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Imagine it is 1975, and you want to buy one of those nifty new Bricklins. When you head down to the dealership with your significant other, the salesperson does such a fantastic job that you end up going home with two of these unusual sports cars. After 48 years together, these gull-winged beauties are now being split up by the latest owner. Sadly, the resprayed green metallic car you see above is being sold first. If you are interested in this distinctive green 1975 Bricklin SV-1 for sale on eBay in Henderson, Nevada, then you had best speak up soon. With bidding currently at $17,400 with just three days to go, is the intense interest in this car a sign that a respray and wire wheels don’t matter to collectors, or is this the going rate for a well-cared-for Bricklin?
Malcolm Bricklin was a very interesting fellow. He started in his father’s hardware business and soon turned it into a franchised operation by the age of 19. Then he became the importer of Subaru cars into America. After that, if the preceding two achievements weren’t enough, he decided to produce his own sports car with an emphasis on safety. Being an independent automaker is a very Herculean task, but Bricklin managed to produce 2,854 of them before being forced into receivership. Never idle, he went on to import the X1-9, 2000 convertible, and the Yugo. His last attempt to market Chinese automobiles in North America under the Chery brand did not bear fruit.
Undoubtedly, the Bricklin SV-1 was his finest work. These gull-winged sports cars were proposed to be the safest car on the road. Once the realities of engineering set in, these lofty goals gave way to producing a car with a full roll cage, steel perimeter frame, and a front bumper that was built far in excess of regulations at that time. Another interesting feature was that the color of the car was impregnated into the acrylic that was bonded to the fiberglass body panels. This may have been convenient to some, but it limited your color choices to what was trendy during the 1974 through 1976 production run.
Not, however, if you were the owner of this 1975 Bricklin SV-1, resplendent in a metallic green over its Safety Orange original color. The story on this one is interesting. According to the seller, the original owner, Mr. Irwin, was infatuated with the Bricklin’s design. The problem was that he was indecisive to a degree and took his wife to the dealership eight times to look at the offerings. On that fateful eighth visit, the dealer made an offer on the wife’s car that she couldn’t refuse and sold her a new Bricklin. Next thing you know, two sales were made that day. Health reasons in 1989 caused Mr. Irwin to stop driving this car. Both cars managed to stay with the original owners until November 2023.
It just so happens that the seller was passing through Mr. Irwin’s neighborhood and saw the two Bricklins in his open garage. A deal was soon struck, and both cars were shipped to Nevada without delay. Since arriving in their new temporary home, the 35,000-mile green car you see here has been brought back to life. The 351 Ford engine runs fine, and the transmission shifts as it should. The brake system will need tending to, and a set of tires should be put on the car without delay.
What is not mentioned in the ad is the metallic green respray. A look at the body panels evident when the hood is raised shows that this car was originally Safety Orange. One would think that painting a Bricklin would negatively impact the value, but there have been 50 bids on this car since the start of the auction. Perhaps it is the condition of the car, which is said to be very good. The interior is free of rips and tears, the undercarriage reflects the claim that the car was never driven in bad weather, and the exterior is of a car that has always been garaged.
You have to also admit that the metallic green goes well with the car’s lines. The wire wheels, however, would probably need to find a new home. In all, it is a great candidate if you want a driver. If you want one that is more in line with how Bricklin’s left the factory, all you have to do is wait for the second car to come up for sale.
Almost any car painted to look like a Hot Wheels always steals my heart. The color is fantasic! Wish I had money to play. Someone’s gonna have some real fun with this.
“His last attempt to market Chinese automobiles in North America under the Chery brand did not bear fruit.”
That was funny! Well done!
bt
One might say, if one was so inclined, that it was the pits.
I owned a red 75 for a few years, had my fun and sold it, they are very kit car like. This green paint is like lipstick on a pig. Jeff not sure how you came up with 50 bids? There is 35 bids and only 12 bidders.
I worked at a Pontiac/Honda store back in the day. We were also a Brciklin dealership. (Kind of?) We were an official dealer but only received one car. We waited and waited and waited until one frozen winter day it showed up on the car transport. I was over the cab of the truck and the battery was dead. So, how do you open the doors of a car that has power/hydraulic operated gull-wing doors that has a dead battery? You manage to get the skinniest guy in the dealership ME! (boy those days are long gone!) pry the door open enough to squeeze me through with the keys. Then you jump the starter from underneath to get the car running. The truck driver tried to get to the car so that he could back it down, but he fell twice on the icy ramps. So I was instructed to back it down. (very scary when you are 20 years old and never did anything like that before) I made it down the ramp with no issues and drove it into the shop breaking the lower spoiler in the process. I then pulled the pin on the door lift rod and open the door with 2 other people holding it up so that i could get out. Since I was now the resident Bricklin expert, it was my job to change the battery. (stuffed in a box behind the driver’s seat like some Corvettes, but no real room for a wrench for the side terminal battery.) The battery removal issue was also compounded by the fact that the hydraulic line for the door lift was made too short and was in the way. Once the spoiler was repaired and the car washed up, it was time to park it on the showroom floor. Again, since I was the resident expert it was my job to pull it out of the wash bay drive it out onto the street in order to drive it onto the showroom floor. Since we were a Pontiac store also, I was used to the Trans Am/GTO torque, so I wanted to just try it out a little and goosed the throttle. 5 GALLONS OF WATER CAME OUT OF NOWHERE (ROOF) AND DROWN ME! So as I got out of the car I was dripping wet and all there, thought it was pretty funny! We were never able to stop the roof/door from leaking, so we had to drill holes in the floor to get the water out!
Many, many years later, I was cruising through South Lake Tahoe and came upon a Bricklin convention. All the cars had covers over the cockpit area as it had just rained. The person I was with made the comment about the owners concerned about the sun and the interiors being damaged. I had to inform them it was about water leaking in. They did not believe me, so I stopped the car and made them get out and look for holes drilled in the floor. They did get out and look and shook their head all the way back to the car. I would still own one if the price was right. They are just different enough to be cool!
Great story!
I always thought the front end looked like a codfish eating a Hershey bar.
Yes that was a great story, but not near as funny as your quip about the codfish eating a Hershey bar, that was hilarious! But I also liked what Wayne said about the Bricklin, it’s weird for sure but just different enough to be cool. I’d drive it! And with that good ol’ Ford 351 under the hood I bet she’d let the white smoke roll! Neat car!
Great story Wayne. Well-written, we can visualize all the hoops you had to jump through.
I don’t want one, but I do kind of like them.
Back in the 80s, I saw one at Detroit Dragway. Upon talking to the owner, he informed me that it was a Bricklin clone. A replica fiberglass body over a tube chassis. It made an awesome looking race car. If I recall correctly, it was a mid 9 second car. For those of you who wonder, it was powered by a big block bellybutton.
Great story! I worked at a VW dealer in a central Illinois university town and they had one (1) Bricklin on the showroom floor, in Safety Orange. It sat there for months and months, stickered at somewhere north of $10K. They were also a Porsche+Audi/Renault dealer and moved lots of high priced cars (and more lower priced cars), but that Bricklin sat there, unloved. Someone, maybe the owner, maybe the sales manager, came up with the idea to paint the car in an off-white color. Either the stars aligned and the perfect customer finally stumbled in, but that Bricklin was sold a short time earlier.
Later. It was sold a short time later. I was distracted. It was by good wine, but anyway.
or an 8-track being swallowed by the front end !
Needs to be lowered 2 inches. That color makes the car look better than it actually does.
In about 1995 I bought one for around $4,000 just so I could park it next to my DeLorean for a photo. Another DeLorean owner was supposed to go halves on it but backed out. I can honestly say it was the worst car I’ve ever owned. It broke down in a bank drive-through and had to be pushed out of the way. I ended up selling it after a long 6 months to my formerly mentioned partner for exactly what I had in it, rounded up to the next dollar. At that point I had never lost money on a collector car and wasn’t about to start.
Not sure how “safe” a car can be if, when rolled over, the doors cannot be opened. Same problem with a Deloreaon. (sp?)
just note that Malcolm Bricklin is still out there at 84 years old. He’s driving an EV 1 the Bricklin EV1
It is SV1 for safety vehicle, unless he had a electric conversion done.
Sold $18,000, 39 bids.