Twenty-year-old Chad Conway recently beat out hundreds of other college students to become Tesla Motors's only undergrad intern. He got the gig because he's an electric-car freak, restoring this 1980 ComutaCar in high school. This is his story. —Ed.

So you want a plug-in electric but don't feel like waiting to buy a Chevy Volt or a Tesla Roadster? Do you also only need to hit 40 MPH on a straightaway and said straightaway is only 40 miles long? Then maybe you need to get yourself a 110V plug-in 1979 Sebring-Vanguard electric CitiCar. Oh, you can't find one of the…