If one has a tendency to follow the big international auto shows, one event in particular stands out when it comes to exotic or unconventional debuts: Geneva. And while Ford’s new GT would’ve been right at home in a venue that recently saw the global debuts of the LaFerrari and McLaren P1, in 1967, Dearborn took something a little more pedestrian to the Lake Geneva shoreline. And when we say “pedestrian,” we don’t mean bog-average. We’re talking something that’s about the size of your average Tulsa pedestrian. Yes, it’s the tiny Ford Comuta, known in Cockney rhyming slang as “Clan MacGregor.” No, we don’t know why. Yes, we just made that up.
A product of Ford’s UK branch, the diminutive Comuta could be parked three to a space—stuff that in your Swatch and smoke it, ForTwo—and featured an electric powertrain juiced by a quartet of 12V lead-acid batteries. A look at the chassis suggests that the whole thing was constructed of swollen Legos and angle iron. The batteries powered a pair of electric motors pilfered from the aircraft industry.
Pages were torn from Colin Chapman’s playbook during the Comuta’s development. As we noted in 1967, “The Comuta has a fiberglass body and a sheet metal, Lotus Elan-type backbone chassis which keeps its total weight near 1200 pounds.” So half again as heavy as a modern Honda Gold Wing, but with the ability to carry two more passengers! Unlike Honda’s mile-chewing touring bike, the Comuta was only good for 40 miles on a charge, according to Ford. We suggested, “those last couple of miles might be at a walking pace, shedding passengers and luggage as you go.” Apparently quite un-Lotuslike was the Comuta’s handling. Despite all the weight down low, we compared its cornering abilities to a AA/Fuel dragster.
The twin 5-hp DC motors gave the Comuta a top speed of 40 mph—a kitted moped could outrun it—but to eke the most range out of the machine, a 25-mph pace was required. When it was launched, the talk at Ford of Britain is that we’d see similar machines on the road in city centers and in use for suburban store runs by the mid-1970s.
One of the two Comutas built still remains at the Science Museum in London. We’re not sure what happened to the other one, but we’d like to think it involved Clan MacGregor and a long, dark winter’s night on the outskirts of Exeter. We say that with the fondness of hindsight. At the time, we suggested, “If this is a glimpse of how we will be getting around in 1984, we’d prefer to walk.” We apparently pictured an electrically-powered boot stamping on a human face…forever. Or for 40 miles. Whichever came first.
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