The Craigslist Club Car

93yellowclubcar

I found a deal on my local CL the other day while looking for things to post in Scottyb's "Craigslist Treasures" thread. The title of the sale ad was "Ugliest Golf Cart in Captivity" and I'm not making this up. This picture was posted with the ad, along with a short description stating that this was great for making neighbors mad by parking it on your lawn, and the first $100 he got would take it. No batteries, no charger, no seats. No problem!



I called him up, met him after he got home from work, and offered him $50 and he didn't even let me finish before he said "SOLD!" Makes me think I couldve gotten it cheaper.... Anyhow, as it sits now, it needs a front cowl, batteries, cables, a microswitch, a solenoid, the brakes worked on and hooked back up, tires that hold air, a steering rod end, seats of some sort, a major cleaning, and an owner with brains. But it does run!! I rigged it to see exactly what I'm dealing with, and the motor spins well, so there is hope. I have most of the parts I need as spares, so this thing should be rolling in no time.

Here are some pics after I unstuck the brakes, set the cracked front body on, and got the tires aired (very temporarily) so it would roll.

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^^ Redneck Carts, INC.

After some searching and scraping, I found the serial tag which had been painted over. This is a 1988 model, IIRC the first year for the V-glide resistor setup. This thing was probably done up nice back when it was done, it's a fair replica of Mark Martin's NASCAR stock car, and the paint has clear on it though it is peeling. Also peeling are the Ford stickers, that happened before I even got it off the truck. More to come as I rig this thing further - I think I can sell it in the spring and make good profit.

BGW

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DOOmsman

Looks like its last race was bristol.

93yellowclubcar

You aren't kidding!! Maybe I could make a little extra on it if I leave the body as-is and sell it "post race condition" like they do with the hoods and stuff.

UncleJerm76

Subscribed!
Another 80's Club Car with battery trays in great shape!
Good find, at $50 it would be difficult not to make some money on this one. Look forward to watching the build.

Rep

93yellowclubcar

Thanks! The battery trays are okay, I've seen them better though. The only one bad enough to bother fixing is under that piece of state road caution sign (it's upside down, but that's what it is!) that is in the middle of the cart, the front piece of angle has a bad spot - I'll likely cut it out and rivet a whole new piece of angle in.

The neighbors don't care anymore, there've been carts stacked up here for far too long for that.

Swan

nice find for 50 bucks , I remember the ad in CL thread .

sho305

The running gear is worth $50 for another project, not a bad find at all. I'll have to watch you polish this one lol.

gornoman

Great find! Does that unit run eight solenoids?

93yellowclubcar

Thanks for the interest, guys.

Gorno, this one runs on one solenoid and a bank of resistors, the flow to the resistors is controlled by the V-glide.



I made more progress today on this pile of parts. I cleaned up some wiring issues that it had and replaced the bad microswitch and solenoid with ones I had laid back in my stash. Also did away with the pesky half speed reverse wire and connected full power to the reverse lug at the switch - cleans up the battery area with one less wire.

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I dug up a good front cowl that is from a 93 parts cart I got from the course where I worked - it's not pretty but it's in pretty good shape. Dirty as all get out too, but still better than that fiberglass one that came with the cart. Going to take a little massaging to make it work out down around the bumper area and needs shimmed where it bolts on up top, but it'll get there eventually. Here's a comparison and a couple test fit pics.

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Finally, the big news!! After I fixed the wiring and triple checked it against the diagrams, I jacked it up and jumper cabled some power over from my EZGO 3 wheeler. Everything seems to work as intended, keyswitch cuts power and everything!! (Big deal around here, I cannot count the carts I've had to un-bypass the switch on.) Not bad for an investment that still only totals $50. I took a crappy video of the thing running - the blue spark at the V-glide is bothersome but I think normal?? I still have to clean that thing up and put the new wiper pad I have in my stash on it anyhow. It came with a cover, I just have it off for cleaning/testing purposes. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the way this is going so far - it may be a record too: I had it in my possession about 24 hours and it is already upgraded from "junk for parts" to "just needs batteries" status.


Note: That gurgling noise in the background is a really noisy 5 panel style gas heater. Stupid thing makes a lot of racket for some reason but it makes decent heat given the size of the shop and the fact that it's uninsulated.

Second Note: Please excuse the BU keytag - that's a spare key and it came with a cart a couple years ago. Gotta get a worthwhile keytag for this thing pronto, even if it doesn't have batteries or tires that hold air!