Bricklin - made in Canada

There are a few running around still. There is a black one that looks really good, seen it a couple of shows.

 

Malcolm Bricklin was a bid deal in Phoenix in those days. He sold a lot of them there. I saw them all the time. They even had one as the official pace car at Phoenix International raceway.

The unfortunate part is that the bodies warped in the hot Arizona sun. It's not fiberglass. It's was a new vacuum molded process. I don't think there is any way to fix them when they warp other than replacing.

There are some specialists who still repair the hydraulics in the gull wings. The engine is AMC and I think it has some corvette parts of the era.

The interior is --- well, crappy 70's plastic and fake wood.

This may be of help:

http://www.bricklinpartsva.com/services/services.htm
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Ah... she could be right -- last year of production I believe. I don't think they will ever be worth much. It was not a very good car when it came out. It was very innovative though as the gull wing doors attest to. Unfortunately, it was made from a pile of left over parts from other makers and suffered the disaster of the body panels fiasco as seen on this car.

Also I think they were all 3 speed automatics at the end and a very few were ever made with manuals.

 

I've seen one (orange?) at Barrie cruise nights in the past. They have gullwing doors don't they? And I thought they had a Nissan 300ZX engine?? or a 280???

Ugly as sin. I'm not sure Canadians should be designing cars.

Chris

 

No, a clanky ol' AMC V8 from the Ambassasdor until they got the Windsor. But then they made them all with autos that took all the life out of them.

Yes, they were the first to bring back Gullwing doors. Delorean was next.

Both cars are rather interesting as both were 2 seat "sports cars" funded by government loans/grants and both used unusual body materials that helped seal their doom.

The Delorean was dead slow but the Bricklin could keep up with the Corvettes of the time (albert that wasn't the greatest period for Vettes).

Ugly as sin? Well, maybe by today's standard but when they came out, they were really cool looking. I remember how much people liked the design and they stole the idea of the Boxer lower black area to make them look sportier and lower.

Early ones suffered from overheating which is why they got such a bad reputation in Arizona -- probably where most were sold in the early days.

 

Oh. God. No.

 

FWIW Not designed by a Canadian but Herb Grasse an American (look-up his quite respectable resume)

You and I only subcidised the project (way before Governement motors) like a few other automotive projects (ie; see the Manic auto, Enterra Vipre )

There are/were a few very honorable mentions ; see HTT-Plethore , Intermecanica or Paul Deutchman or Ralph or Karim Habib or Simon Lamarre or Maxime de Keiser

 

A friend of mine has a couple of them, one driveable and 2 more mainly for parts. His has the AMC engine which isn't too bad; doesn't take too much to get good HP out of it. The fit of the original plastic body panels is pretty bad, especially as time goes by. There are replacement epoxy and fibreglass body panels that are pretty good. The original hydraulic doors are soooooooooo slow you would get soaked in the rain waiting for them to open. Most people convert them to air-doors which work much better. The interiors do look kind of kitcar-ish. The cars never really did go up in value and likely never will. You can buy a decent driver for $10,000 or even less.
They were originally supposed to be safety vehicles (hence the "SV" in the name) with a very strong birdcage structure. Unfortunately it was realized that if you ever rolled it over you couldn't get out ----- gull wing doors don't open when inverted!

Rick

 

Proof that not all publicity is good.

1975 Bricklin SV1 - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time - TIME

 

My uncle still has his white one (Had it since 1980)...... Along with a collection of other obscure vehicles

 

I sold my orange one last year for 14 grand.

They only came in 5 colors (orange, green, white, red, and tan) They drive more like a Vette of that era than anything else, although they don't handle as well. 74s had a 360 ci AMC V8 and 75's used the Ford 351ci Windsor V8. They did make some 4 speed cars in 74, although they were rare....less than 200 made.

As mentioned before the doors are hydraulic, but most owners will change it over to air. A small compressor, and 2 air lines does the trick. Running hot was an issue but is a simple fix with a better rad, or an aux electric fan.

For the money they are neat cars, they turn heads like crazy. Parts are available and inexpensive.

 

Good article in the The Toronto Star.


The unsinkable Malcolm Bricklin - Wheels.ca Wheels.ca