1959 Charles Townabout Concept Car

The 1959 Charles Townabout concept car styling resembled a mildly customized Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia coupe -- which essentially it was. The car's high-quality body was molded in fiberglass from a contemporary VW Karmann-Ghia coupe, hence the obvious visual resemblance. There was even a similar torsion-bar suspension.

Still, the Townabout had plenty of differences. Most naturally involved motivation, which comprised four 12-volt car-type batteries linked in series to twin electric motors that were coupled directly to the K-G's rear halfshafts -- one motor to drive each wheel.

Gears were cut for a 6:1 rpm reduction and beveled for quiet operation. The motors, supplied by Baldor of St. Louis, developed 3.2 shaft horsepower apiece, roughly equal to 11 horses from an internal-combustion engine.

To keep weight down, the VW's steel "backbone" frame was replaced by a special box-section aluminum chassis with a welded-on platform to serve as both floorpan and body carrier. Curb weight ended up at about 1,800 pounds.

The light weight, sprightly gearing, and 22 total horsepower produced acceleration along the lines of popular period economy cars -- like the Karmann-Ghia. Naturally, there was no power lost to a transmission or differential because they weren't needed and were thus omitted.

Also missing was the K-G's token back seat/parcel shelf, the space being used instead to stow the bulky battery pack. The motors and allied components lived farther behind, in what had been the VW's engine bay.

Veteran auto journalist Joe Wherry later wrote that, appearances notwithstanding, the Charles Townabout body was made entirely of fiberglass molded from a stock Karmann-Ghia. However, bulkheads, floorpan, roof, windshield pillars, and the battery deck were formed as a single unit for strength, matching that of the lightweight chassis.

To keep the Charles Townabout from being confused with Wolfsburg's car, Graves and company remodeled the nose a bit and etched in a below-the-belt "character line" that took a saucy dip before kicking up into trendy tailfins.

Townabout prototypes wore a fake grille and rather contrived bumpers. Later versions were spared the former, got small Ford-like round tail-lamps in the fins, and carried simpler bumpers comprising two wraparound chrome tubes connected by a third tube curved into an inverted U.

Read about the pros and cons of the 1959 Charles Townabout concept car in the next section.

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As one of the few journalists covering the electric-car scene in the late 1950s, Joe Wherry was able to provide an overview of the 1959 Charles Townabout concept car positives and negatives.

Wherry got to drive a pre-production 1959 Charles Townabout concept car and came away impressed. Stinson's craftsmanship was high quality all the way and was particularly good on the fiberglass work.

Performance was at least adequate. Though the Townabout was gear-limited to a top speed of only 55 mph, Wherry reported that performance was comparable to that of conventional small import cars of the day and that tests in San Francisco showed hill-climbing ability equal to that of large-displacement piston-engine cars.

Wherry also liked driving electric, finding it easier than a conventional car. All you did was turn a key, select "Forward" or "Reverse" motor operation, and step on the "gas." No shift or clutch to bother with, no noise to speak of -- and no engine braking, though just letting off the "throttle" slowed things down quite fast, as anyone who's driven an electric golf cart can attest.

The Townabout's interior was starkly functional. Inside were a pair of sporty bucket seats and just three instruments: speedometer, the all-important ammeter, and a "battery condition" gauge showing the amount of charge remaining.

Stinson also fitted conventional windshield wipers and turn signals but no radio, which was "not recommended" for the Townabout or most other budding electrics. Perhaps the firm had nightmares of people leaving their radios on too long and hopelessly draining the batteries.

On that point, Wherry reported Stinson's claim that using the headlights continuously decreased driving range less than 10 percent. But then, the Townabout's total range was quoted only at "over 80 miles," and that presumably meant using full power very seldom.

There were other drawbacks too, all long associated with electric cars. The included onboard charger, for example, worked off standard 110-volt current, which was convenient but required a lengthy eight hours to restore depleted batteries. And replacing those cells was a big expense in 1959 at about $260 for the four, yet they were guaranteed for only two years.

See our final section to find out if the 1959 Charles Townabout concept car made it into production.

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The fate of the 1959 Charles Townabout concept car rested primarily in how much Stinson needed to sell the car for in order to make a profit.

By mid-summer 1959, Stinson had set retail price at $2,895 FOB San Diego, but that was way too much for what otherwise looked like an ordinary economy car with just two seats. After all, Studebaker was selling new six-passenger six-cylinder Larks at $1,000 less, and a 1959 Rambler American DeLuxe cost as little as $1,821.

So after about a dozen prototypes and about 200 production models, it was goodbye to this Charlie. Intended volume was much higher than this, but Stinson backed out due to limited potential sales and a necessarily steep retail price. Stinson engineers went back to working on aircraft full-time.

The Townabout wasn't the only electric concept car at the time. Also nearing completion in 1959 was the Pioneer, a fiberglass-bodied three-seat electric backed by the Nic-L-Silver Battery Company in Santa Ana, California.

Engineering, mainly by Frank Kurtis of race-car fame, featured a unique torsion-bar suspension and twin 8-horsepower motors driving the rear wheels by chain. Sales were imminent by autumn 1959, when a Pioneer wagon was announced along with a detachable hardtop option for the roadster, which was pegged at about $2,000 retail.

Like the Townabout, though, Pioneer was doomed by likely sales volume that was just too small to offset huge production start-up costs.

In retrospect, the 1959 Charles Townabout concept car was just a bit of California dreaming for which there was obvious need but no great public demand as yet -- nor, indeed, the technology to solve inherent problems that might have stimulated demand given time and proper promotion.

The Golden State itself tried to summon the future by mandating electrics, even though technology in the 1990s still couldn't resolve some of the deficits that plagued the Townabout and its ilk in the 1950s.

Hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda have in many ways fulfilled the promise of the Charles Townabout with much success, and others seem to be rapidly following in their footsteps.

For more on concept cars and the production models they forecast, check out: