At one time, this VW based kit car had to have been a bit wild! It is a Bradley GT and is for sale in Austin, Texas for $950 and you can see it here on Craigslist. While a year is not mentioned in the ad, these cars were built by Bradley Automotive starting in 1970. The buyer states that this car was converted to an electric drivetrain at some point, but unfortunately, the EV system has been removed. Whether you put a Beetle engine back in it or re-electrify it, this car would be fun to drive around town, but I would be hesitant to drive it in rush hour traffic or dart in front of an 18 wheeler.
The car retains its VW 4-speed transmission and a few other major components, but needs floors and a ton of work. The interior looks pretty rough but the car does come with the original fiberglass seats. This is definitely a project that will need everything to get it back on the road. From the pictures, the paint looks acceptable though.
Bradley Automotive was started in the late 1960s by Gary Courneya and David Bradley Fuller. They delivered their first kit car in 1970 and grew rapidly throughout the 1970s to sales of about $6,000,000 in 1977. At that point, several key employees left the company and went to work for a competitor, FiberFab, and Bradley Automotive never recovered. The company was forced into bankruptcy in 1978 and reopened as an electric car company but never regained the market share they once had.
Many of us grew up seeing these cars in magazines and ads in Popular Mechanics. I like the way this one looks with the newer VW hub caps, which appear to have been on the car when it was still driving around. It gives the car a more modern look, but might not be to everyone’s tastes. The lines of the car are unmistakable and it could be a cool car to get running, as long as you don’t mind climbing in and out of this 2 seater!
Cool car!
Priced right!!
Would make a great father/son project.
OR might just get snapped up by a VW Enthusiast.
(y) (y) :-)
Like bear said cool car at a decent price. Interesting that it uses parts of the VW floorpan and tunnel, Good luck to the new owner!!
Cheers
GPC
These are great cars for the beach house. Simple and at least the body will not rot
Small enough to park and you don’t have to worry about door dings.
The beach town we stay at has low speeds so going fast is not an issue
Would an electric motor benefit from a 4-speed transaxle, or is that just extra weight and drag? You could point a BMW diff to the rear and rig axle shafts.
In the original death race 2000 movie back in the1970s with David Carradine playing Frankenstein you will see a lot of Bradley’s and other kit cars in starring roles . Sylvester Stallone has one with mounted machine guns from his character machine gun joe in this movie.