Surrounded by controversy, 1974-’76 Bricklin SV-1 was a cleverly conceived sports car

For decades, the concept of automotive safety—the ability of a vehicle's occupants to survive a crash—was something treated very gingerly by automakers, which feared discussion of this topic might infer their cars were ill-handling or otherwise defective. It was also largely ignored by the buying public, until the 1965 publication of Unsafe at Any Speed shocked the American government into regulatory action.

In the early 1970s, building Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV) for research and auto show display was a popular theme with automakers around the globe, and it seemed the topic had finally reached widespread acceptance. It was into that environment that a young entrepreneur launched his unique new sports car, which lit off with a firework's bright energy, and just as quickly, fizzled out.

Orlando, Florida, is where an ambitious 21-year-old college dropout named Malcolm Bricklin founded a home-improvement hardware store franchise in 1960; he would sell his interest in that business, dubbed Handyman, for a substantial profit a few years later, and get his real first taste of success. Bricklin's next project brought him into the transportation world, when he sold leftover Italian motor scooters to the City of New York Police Department; with assistance from partner Harvey Lamm, he would create Fuji Heavy Industries' beachhead into the American automotive marketplace with the 1968 establishment of Subaru of America.

While Subaru is a major player in the U.S. today, this company's first steps were tentative; the charmingly awkward, 960-pound model 360 microcar Bricklin and Lamm were able to import—it was exempt from current safety and emissions regulations due to its sub-1,000-pound curb weight—got a negative Consumer Reports review that largely dried up sales. The partners convinced the Japanese automaker to follow the 360 over here with its more conventional, front-wheel-drive 1100 "FF-1," which found a ready market. Bricklin left Subaru of America in 1971, taking with him some unsold 360s that he sought to market as rentable go-karts on closed tracks through a franchise he called "FasTrack." It was the development of damage-resistant replacement go-kart bodies to house those Subaru 360 mechanical components that sparked an idea for the young man's eponymous car company.

Bricklin was undoubtedly aware of the contemporary ESV trend, encouraged by the U.S. Department of Transportation, that would result in forward-thinking, passive restraint-filled concepts from General Motors, British Leyland, Mercedes- Benz, Volvo, Volkswagen, and others. Those Subaru 360 replacement bodies had come about through a collaboration with Meyers Manx dune buggy inventor Bruce Meyers, who had expertise in working with a resilient plastic composite. And in that, Bricklin found his vehicle's unique selling proposition: It would be a "safety" sports car.

Bricklin tasked Meyers with designing a 2+2 that used a 96-inch wheelbase and a 1,600-cc four-cylinder Datsun 510 drivetrain; this car would sport retractable headlamps and the scene-stealing vertical-opening doors that had made such a splash on Mercedes-Benz's racing derived 300 SL nearly 20 years earlier. The safety aspect of the car came from its large, impact-absorbing bumpers, which were planned to resist damage at up to 25 mph (and would succeed up to a still-impressive 12 mph in later testing), as well as from the unique skin that covered its steel perimeter frame with integral roll cage. As proven with the Subaru track cars, that body would be very durable, thanks to its exterior panels made of fiberglass-bonded, color-impregnated acrylic plastic, a no-painting- required, low-maintenance material commonly used in prefabricated bathroom fixtures.

This design work proved challenging—it was reported that Bricklin and Meyers relationship grew strained due to Bricklin's evolving requirements—and a young, Art Center-trained designer, Marshall Hobarts, was tapped to render the exterior styling for the sleek car. Hobarts' illustration provided the styling concept for an initial prototype, commonly called the Gray Car or Gray Ghost, fabricated for the entrepreneur by noted custom car builder Dick Dean. This was not production ready as it stood, but that basically functional display piece was useful as a sales tool to attract financing, and was the first product of the newly formed Bricklin Vehicle Corporation.

Working out of his Romulus, Michigan studio, veteran Chrysler and Ford designer Herb Grasse with was tasked with turning that idea into a realistic form, starting with the creation of a more practically styled clay model of a two-seat sports car with a useful, large rear hatch. Grasse would work closely with Ford body engineer Garth Dewey and race car chassis builder Tom Monroe, along with a selection of hired clay modelers, designers, and technicians. The period when this concept was being turned into a workable automobile was a hectic, fascinating one, Grasse told author Wick Humble in the SV-1 driveReport that ran in Special Interest Autos #68, April 1982: "During this three-month period, we had some very interesting people stop by: Paul Newman was involved, he was a friend of Malcolm's. Another was John DeLorean—and this was well prior to any De Lorean vehicles; John just came by, looking the clay model over. We had no idea at that time that he was interested in starting his own company. Zora Duntov and a few others from GM, as well as Don De La Rossa from Ford, paid us a visit. A lot of the auto industry was interested, and wandering in and out!"

While 1974 model year Bricklin cars used a 220-hp, four-barrel 360-cu.in. AMC AMX V-8, 1975-'76 SV-1s had a Windsor-built 175-hp, two-barrel 351-cu.in. Ford V-8. The majority of cars had a three-speed automatic.

There were plenty of engineering challenges to sort, the principal players would reveal in later interviews. The 22 composite panels that, together, formed the SV-1 body, caused major headaches, since the engineers had to work out how to bond the acrylic to the fiberglass-reinforced plastic and resin-cured fiberglass matting, and to keep the finished panels acceptably smooth. Those "gullwing" doors that Bricklin had insisted upon from the start were another source of anxiety, both for their fit and finish, and for their actuation. These doors weighed around 90 pounds because they contained interior trim panels, side impact beams, and retractable window glass, three things Mercedes-Benz engineers had not included on the 300 SL coupe. The final design featured two high-pressure gas struts per door, assisted by Ford convertible electric top motors, and time would prove it frail, prone to burn-out if both doors were raised at once.

Within two years of the SV-1's conception, Bricklin had been able to secure millions in loans, and to get production rolling in a most unusual location: the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick. This region was selected because its premier, Richard Hatfield, provided substantial funding to the automaker in a bid to bring both jobs and prestige to the cities of Minto (where the body plant was located) and Saint John (home of the car's final assembly). This was an international affair, as the Bricklin Vehicle Corporation had a service and distribution center in New Jersey, while its headquarters was located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The production model, introduced in 1974, was both complicated and straightforward. Its underpinnings were proven, as AMC provided most of the mechanical components. The engine for 1974 model year cars was an AMX-spec 360-cu.in. V-8 topped with a four-barrel Motorcraft carburetor; it made 220 hp at 4,400 rpm and 315 lb-ft of torque at 3,100 rpm. Buyers had the choice of a four-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission. The Hornet-derived suspension consisted of unequal-length A-arms, coil springs, tube shocks, and an anti-roll bar in front, as well as a live axle damped by semi-elliptic leaf springs, tube shocks, and two trailing links. The AMC-sourced brakes were power-assisted 11-inch vented discs in front, and 10-inch rear drums, while the variable ratio recirculating ball steering had Saginaw power assist. BFGoodrich FR60-15 radials were mounted on 15 x 7-inch cast alloy wheels.

It's reported that just under 780 examples were built in that first model year, and around 155 of those were equipped with the four-speed manual gearbox. That option disappeared for the 1975 model year, when the SV-1's base price had risen from $7,490 to $9,980 (around $39,080 to $47,715 today). American Motors had cut off the supply of its V-8, so Bricklin turned to Ford, and purchased the Canada-built Windsor 351-cu.in. V-8, backed by a three-speed Ford FMX automatic. This engine was topped by a two-barrel carburetor, and with its 8.1:1 compression ratio, was rated at 175 hp at 3,800 rpm and 284 lb-ft of torque at 2,200 rpm. Car and Driver magazine tested a 1975 example against a similarly equipped Corvette in its May '75 issue, finding the 3,470-pound coupe capable of a 16.6-second quarter-mile at 83.6 mph, a 118-mph top speed, and 0.68 G on the skidpad. Editor Don Sherman praised the Bricklin's handling stability and braking over those of the (comparably) mass-produced Chevrolet, and called it "all flair and flamboyancy… a tangible threat to the Corvette."

The Bricklin Vehicle Corporation would build another roughly 2,100 units—including fewer than 35 1976 model year examples—before the company went into receivership, leaving Maritime Canadians with bittersweet memories of their hometown sports car, and setting a precedent for John DeLorean's stainless steel wonder, the Northern Ireland-built DMC De Lorean. While it came in underdeveloped and over budget, the SV-1 found success in its mission to be a safe, stylish, unique sports car, and as enthusiastic members of the Bricklin International Owners Club (www.bricklin.org) will attest, surviving examples still have the power to stop traffic.