We all know the issue with kit cars: they look cool as heck but have seriously underwhelming powerplants and chassis. Most all of them have a Volkswagen air-cooled engine residing out back, which takes the sheen off those sexy gullwing doors almost immediately. This project-grade 1970 Bradley GT solves that problem by having a 200 horsepower 13B rotary engine mounted in place of the wheezy Beetle motor. Find it here on craigslist for $5,000.
Now, as you might expect, this is a bit of an unfinished project. The Bradley comes from a high school shop program where it was donated in 2014. The seller apparently snagged it away from the shop program and had it last running a year and a half ago. There’s an ancient video still on YouTube from when the original builder owned it and it certainly sounds like he’s beaming with pride when discussing his rotary-powered wonder.
Here’s the thing with these kit cars: they’re actually pretty cool when modified with more powerful engines and upgraded wheels and tires, as this car is. The video above references the Enkei wheels it still wears, and these do an incredible job of addressing one of the biggest shortcomings with the Bradley: the underwhelming way in which the standard-issue wheel and tire combo fills out the generous wheel wells. When you sort out details like that, the rest of the package instantly looks better, especially since the interiors were always fairly upscale for a car you could assemble yourself.
What’s perhaps most surprising about this rotary-powered Bradley is that the video linked above appears to show that the builder of this high-performance kit car was quite proud of his creation. So, how does it end up just being given to the local high school to potentially tear apart? It seems odd, but then again, there’s always the chance of being under the gun to get the car sold due to a storage issue or other complication, and given the limited pool of buyers for a car like this, it’s not hard to imagine the phone not exactly ringing off the hook. I dig it; what do you think this rotary-powered Bradley is worth?
That limited pool of buyers would probably like to see some pictures of the whole car, not parts of it. Might be the best Bradley ever built but you sure can’t tell it from the pictures.
Some of the worst pictures for a car for sale. Best one was under the car cover.
This is a Bradley GTII not a early Bradley GT….GTII’s were much better built and more refined kit compared to its original Bradley GT predecessor.
That was a waste of a perfectly good rotary engine. I’ve owned a couple of rx8s the engine is about 2000 if it runs throw the rest away.
DEATH TRAP! we owned 3 Mazda 2 VW franchises and we had 1 of these Bradley GTs traded in.
As a teen i saw it sitting on the back row so I took it & cleaned it up the mechanics warned me WATCH OUT.
At 70mph the front end would shake from it being so flimsy & wind resistance.
It’s just a plastic fiberglass shell on top of a VW pan.
Drove it a couple of days took it back & into the crusher it went with the engine given to a mechanic.
These things are really unsafe & should NEVER be allowed on the road. A motorcycle would slice right through the side into passenger compartment to Nothing of an SUV or Truck.
I can clean that garage by $500. I’ll bring my truck