I remember when the Bricklin SV-1 was introduced in 1974. Promising safety and performance in the same package with sports car good looks, I thought it couldn’t miss and it became my “dream car” for a while. Unfortunately, the promises didn’t come to pass, but 2,906 were built over a three year period and this early car, number 78, is listed for sale here on eBay. The buy it now price is only $3,995 and the seller is interested in offers even lower than that! It’s located in Brooklyn, New York, a mere 610 miles from where it was built in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.
The ratchet strap semi-holding the doors in position says a lot about the SV-1. The composite body was manufactured from acrylic and fiberglass and suffered many issues both in production and afterwards. It’s rare in my experience to find a Bricklin with clean panel joins and an unwarped hood and this one is no exception.
We’re told the car is showing only 1,056 miles! While that may be difficult to believe, the car is on it’s original tires, so it may actually be true.
The interior has certainly suffered due to ingress of moisture through the years. Although it’s in the open now, it has supposedly been stored in a barn since the late 1970s.
This is a 360 cubic inch AMC V8 from American Motors that was fitted to all 1974 SV-1s. In this application with a four-barrel carburetor, it was rated at 220 hp and was backed by a 3-speed Torque Command automatic (actually a Mopar transmission). Are you willing to deal with the fit and finish issues to refurbish an early example of a rare American sports car?
That’s been repainted. It’s certainly not ‘Safety Red’, though it is a nicer shade in my opinion.
Looks flooded.
These were not painted but had the color bonded into the body panels. I don’t how the material takes paint or why it would be repainted with just over 1000 miles. Second I thought the AMC engine cars had stick shifts?
Close. The only standard transmissions were in the 1974 models and the AMC engines.
The peeling looks more to me like some type of vinyl wrap coming off…
This one was either painted or wrapped. If you look at the VIN listed, the color is a 5, which is Safety Suntan. Sort of a Salmon color.
Can see tide marks on the rubber where its been rolled how long has it been out doors?
What a goldmine!
Can anyone ID the orange ride under the infamous “blue tarp”?
Another Bricklin
I lived in Saint John in the years the Bricklin was built,it was kind of a joke even then. This smooth talking American(Malcom) talking the Premier (Richard Hatfield) out of more and more taxpayers money to build his dream car. Old Richard even drove around on the campaign trail in one I believe. New Brunswickers,being perpetually seeking good paying jobs,kept the money flowing even after it became apparent the whole thing was a bust. In order to spread the jobs around,the bodys were built in a different plant,miles away in Minto I think,and trucked to Saint John,where they were found to be of poor quality and fit and finish was pretty much kit car like. After the plug was finally pulled on the operation,I remember seeing the unfinished ones sitting in the plant parking lot,waiting for the liquidators I suppose. Some people ended up getting those real cheap and finishing them themselves. The hydraulic doors was a big failure,all have been converted by now to electric in any still on the road. Very few people around Eastern Canada ever though very highly of the Bricklin back in the day ,and very few do now.
I love the quirky, & odd of autodom, but the SV-1 never really captured my attention enough to warrant a purchase. Back in the mid 70s my hometown Ford dealer had a white SV-1 growing roots on their back lot. My guess is it was a trade-in on a new Ford or Mercury. The dealership moved to a bigger location in the mid 80s, not sure the Bricklin made the 3 mile trip to the new digs
Junk. One of a few old cars I would loose no sleep after sending it to the crusher.
Or send it back to the lagoon it was fished out of.
IIRK the left over cars were purchased by Byer’s in Columbus, Ohio. I recall dozens of Bricklins sitting in a large lot. Byer’s often purchased “distessed” merchandise such as dozens of long wheel base, right hand drive Jeepshave been a di, (Not Postal Jeeps) They were also a Bricklin dealer per the cover of a 1996 atlas given away by them.
There also is a well-known collector/dealer/parts guy in the Rochester NY area. Bricklin Autosport.
The car is canadian built not American still a fairly rare car might be worth it to try and bring it back
I see one of these cars sitting at some kind of mechanic shop once in a while about 20 minutes from where I live and I kinda like the body lines on these cars
I remember being at a swap meet in San Diego where this poor old man was practically begging for someone to pay 50k for his Bricklin that he had spent well over 80k on in repairs and it still needed work!
The Bricklin has the same test mule look as the Holden featured the other day.
None of the panels seem to line up or have a temporary cobbled look to them,
1000 miles ? Why even mention the mileage after 44 years. Especially in this condition?
A longtime friend of mine owns 3 of ’em.
Since he and his wife were snowbirds, he
kept them stored at his home in Wisconsin. His cars were all completely
restored and were in running order. I
found about them when he came into the
restaraunt I was working at and asked me
to paint him a portrait of a Bricklin. Thanks to a really cool store manager, I
was able to display my prints on the
wall nearest the soda machine. His print
was one of 100 prints I made that year.
These cars are so obscure that I couldn’t
find a photo to use as a model as all the
photos of my friend’s car had been
destroyed when Hurricane Charlie roared
through Winter Haven in 2004. After he
picked up his portrait, we became close
friends. All of his cars were powered
by 351 Cleveland V-8s and he told that
they were pretty quick for what they were-
a low production nightmare that brought
owners quite a bit of grief. Haven’t seen
him yet this year, hope he’s okay.
Couple things Bricklin owners never get to hear… “Man that Bricklin is badass!” ” Can’t believe how hard it launches off the line!”
And “take me for a ride honey”
I have only 3 thoughts about this one! UGLY, UGLY, UGLY! I never say that about any car except for the corvettes!
My how those lived in the 1970’s soon forget and those who were born in the 80’s need to study their automotive history. One of the newest and at the time revolutionary vehicles from the 1970’s.
There wasn’t the technology to build an entire car on a computer program as we have today. Many items look great on paper or clay until you attempt and undertake such as building a car. Many of the short comings of the car were never worked out due to the short production span.
I applaud Bricklin for following his dream. Many of the failures were not his fault for instance changing from the mighty AMC 360 and 727 to Fords anemic 351 and FMX that jutted the entire drivetrain into the radiator. The original design was never set up for that. The car was based on the Javelin for reliability and ease of maintenance. Many parts were AMC.
If it were so easy to build a new car out of thin air everyone would be doing it.
I have a PDF copy of the Bricklin factory shop manual. The illustration of the front suspension (attached here) looks like it could have been lifted out of an AMC manual from the same year! Probably calling the Bricklin a Javelin with a trick body is not too far from the truth. :)
To quote the Javelin ads from 1973 and 74 of their numerous back to back Trans AM racing victories. A simple reminder for those who owned one and to those that didn’t.
It’s nice to know you are driving a winner.
Looks like it got about 3/4 finished eating and 8 track tape and died.
I saw this car a few weeks back when looking for a C3 Vette with my Pops. He’s got a couple of these and a dozen ratty C3’s.
These had 12!!! mph bumpers.
I can think of 1 word after seein this car – Sandy!
Do they make replacment doors for this car – else how do u fix what’s on there now?
Car is out of proportion with those huge bumpers – should have been WIDER.