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A Bricklin SV-1 with its doors open The Bricklin SV-1 was a gullwing door sports car built in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada from 1974 until early 1976 for the US market. The car was the creation of Malcolm Bricklin, an American millionaire who had previously founded Subaru of America. Sales did not meet expectations, and only 2,854 cars were built before the company went into receivership, owing the government $23 million. It is believed that around 1500 cars still exist.
The name stood for "safety vehicle one", an odd choice of focus in a sports car from the fuel-sensitive 1970s. The Bricklin was designed for safety with an integrated roll cage, 5 mph bumpers, and side beams. The body was fiberglass with bonded acrylic in five "safety" colors. The cars had no cigarette lighter or ashtray.
Power came from an AMC 360 in³ V8 for 1974. Later cars used Ford's 351 in³ Windsor V8. The suspension was independent in front with A-arms and coil springs, while the rear used leaf springs on a live axle.
Among the factors that doomed the Bricklin were a high price, build quality problems especially with leaking gullwing doors, lack of confidence in its acrylic plastic bodyshell, and a poorly designed electro-pneumatic system for raising the heavy doors. The later De Lorean, which resembled the Bricklin in many ways, used a much more reliable torsion bar system to raise the doors.
A later Bricklin development was a true rotary engine (not a Wankel engine). However, this never saw the light of day.
Malcolm Bricklin is in the car business once more, trying to revive the Yugo.[1] (http://www.invest-in-serbia.com/archive/2002_05/2002_05_12_1.htm)
In the Media
A New Brunswick film company, Cojak Productions, is reviewing the Bricklin fiasco in a docu-drama. Malcolm Bricklin will be playing himself. Three Bricklins were discovered in Halifax and have been purchased for use in the film.
The film has been tentatively named , will be aired on RDI and Radio-Canada International at a date yet to be determined.
Problems
- The gull-wing doors weighed 45 kilograms each. They also leaked.
- Electrical issues
- Headlights often refused to pop up
- The plastic body was subject to cracks
- A high sticker price
See also
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