Electric cars may seem like a relatively new concept, but there’ve been EVs dating all the way back to the 19th century. And while there have been a few notable electric cars in the annals of history, one of the weirdest was the Citicar from Florida-based company Sebring-Vanguard.
The Citicar, later renamed to Comuta-Car, has become something of a cult classic among collectors of quirky and unique automobiles, as well as people with a knack for customization. A quick Google search of the term “custom Citicar” will reveal a wide array of custom creations ranging from off-road setups to wild engine swaps.
Well, we’re here to talk about the latter, as the Citicar was recently the subject of a certain custom build that involves one of the most famous engine swaps in the world—the 1,300cc four-banger out of the Suzuki Hayabusa. We’ve talked about tons upon tons of Hayabusa swaps over the years, and this custom Citicar build by Vasily of YouTube channel Vasily Builds is certainly one that stands out from the crowd.
Vasily purchased the 1970s Citicar in pretty much stock condition some eight months ago, and made it clear from the very start that he had intentions of Hayabusa-swapping it. The playlist on Vasily’s YouTube channel has a total of 12 videos as of this writing, with the latest video finally showing the beast spring to life and hit the road for the first time.
What’s interesting about Vasily’s custom Hayabusa-swapped Citicar is just how much custom fabrication had to be done to get it running. He doesn’t really flex about it much, but it’s clear to see that Vasily’s got some serious fabrication and welding chops, and the video has no shortage of beautifully executed welds on all sorts of components. From steel, to aluminum and a bunch of other alloys, it’s clear that Vasily’s got his welding game on point.
With everything buttoned up and ready for action, it was time to get the engine running. After some back and forth swapping out a flywheel and fine-tuning the engine, it roared to life and was ready to hit the road.
But there was a problem.
Those of you with a keen ear would notice that although the Citicar was now powered by a Hayabusa engine, it sounded nothing like a ‘Busa, but rather, more like an old straight-piped Versys 650. The fact that the thing was bogging down and had no power meant that there was a serious problem beneath the surface.
Luckily for Vasily, this serious problem required a not-so-serious solution as he had simply mixed up the installation of the injectors, resulting in only two cylinders firing, hence the 180-degree parallel-twin sound. After revising the injector situation and firing it up, it was clear that the ‘Busa engine was firing on all four and was ready to rip.
And what a ripper it was. It seemed that this thing could break traction on any gear, whipping its tail out and squirming all over the road under heavy acceleration. We see Vasily taking out for multiple rips on an almost-empty road, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this thing has even a pinch of street legality.
Whatever the case may be, it sure looks like tons of fun.
Now, at the end of the video, Vasily makes it clear that the build is nowhere close to finished. He has plans of reinforcing the chassis and drivetrain even more, as well as adding a few useful features such as a firewall that separates the engine from the cabin. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see what’s coming up next with this crazy ‘Busa-swapped Citicar.
