Call us toll free (866) 77-Carts or email us at sales@luxurycarts.com!

Customized Golf Carts Aren't Just for the Fairway

The stylish vehicles can still take you from tee to green, as well as a quick run to the market.

By: SUSAN CARPENTER
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Bob Mills is a Ford man.

His metallic-beige Explorer is parked in the driveway. His brand-new, hunter-green Lincoln and vintage '32 Roadster are side by side in the garage. But it's his golf cart--styled like a Mustang--that gets the most use in the gated community where he lives with his wife, Janet.

"We got a Mustang golf cart because he wouldn't buy me a Mustang car," said Janet Mills, a 70-something retiree. "He said I have a heavy foot."

The Millses, whose house abuts the golf course, are part of a growing community of retired persons and other individuals buying customized, luxury versions of garden-variety golf carts.

"People are starting to realize that for $3,000 or $4,000 extra, they can get a pretty nice, fancy cart," said Michael Hruby, President of Luxury Carts of Hawaii, a 3-year-old dealership based in Hawaii that sells miniature Hummers, Lamborghini's, Corvettes, Cadillac's and Jeeps, to name a few.

"It doesn't make me play better golf," said Jeannie Brazil, 59, owner of a '32 Roadster-style cart with an horn, CD player and ice chest. A year and a half ago, her husband gave her the cart to drive around Catalina Island, which restricts automobiles, so 80% of the residents drive golf carts, 10% of them custom models.

"I love it. It's really fun," said Brazil, who is often asked by tourists to pose with her mini-Roadster for photographs. Catalina is a small island and residents all know her cart, so Brazil says she is recognized everywhere she goes.

She may not be distinctive for long. Once a small part of the approximately $600 million-a-year golf-cart industry, custom carts are now the fastest-growing segment of the market, producing 20% to 25% of all sales.

At private golf courses, members are increasingly buying their own custom carts. 

Part of the growth is credited to new U.S. motor vehicle safety standards, issued last year, which allow what are termed Neighborhood Electric Vehicles to be used on public streets with speed limits less than 30 mph. Individual states determine whether to adopt the standards and, in addition to other states, California has adopted them. 

And, as the economy has improved, the desire for custom wheels has grown with it. "In the last decade alone, the wealth in America has improved so significantly that Americans in general, whether it's an automobile or a golf car . . . nobody's buying the plain-Jane vehicles," said Michael Alexander, director of Club Car's business development.

Custom carts date back to 1974, when Elmco, in Cooksville, Ill., produced an imitation Rolls Royce that came with a television, wet bar, refrigerator, wood-grain dash, chrome-rimmed wheels and a hood ornament. Entertainer Jackie Gleason used one to zip around L.A.

The majority of carts that resemble specific models are not licensed through the automobiles' manufacturers. But that hasn't stopped more custom golf-cart makers from getting in on the act. Even dealers that previously offered only unadorned carts are now mounting unique bodies onto standard chassis.

Even that may be changing. Some golf carts--mainly those classified as Neighborhood Electric Vehicles--can go more than twice the speed of regular models.

It's a pretty common response, he said. "Kids love it. [They] look at it like it's a ride at Disneyland. . . . My wife and I, no matter where we go, someone wants to take a ride in it."

At the golf course, he said, "I just throw 'em the keys and tell 'em to have a good time."

"We refer to what we build as Big Boy Toys."  "That's what these things are. . . . They're actually a toy for the guy that can afford it."

"Story edited for content"

Copyright © 2008  luxuryCarts.com
Last modified:  June 17, 2008

Legal  Payment Options Privacy