The Bricklin SV-1 is a two-seat sports car assembled in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, from 1974 until late 1975 for the American market--and noted for its gull-wing doors and color-impregnated and bonded acrylic and fiberglass bodywork.
The car was the creation of Malcolm Bricklin, founder of Subaru of America, was styled by Herb Grasse (1945-2010). and launched in 1974 at the New York City's Four Seasons ballroom. Its model name SV-1 an acronym for "safety vehicle one", the Bricklin had an integral roll cage and 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumpers.
A number of factors contributed to the car's ultimate demise, including the company's inexperience working with Detroit auto companies, a host of unresolved design problems, company nepotism, supplier shortages, worker absenteeism and a series of rapid price escalations that saw the actual price of the car more than double over initial projections.
Unable to manufacture its product profitably, the company went into receivership after a total production fewer than 3,000 with an estimated 1500 Bricklins surviving as of 2012.
Video Bricklin SV-1
Design and manufacture
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.
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. The eventual full prototypes one, two, and three were a collaboration by the Bricklin Vehicle Corporation, Herb Grasse Design and AVC Engineering.
The Bricklin was assembled at a plant at Grandview Industrial Park in St John, New Brunswick, at 150 Industrial Drive. Its bodywork was manufactured at a plant in Minto, New Brunswick, where production of innovative marriage of acrylic and fiberglass proved notoriously difficult -- with a failure rate of body panels up to 60 per cent of production.
Under the initial support of New Brunswick premier, Richard Hatfield, the provincial government provided financing of $4.5 million for Bricklin's car. The money had been advanced to begin the production of cars, when in fact seed money was used for the engineering and development the car as well as salaries and operations of the Phoenix-headquartered company.
Maps Bricklin SV-1
Technical features
The SV-1 was a two-door, two-seat hatchback with gull-wing doors, hidden headlamps and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. It's bodywork was a composite material made up of acrylic resin bonded to a fibreglass substrate. The acrylic was impregnated with the body's colour, which had the potential to reduce costs, as it eliminated the need for the factory to paint the cars in a separate step. The five "Safety" colours offered were one of the few options buyers had.
The doors, which weighed 90 lb (40.8 kg) each, were raised by hydraulic cylinders controlled by switches in the interior, and took up to 12 seconds to open or close. The system was sensitive to the condition of the car's battery, as well as being prone to breakdown. The system used a single pump and had no door interlock, so opening one door at the same time as closing the other had the potential to burn out the pump motor.
The Bricklin's chassis was a steel perimeter frame with an integrated roll-over structure. The front and rear bumpers were designed to absorb the force of a 5 mph (8.0 km/h) impact.
The front suspension used A-arms and coil springs and was made up of parts shared with a variety of AMC models including the Hornet, Matador, Gremlin and Ambasassador. At the rear was a Hotchkiss system of leaf springs on a live axle.
Braking was by power-assisted 11 in (279 mm) disks in front and 10 in (254 mm) drums in back. Kelsey-Hayes provided the brake components for Bricklins built from 1974 to early 1975, after which the car used parts from Bendix.
Production Bricklins were powered by one of two OHV V8 engines, depending on the year of manufacture. Cars built in 1974 received a 360 cu in (5,899 cc) AMC V8 from American Motors. With a single four-barrel carburetor this engine produced 220 hp (164.1 kW) and 315 ft?lb (427.1 N?m) of torque. Transmission options for the year were a 3-speed Torque Command automatic (AMC's rebranded TorqueFlite 727) or a BorgWarner T-10 4-speed manual. Of the 772 cars built in 1974, 137 received the manual. Cars built in 1975 mounted a 351 cu in (5,752 cc) Windsor V8 from Ford, a change which required an extensive redesign of the car's subframe. With a single two-barrel carburetor this later engine produced 175 hp (130.5 kW) and 286 ft?lb (387.8 N?m) of torque. As Ford had no manual transmission EPA certified for the 351W engine, transmission options were limited to the Ford FMX 3-speed automatic.
The cars had no cigarette lighters or ashtrays. There was also no provision for a spare tire.
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.
In the media
- The Bricklin Story was a 30-minute 1974 film produced by In-Sight Productions and funded by Bricklin as a self-promotion piece. It aired nationally on CBC and was roundly panned by critics.
- History Television and Barna-Alper produced a documentary, The Premier, The Promoter & Their Car, for its Turning Points of History series. The documentary explores the political fiasco that surrounded the Bricklin vehicle.
- Film company Cojak Productions and director Chris LeBlanc produced a dramatized retelling of the Bricklin saga titled La Légende Bricklin. Malcolm Bricklin returned to New Brunswick to shoot scenes where he played himself. Three Bricklins once owned by the Irving family were discovered in Halifax and were purchased for use in the film. The film aired on RDI and Radio-Canada on April 15, 2006.
- As part of its series Tout le monde en parlait, Société Radio-Canada presented a 30-minute documentary on the car that focused on its economic impact in 2013.
- Bricklin International member and New Brunswick resident Charlie Russell wrote a two-part song, "The Bricklin", which takes a satirical view of the history of the car.
- In 2010, Theatre New Brunswick and The Playhouse (Fredericton) produced a musical, The Bricklin: An Automotive Fantasy, portraying the Bricklin story through funk music. An orange-colored Bricklin similar to Hatfield's was used on stage during the show.
Commemoration
- As part of a series commemorating Historic Land Vehicles, Canada issued the Bricklin Stamp on June 8, 1996 with a face value of 45¢.
- In June 2003, the Canadian mint issued a $20 sterling silver Bricklin coin with selective gold plating.
See also
- Bricklin EVX/LS
- Visionary Vehicles
References
Further reading
- Pickens, Stillman "Still" (1977). How to Brickle The New Brunswick Funny Book - Interduction [sic] by Still Pickens. Fredericton: Omega Publishing Division of Omega Management Services. ISBN 978-0969073208.
- Pickens, Stillman "Still" (1978). Bricklemanship The New Brunswick Grief Book - Interduction [sic] by Still Pickens. Fredericton: Omega Publishing Division of Omega Management Services. ISBN 978-0969073215.
- Clarke, R. M. (18 July 1995). Bricklin 1974-1975 Gold Portfolio. Brooklands Book Ltd. ISBN 978-1855203099.
- Cranswick, Marc (15 December 2011). The Cars of American Motors: An Illustrated History. McFarland Publishing. ISBN 978-0786446728.
- Ledoux, Paul; Cole, Allen (20 May 2015). The Bricklin: An Automotive Fantasy. Scirocco Drama. ISBN 978-1927922149.
- Vuic, Jason (2 March 2010). The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History. Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0809098910.
External links
- Bricklin International, club website
- Brochure Pages From The Bricklin at The Old Car Manual Project
- 1974-1975 Bricklin SV-1 at HowStuffWorks.com
- "In search of the Canadian Car - Bricklin SV-1", an online exhibition of the Virtual Museum of Canada
- Bricklin SV-1 in movies and TV series at the Internet Movie Cars Database
Source of article : Wikipedia
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