Bricklin SV-1

Bricklin SV-1
Overview
Manufacturer General Vehicle DBA Bricklin
Production 1974–75
Body and chassis
Class Sports car
Body style two-door coupé
Layout FR layout
Powertrain
Engine AMC 360 V8 (1974)
Ford Windsor 351 V8 (1975–76)
Dimensions
Wheelbase 96.0 in (2,438 mm)
Length 178.6 in (4,536 mm)
Width 67.6 in (1,717 mm)
Height 48.15 in (1,223 mm) (doors closed)
Curb weight 3,470 lb (1,570 kg)
Green Bricklin
Rear
Interior

The Bricklin SV-1 is a gull-wing door sports car that was assembled in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The body panels were manufactured in a separate plant in Minto, New Brunswick. Manufactured from 1974 until early 1976 for the U.S. market, the car was the creation of Malcolm Bricklin, an American millionaire who had previously founded Subaru of America. The car was designed by Herb Grasse.[1][2] The Bricklin factory was not able to produce vehicles fast enough to make a profit. As a result, only 2,854 cars were built before the company went into receivership, owing the New Brunswick government $21 million.

The model name (SV-1), stood for "safety vehicle one". The original idea for the Bricklin SV-1 was a safe and economical sports car, but due to the added weight of the safety features, the car was inefficient and simply a safe sports car. The Bricklin was designed for safety with an integrated roll cage, 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumpers, and side beams. The body was fibreglass with bonded acrylic in five "safety" colours: white, red, green, orange and suntan. The cars had no cigarette lighter or ashtray.[3] Non-smoker Malcolm Bricklin believed it was unsafe to smoke and drive. The Bricklin is the only production vehicle in automotive history to have factory powered gull-wing doors that opened and closed at the touch of a button as standard equipment. The later DeLorean DMC-12's gull-wing doors operate manually, and the Tesla Model X's rear doors are referred to as falcon-wing doors rather than gull-wing due to the extra hinge.

The first Bricklin concept car, later dubbed Grey Ghost, was built by Bruce Meyers of Meyers Manx dune buggy fame in California. Its initial powerplant was a Valiant Slant Six.[4]

Herb Grasse Design Work

In 1972 Herb Grasse (best-known for his contributions to the conversion of the 1955 Lincoln Futura show car to TV's original Batmobile when he worked with customizer George Barris) built three Bricklin styling models to interest banks and other potential investors in the gull-wing safety sports car.[5] The eventual full prototypes one, two, and three were a collaboration by Bricklin Vehicle Corporation, Herb Grasse Design and AVC Engineering.[4]

Technical specifications

Power came from a 360 cu in (5,899 cc) AMC 360 V8 for 1974. Later cars used a 351 cu in (5,752 cc) Ford Windsor V8. Performance figures rated favorably against the contemporary Corvette, which most auto magazines used as a point of comparison.[6][7] The front suspension used A-arms and coil springs, while the rear used leaf springs on a live axle. For the 1974 model year, 772 cars were produced, 137 of which had four-speed manual transmissions. All 1975 and 1976 cars had automatic transmissions. In 1974 potential owners were given a choice of transmission and color whereas in 1975 there was only a choice of color.

In a bid to reduce production costs, Bricklin attempted to bond fibreglass to acrylic plastic—something the plastics industry had not perfected at the time—resulting in a high failure rate and high production costs (some panels cracked while still in their molds). Cars also tended to overheat due to using a single radiator opening in the 1974 model. Doubling the size of the opening failed to solve the problem. Running examples today generally feature a retrofitted larger radiator.

It soon became obvious that Bricklin's claims of a "high performance safety car" were not realized in the production models. It is believed that fewer than 1120 Bricklin cars still exist.[8]

1976 models

After the Bricklin manufacturer's receivership, George Byers and Sol Shenk of Consolidated Motors, an automotive liquidator from Columbus, Ohio, purchased the majority of the parts and remaining cars left on the line. These cars surfaced later, completely assembled from left-over parts, and were sold as 1976 models.

Financial troubles

Under the direction of New Brunswick Premier Richard Hatfield, the provincial government provided financing of $4.5 million for Bricklin's car. The money had been advanced on the assumption that Bricklin needed it to begin the production of cars. In truth, it had paid for the engineering and development of Bricklin's car as well as many of the costs, including salaries of keeping Bricklin's U.S. companies in operation.[9]

Bricklin and enthusiasts

In the media

Awards

1975 Bricklin SV-1 was rated by TIME in the series The 50 Worst Cars of All Time.[14]

Commemorating the Bricklin

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bricklin designs by Herb Grasse". Herbgrassedesign.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  2. ↑ Web Easy Professional Avanquest Publishing USA, Inc. (1975-09-26). "History of the Bricklin car". Bricklinautosport.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  3. ↑ "Bricklin SV1". Autocar. Vol. 143 (nbr 4107). 26 July 1975. pp. 56–57.
  4. 1 2 The First Bricklin Concept Car Consumer Guides
  5. ↑ "The Museum of Automobile History in Syracuse, N.Y., has everything, except cars. Gregg D. Merksamer, Popular mechanics, November 2001". Popularmechanics.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  6. ↑ Production of the 1974 and 1975 Bricklin SV-1 by The editors of Consumer Guide
  7. ↑ Chevrolet Corvette Stingray vs. Bricklin SV-1 - Road Test By Don Sherman, May 1975
  8. ↑ "Where are they now? " Bricklin International (Club Website), 31 October 2008
  9. ↑ "Richard Hatfield." Heritage Resources, 21 January 2008.
  10. ↑ "Artifact Spotlight - Bricklin SV-1". Canada Science and Technology Museum. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Pedersen, Andy. "Bricklin’s Wild Ride." CBC.ca, 21 February 2005.
  12. ↑ "The Bricklin Song". Bricklin.org. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  13. ↑ "Deadline Auto Theft Movie Trailer on youtube". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  14. ↑ Dan, Niel (2007-09-07). "The 50 Worst Cars of All Time: 1975 Bricklin SV1". TIME Magazine.
  15. ↑ "The Bricklin Stamp". Saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca. 1974-07-01. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  16. ↑ "2003 $20 Sterling Silver Land, Sea & Rail Coins". Coins4me.com. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2011-08-07.

Notes

  1. ^ 1974 Sales literature
  2. ^ Bricklin History

Books

Out of Print

External links

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