A Sparrow Hits the Windshield; Eclectic one-seat electric car maneuvers some speed bumps.(Three-wheeled Corbin Sparrow electric car)(Brief Article)

Remember the goofy little three-wheeled Corbin Sparrow electric car (AW, April 24, 2000)? Its makers, Mike Corbin and his son Tom, said it would solve all our traffic congestion and pollution problems with its small size and zero-emission powertrain. Investors and dealers flocked to Corbin's Hollister, California, factory and signed up in droves.

Four years after the car's 1997 rollout only 285 have been sold and 215 of those have been recalled.

Dealers and individual buyers say they are getting stiffed for undelivered Sparrows bought a year ago, parts vendors are waiting for overdue payments, investors are waiting for payouts, former partners are blowing safety whistles and some Corbin employees are seeing their paychecks bounce higher than a Sparrow hitting a speed bump at full throttle.

What's going on? The answer varies widely, depending on to whom you talk. Tom Corbin, president of the company, sloughs off the malcontents with his winning salesman's smile.

``People are mostly anxious,'' he says. ``The Sparrow is a `proof of concept' vehicle, handmade. The investors know that and the buyers know that. Like every small company, we had a brutal winter.''

So did some Corbin dealers. Throughout 2000 and 2001, Andrew Carver bought the rights to 13 would-be ...