cub emblem alone!

    2. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      I’m not so sure I would call it “designed” so much as “arranged”…
      “The headlights have to go here, the doors here and the tail lights here, now lets join everything up”

  3. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Ha, I also saw a bit of Pacer in it, on the site for trailer owners. The strangest thing with it is imho the claim that it was made for the US only. Very ambitious, very…wrong marked.

  4. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    Microcars are worth money as well. I tend to follow them because of my love of this little car called the Bantam. Last night at the Barrett Jackson Auction both an a Isetta and Messersmitt went through for $30k.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5bfe180b1407470ae653fd214b1c2a457f0d204bbe8477000425567edbf38b0.jpg

  5. Douche_McGee Avatar
    Douche_McGee

    it probably would be scary fun with a 600cc sportbike engine. Probably insane with a ZX-14 or Busa lump 🙂