Bricklin SV-1 feature

Born in Pennsylvania, USA, Bricklin made his first fortune in handyman and building supply store franchises before turning his attention to cars. After brokering a deal to offload Lambretta scooters to the New York Police Department in the early 1960s, Bricklin turned his attention to 'Rabbit' scooters from Japan, made by the same parent company responsible for Subarus. Soon after, Bricklin started bringing in the dimunitive Subaru 360 car, exploiting a loophole that meant the car didn't have to comply with US emissions and safety standards of the period. While suitable for the streets of Japan, the tiny 360 'kei' car was no match for the American highway. Later, a more bizarre plan to use up stocks of unsold Subarus involved selling franchises in go kart-style suburban fun park racetracks, with the diminutive 360s serving as the racecars.

Despite this relative failure, Bricklin had raised enough capital through the sale of Subaru dealership and race park franchises to make his next goal - a car bearing his own name - a possibility. While many before him had tried and failed to design and manufacture a car on their own in a climate dominated by America's 'Big Three' automakers - Ford, GM and Chrysler - Bricklin was determined to make the vision a reality. Bricklin's main point of difference from the Big Three was to pitch his creation as a 'safety sports car'. Apparently, Bricklin insisted on only two things for the car to bear his name: it had to be safe; and it had to have gullwing doors.

In the early 1970s, safety was still a low priority amongst America's car builders, and the car Bricklin envisaged would far exceed existing US Government auto safety requirements. Safety items included a sturdy box section frame that sat 17-inches off the ground, essentially creating side-intrusion bars. Bolted to the chassis was a framework for the gullwing doors and windscreen that also created a roll cage around the occupants. The body panels were in colour-impregnated acrylic plastic, bonded to fibreglass for strength and lightness.

Dubbed 'SV-1' (Safety Vehicle 1), the car was designed strictly as a two-seater. Bricklin claimed he didn't want to compromise safety by adding rear occasional seats. Other safety features included bumpers mounted on horizontal shock absorbers to absorb low speed impacts, a rear hatch that could be opened from the inside, non-reclining driver and passenger seats (again, Bricklin claimed this improved safety), and provision for an airbag in the glovebox area, although no production Bricklin was ever actually fitted with the feature.

Colours for the acrylic/fibreglass body were all highly visible safety hues, with names to match: Safety Red; Safety White; Safety Green; Safety Orange; and Safety Suntan (yes, really!). With the colours impregnated in the acrylic outer layer, it was claimed scratches and minor blemishes could be sanded and buffed out. The other talking point on the SV-1 was the gullwing doors. When the car was announced, there hadn't been a gullwing-doored car available in the US for more than 15 years, so it was a feature that helped to generate a lot of publicity for Bricklin and the SV-1.

Drumming up publicity - and investors - proved to be one of Bricklin's best assets. What he lacked in terms of experience in auto manufacturing, Bricklin more than made up with his exceptional salesmanship. With smooth talking, charisma and optimism, he managed to convince investors to part with millions of dollars, including the government of Canada's New Brunswick province, who chipped in over ten million themselves, on the proviso that Bricklin manufacture the car in the province to boost local employment. At his most optimistic, Bricklin had envisaged monthly production of 2500 units, a second manufacturing plant in the US and a four year production total of 100,000 cars.

The Bricklin story also has an Australian connection, albeit a tenuous one, as much of the prototype and production car's design was the work of Herb Grasse. In this country, Grasse is known for the design work he did while with Ford Australia. This included the XD Falcon, plus work on the local Ford Laser and Telstar. Prior to Grasse's involvement, Bricklin had commissioned a 'design concept' car visualised by Marshall Hobart. This concept differed from the prototypes and production SV-1 in a few areas, most notably the bonnet. The Hobart design had no central bonnet hump, as the car at that stage was to be powered by Chrysler's slant six engine, one of a number of engine variants considered in the project's early days. Following the Hobart concept, three prototypes, co-developed by Bricklin Vehicle Corporation, Herb Grasse Design, and AVC Engineering, were created before production commenced.

The initially promoted price of US$4,000 for the SV-1 seemed like a bargain, but the realities of automobile manufacture, even on a small scale, by a largely unskilled workforce soon played havoc with Bricklin's schedule and the car's sale price. By the time the first SV-1s were available in mid-1974, buyers who had laid down a deposit had been waiting months for their cars to be delivered, and the price had almost doubled. Build quality on the first cars was woeful, with no sound-deadening at all on the first 400 cars off the line, and things like weatherstripping and interior trim missing from other early production models. Bricklin was always quick to defend the SV-1 against his critics, but even he conceded the quality of the first 100 built was well below acceptable standards.

The SV-1's distinctive hydraulic gullwing doors also proved to be a problem. Each door weighed over 35 kg, so they needed serious power to be raised and lowered. Some sources identify very early examples as being wholly electrically-operated. Given the weight of each door, the switch to electro-pneumatic operation, as fitted to each of the cars shown here, isn't surprising. However, if the air lines leaked or the battery ran flat, you had to revert to muscle power to get in and out of your SV-1.

After 790 cars were built in 1974, Bricklin announced a switch from the American Motors-supplied 360ci V8 to Ford's 351ci Windsor V8 for the 1975 SV-1s. "Supply problems" were cited as the official reason for the change, although rumours of unpaid bills and a personality clash between Bricklin and AMC's Roy Chapin were also whispered. The engine switch meant the initial AMC 4-speed manual and 3-speed auto options were replaced by Ford's FMX 3-speed auto. A manual transmission was discussed, but how many, if any, 1975 SV-1s were fitted with a Ford manual trans is unknown. Another price rise came with the change in powerplant, with SV-1s now costing just under US$9,980, around $3,000 more than a comparable Chevrolet Corvette.

By mid-1975, despite all the hype and slick talking that Bricklin could deliver, the reality was that the whole operation was in serious trouble and needed another big cash injection to stay afloat. New Brunswick, concerned that production wasn't meeting Bricklin's bold predictions, turned off their taps after a final US$7.5 million donation in January 1975. With no other funding options forthcoming, the Bricklin Vehicle Corporation went into receivership in September 1975 with fewer than 2900 cars built. The final carving up of assets saw the last 300 cars sold to a car dealer in Ohio, who also received all rights to the Bricklin name and trademarks. So, by the end of 1975, less than two years after its official debut, the Bricklin SV-1 was dead. Malcolm Bricklin would dabble in the automotive industry for some time afterward, his most notable, some might say infamous, venture being the importation of the Yugoslavian-built 'Yugo' cars to the US in the 1980s.

Today, the Bricklin and the Delorean tend to get lumped together, largely because both were marketed as sportscars, both featured distinctive gullwing doors and both were failures in the marketplace. Despite being the original, the Bricklin is by far the lesser known of the two. But if the producers of 'Back to the Future' had made a different decision back in the early '80s, it may have been a different story!

Being such a rare sight in this country, the appearance of two Bricklin SV-1s for sale with JUST CARS prompted further investigation. Of the two, the main car featured here is a 1975 example. Purchased in the US by a Queensland enthusiast approximately two years ago, the Bricklin had done very few kilometres - only around 28,000 - upon its arrival here and was still original, but had been sitting unused for two years. Soon after buying it, the purchaser decided he didn't really want the car, but passed away before the necessary repair work to get it ready for a sale could be done. The project was taken on by a family friend as part of the deceased estate. After adding a new battery, carburettor and fuel pump, a replacement 12V compressor (for the doors) and minor electrical replacements, the car was running and road-ready. A couple of other minor parts were purchased for fitting prior to sale.

The seller described the '75 Bricklin as a "tight little car that goes really hard". As the seller also has a Corvette in his garage, he certainly had a good yardstick to measure it against. One would imagine the 'Vette would be the winner in the performance and handling stakes, right? Not so, according to the seller. He described the handling as being very good, gear shifting smooth and speed impressive - a lot faster than his Corvette, apparently. The main negative he identified, the same niggle shared by critics of the Bricklin when new, was the extreme heaviness of the gullwing doors. Any dodgy electrics or leaks in the air lines used to open the doors soon revealed just how heavy they are.

The 1975 model SV-1 featured is a 'Safety White' example with the Ford 351 V8 and FMX auto. Overall, the condition is described as very good, with no signs of accident damage to the body. The bonnet has some slight warping, a feature common to most Bricklins it seems, but it's the only flaw of note on the body. Shortly after being listed with JUST CARS, the '75 Bricklin was sold to a Victorian buyer.

The other Bricklin SV-1, a 1974 model, was also sold just prior to this article going to press, coincidentally going to the same buyer! The '74 model had originally been imported by the NSW-based seller in the late 1980s, when C1974-75 Bricklins became eligible under the 15-year importation rule. Back then, Bricklins weren't common, but the seller still managed to find around 10 scattered across the country, with most on the US West Coast. After scouring classified ads, a suitable example was located in Los Angeles, but needed work. It had been radically lowered - to the point the wheels were rubbing on the guards - and had been up on blocks for the past 12 years. Despite this, the body and interior were good (at least for a Bricklin!), and it had the preferred 360 V8/auto trans combination.

After bringing it back to Australia, the SV-1 was returned to running spec, which included a carby rebuild and replacement of the suspension units to return the car to its normal ride height. The seller spent some time driving it locally and had a similar take on the Bricklin's performance to the seller in Queensland, commenting that the car was "incredibly easy" to get up to 150kph. This would have to be due in part to the 360 V8, which had more grunt than the Ford 351 fitted to the 1975 models. The NSW seller did note the steering could be heavy, but believed a fresh set of tyres could at least partly cure this.

After enjoying it for some time, the seller left the workforce in 1993, and couldn't afford to keep the Bricklin, so put it up for sale. That's right, this car has been on the market - off and on - since 1993! After years of fruitless advertising, the seller was just about to give up when he tried one last time and it paid off - the JUST CARS ad worked! After sitting unused for some time, the transmission was thought to be at fault, but it turned out to be locked rear brakes, which had just been freed up by the new owner as this article was being finalised.

We're sure the current owner is now unique in this country in having not one, but two Bricklins in his possession. The same "different" factor that attracted the original and current owners is undoubtedly the main appeal of the SV-1 today. If you're looking for a fibreglass-bodied US sports car that ISN'T a Corvette, there's really no other option. Whether the SV-1 has genuine sports car credentials is debatable, though. When new, road tests were none too kind, but the individual owners we've contacted rate the SV-1 as a very quick car that handles and brakes well, the equal or better of a Corvette from the same era. If you can live with the compromises that come with this sort of car, it's one that's sure to be enjoyed. One thing's for sure, if you purchase a Bricklin SV-1, prepare to spend a lot of time at service stations and traffic lights telling people what it is you're driving!




SPECIFICATIONS: 1975 Bricklin SV-1 (1974 model differences in brackets)

Chassis: Perimeter frame with integral rollcage
Body: Acrylic plastic/fibreglass matt laminate panels
Engine: Ford 351ci V8 (AMC 360ci V8)
Bore/Stroke: 4.08 inch x 3.44 inch (4.08 x 3.44 inch)
Compression: 8.1:1
Power/torque: 175bhp@3800rpm / N/A (220bhp@4400rpm / 315lb/ft@3100rpm)
Fuel system: Single two barrel carburettor (single four barrel carburettor)
Cooling system: Liquid
Electrics: 12 Volt
Transmission: 3-speed Ford FMX automatic (4-speed manual or 3-speed auto)
Front Suspension: Unequal length A-arms, coil over shocks, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Semi-elliptic leaf springs, shock absorbers, twin trailing links
Steering: Recirculating ball, power assisted (non-power assisted)
Front brakes: 11 inch ventilated disc, power assisted
Rear brakes: 10 x 1.9 inch drum, power assisted (10 x 1.75 inch drum)
Wheels: 15 x 7 inch Fr/Rr
Tyres: FR60-15 Fr/Rr
Wheelbase: 96" - 2438mm
Length: 178.6" - 4536mm
Width: 67.6" - 1717mm
Ground clearance: 4.8" - 122mm
Weight: 3,470lb - 1574kg (3,555lb - 1613kg)
Fuel Capacity: 21 gallons - 79.5 litres
0-100 kph: 9.9 secs - approx.
Top Speed: 111 mph [177 kph] - approx

Standard Equipment (1975 models only): Air conditioning, AM/FM stereo radio, digital clock, tinted glass, alloy wheels, radial tyres, rear window defroster, tilt steering wheel, power brakes, power steering, warning lights (brakes, oil pressure, rear-window heater, door open, seatbelts, high beam, indicators, hazard), full gauge instrumentation.