Hi All;
Good story! Yeah! Tell me there isn't any interest in EV's Yeah, right.
There it is, these cars could come plain an' simple for Joe Sixchip, too.
Faster an' longer ranged as folks get the EV grin, and find they are 'way
cool, period. Souping them up to the point they are real cars like we drive.
My two watts worth
Bob
----- Original Message -----
> EVLN(Some guys have bigger nEV egos)
> [The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
> informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
> --- {EVangel}
> http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_NEWS_ncarts05.e7d0.html
> Local News
> Fancy golf cars parade from courses and into town
>
> STATUS SYMBOLS: The costs of the customized vehicles can
> amount to as much as the family sedan.
> 10/05/2002 By STEVE MOORE THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
>
> RANCHO MIRAGE - You can get one that looks like a
> mini-Duesenberg, a Jaguar or a Hummer.
>
> But these battery-powered status symbols cost as much as a
> family car.
>
> Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, Michael Jordan and
> Walter Annenberg each bought one. Computer magnate Bill
> Gates got his as a surprise gift. And the owner of a
> trucking line paid $85,000 for a Kenworth replica.
>
> Greg Vojtko/The Press-Enterprise
>
> J.R. Thomas, president of Electric Car Distributors in
> Rancho Mirage, with a Lido neighborhood electric vehicle and
> other golf cars at the dealership. "There's a lot of money
> spent here," Thomas says.
>
> "There's a lot of money spent here," said J. R. Thomas,
> president of Electric Car Distributors.
>
> The classy, little vehicles with their swooped front ends,
> headlights, big bumpers, fat tires and wire wheels are tiny
> cars suited to the links and city streets. Aficionados
> zipping around town and along fairways call their quiet,
> sporty vehicles "golf cars" instead of carts.
>
> They've become a sign of status like just second homes and
> gala charity balls.
>
> Customized golf cars come with air- conditioning, color
> televisions, CD players, wood steering wheels, GPS satellite
> systems, sun curtains to block harmful rays and rack and
> pinion steering. There's even a six-passenger limo version
> for about $20,000.
>
> Now, the big sellers are earth-toned golf cars with all the
> goodies, Thomas said.
>
> "You're not going to see a retired CEO of a large
> corporation driving a $3,000 cart," he said. "He's going to
> have a $12,000 to $15,000 golf car.
>
> "No doubt about it.
> "Some guys have bigger egos than others."
>
> Others like Larry Corando, 64, a retired food executive,
> just prefer a comfortable vehicle for golfing. He has bought
> three golf cars at Electric Car Distributors over the
> years.
>
> "I trade mine in every couple of years," he said Friday at
> the dealership. "I don't buy a fancy cart to impress
> people.
>
> "I buy it because I like it."
>
> He plans to spend $9,000 to $11,000 on a new golf car.
>
> Carts to cars
> It has been a long road from caddies carrying clubs to
> luxury golf cars. And it started humbly.
>
> In the early 1950s, squat, three-wheeled golf carts with
> overhead canopies and tillers for steering popped up on some
> courses. The battery- powered vehicles scooted along
> fairways, speeding up play and eventually replacing faithful
> caddies.
>
> But it was bumpy at times, Thomas said.
>
> Country clubs worried about damaging their manicured grass.
> Caddies feared for their jobs. And in the 1950s, players
> walked between holes unless they had a doctor's letter.
>
> But golf carts finally proved their worth.
>
> More rounds could be played so country clubs made more
> money, Thomas said. Golf car owners now pay private clubs in
> the desert up to $600 a year for the privilege of using the
> vehicles. The Coachella Valley has about 100 golf courses.
>
> The golf car customizing craze caught on in the early 1970s,
> Thomas said. Players demanded fancy chrome grills modeled
> after those on Rolls-Royces, Cadillacs and Lincolns.
> Comedian Flip Wilson had a black and white television put in
> a golf car he bought from the dealership in Rancho Mirage.
>
> Links to city streets
> Today, advances and new engineering have opened city
> streets, especially in the desert, to golf cars.
>
> The vehicles have carlike front suspensions with coil
> springs, hydraulic struts and tie rods. They come with seat
> belts, turn signals, a horn and rear- and side-view mirrors
> and can do about 25 mph.
>
> In Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, about 500 licensed golf
> cars are allowed on the streets, according to city
> officials. Golf cars have been running on desert streets for
> more than a decade.
>
> Licensed drivers stop at the supermarket, the post office,
> commute to work and visit fancy shopping centers like The
> River in their golf cars.
>
> "Golf cars aren't just for golf anymore," Thomas said. "I
> look at them as small cars with golf bags attached.
>
> Reach Steve Moore at (909) 849-4533 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Steve Moore can reached by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> -
>
>
>
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> . http://geocities.com/brucedp
> . EV List Editor & RE newswires
> . (originator of the above EV ascci art)
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