eBay find of the day: 1980 Lectric Leopard w/VIDEO

What you see pictured above is a 1980 Lectric Leopard. For those who still have a memory of cars of the late '70s and early '80s you might recognize this as a Renault R5 - or Le Car as it was dubbed in North America. As near as we can determine these were converted from brand new R5s to electric drive by a company called US Electricar. The normal powertrain was replaced with a 12 hp electric motor and 16 6V lead acid batteries, most of which are mounted in the back. Based on the poorly written description in the eBay listing, this example was originally bought by a group called the Tree People who eventually passed it on to the Peterson Automotive Museum. The current owner eventually picked it up when the museum got rid of it on eBay a few years ago and "restored" it. It currently has 3,210 miles on it but the on-board charger doesn't work meaning you have to use an external unit to get any juice in the batteries. The motor apparently still has issues and the car won't go over 20 mph. The claimed top speed when new was 55 mph with a 60 mile warm weather range. The current top bid as this is written is $2,500 for what would clearly be a project car for anyone interested. There's also a video after the jump of another Lectric Leopard.

[Source: eBay]

The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience.