Why would a man (enby) of sane mind willingly go to Fort Pierce? To pick through a junkyard, of course. Their website was down so this spur of the moment trip involved me just walking the entire junkyard in search of interesting sights. Amongst the sea of un-noteworthy Copart pulls, I found this!
(unhelpful audience member) "A 1980s economy car?"
No!
An electric 1980s economy car! Standing before you is a 1981 Jet Industries Electrica 007. With EPA grant money in their coffers, Jet took to buying "gliders" (engineless) cars from major auto manufacturers, and putting in contemporary electric power systems. This particular example came out of a 1981 Plymouth Horizon.
With technology of the era, this was intended to be a "city car". It quoted a 50 mile range and could only barely make 70 mph, which I imagine it was unhappy to sustain. Which means it must have had an odd life in the suburban carpet of Florida.
Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, an econobox with even worse acceleration didn't exactly fly off the shelves, and of the company's estimated 1400 vehicle output, only 70 Plymouth-based Electricas were made, making this my rarest junkyard car by a wide margin.
Woodgrain in an electric car is a wonderful anachronism that I am absolutely here for. And how many Plymouth Horizons do you see every day with an amp meter in the dash?
I have no idea where the "007" append came from- Electrica is a fine name. Not really a superspy supercar though, is it?
While this car would make a very interesting save, this yard unfortunately sets the titles on fire for every car they get once it hits the yard, and as such refuses to sell them. But hey, that's kind of something you assume when you're prowling junkyards.
