I was just a kid..around 9 years old and I remember my elementary school coach had one. I thought it was the coolest car around! I still love them when I get to see one! Thank You MotorWeek!!!!!
I live in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada where the Bricklin factory was. An incredibly interesting story on how they were made and the politics surrounding it. I'd like to correct the video though, I'd argue it was a Canadian car not an American car.
Hey I’m from pei Canada and I went to the car life museum we have on the island yesterday and they have one sitting on display I thought it was so cool to find out it was made in saint johns
I think that is me. I don't daily drive it, but I drive it every chance I get. The smell of the interior, the sound of the 351W, super fun to drive, no reliability issues.
This is BY FAR the most positive review of the SV-1 ever. But I'm happy to see this. Glad they glossed over, ya know, the acrylic falling off in sheets/chunks, possibility that the company's existence in the first place may have just been a scam on the Canadian government.... I'm glad to see a review that focuses on the positive! Saw one a few months back when a co-worker and I were driving back from a job in the middle of the night and we had to circle back and check it out. Made my night. This car was a huge risk and it has its place in history, no doubt...
Some cars did not get the UV protection they were supposed to in the acrylic and it fell apart. The other cars survived quite well. that was just another manufacturing problem in a new process that had never been tried before. As far as scamming the government, there wasn't too many people willing to invest in a new car company especially one as radical as this. so bricklin got investors wherever he could just like any other business man out there he used whatever resources he could find problem was it's a lot harder to keep your promises when you're a startup company look how much money Government has given GM and Chrysler just to keep them afloat. Some would also consider that a scam.
I saw one of these at a gas station and thought it was a Delorean from across the street (it was night time) and i saw it up close for the first time, super cool car!
I've only ever seen one. That was fifteen years ago, and it was rotting away in a field. I always thought they looked cool...plus, you know: pop-up headlights.
Saw one of these on the road in the Grey Bruce area in Ontario and have wanted one ever since, a truly gorgeous car and in my opinion a better DeLorean than the DeLorean ever was
Then Contact HighTech Coatings.. Rick has several for sale from almost brand new 75 with less than 500 miles on it till.. basketcases.. and a Byers silver slightly customised silver with less than 3k miles and driven occasionally..
Is it just me, or does anyone see this overall shape within the design of the DMC DeLorean? Raise the front of the DMC a little to have arrow straight front guards (fenders) , voila! Its incredible how far we've come with engine technology between the 1970's and the 2010's. The Ford 5.8 litre V8 that was fitted to the car produced just 175 HP. My 2014 Renault Clio RS 200 produces 197 HP (shhh ... we won't compare torque, ha, ha). Good review, MotorWeek!
Other than the door mechanism it's nowhere close to the design of a DeLorean. DeLorean, rear engined foreign v6, blunt nose, flat hood with fixed lights and flat body panels since SS was not easy to sculpt curves. Bricklin has the pop-ups, curved & flared fenders along with a bulged hood for the front v8. Bricklin is more of a blending of a Z and a Vette, but, credit to Malcolm, not a copy of either.
This car is the incarnation of the old adage that rarity does not equal value. While I personally love the design of it, especially when you consider the effect that our inane safety regulations was wreaking upon the industry, it is clear to me why it failed in the marketplace. As a side note, has anyone ever heard of the other safetymobile, the 1957 Aurora? That story is truly something!
I had a red one for a few years, mine was like a oven inside. I laugh at what some people ask for them, thinking they are some rare exotic. The doors are more of a pain then anything else. Had my fun and sold it.
The interior can be sealed up and heat reflective/sound material needs to be added under the carpet. The car came with none. Once this is done they are very comfortable to drive even on a super hot day. The A/C runs down to 10 degrees in desert only mode. I am thoroughly enjoying mine every chance I get.
The Bricklin and the DeLorean had a lot in common. They were both great looking cars, in fact they looked very similar, they were from the same era, they both had serious flaws, they were both built by upstart companies which quickly failed, both companies faced many legal and political issues, and nearly 50 years later, both still have their diehard fans. As the owner of a 1976 Corvette, I'd say it has a pretty good "wow" factor, more so than every generation of Corvette that has followed it IMO.
It was advance for 1975 standard. Which is good. Also, why the rear headlight look like the Nissan Fairlady Z S30? Or Datsun 240Z if you live in America.
Man, a white 4-speed car showed up a few years ago at the Portland Swap Meet. I almost bought it but talked myself out of it. For the 5k asking price, I should have pulled the trigger.
Sandy Munro just did a Bricklin interview where their starting up another company with a 3 wheel EV. It looks amazing and the price is inviting. Plus Safety first.
3 wheeled vehicles and Safety don't belong in the same sentence. The only reason 3 wheeled vehicles even exist is so they can be licensed or in some countries, taxed) as motorcycles and be exempt from auto safety standards.
Once I first saw & heard about these i fell in-love. But It can definitely be a Hate-Love Relationship especially when it comes to finding Parts! They should of made the louver in the front of the hood there actually *Workable* with In my opinion fine black wire mesh I feel that'd really help with its appearance.
@@Kingsoupturbo So the car is more significant than many of us were made to think of it! But then again, its sole purpose (safety) makes it significant!
@@McBeamer94 The integrated 10mph bumpers I never noticed before! very cool! When seeing these as a kid when I lived in the states, looked pretty exotic! styling has held up pretty well since 75 I'd say
@@Kingsoupturbo It certainly looks fresher than the cars of its era! Also, 10mph bumpers? Wow! The federal safety law didn't even come close with its 5mph rule!
I almost considered getting this car. The one I saw probably had the AMC 360 V8 since it had a manual. I would look for one with the Ford 351 V8 and automatic.
They failed to mention some of the problems.... There was no place built into the car for a spare tire. The rear window seams were soft and the window would sometimes fall out OR allow water into the car. There was a problem with the front springs being to soft that allowed the car to bottom out... and the power wing door system did not really work correctly and often would crack and bend the doors....OH, and the center console was so weak it would crack if you leaned on it to hard AND the button location to operate the doors was so far back on the console they were very difficult to reach, many just used their elbow. But both the AMC and FORD motors and transmissions seemed to work well.
New sports cars generally don't have spares anymore. So you might say it was ahead of its time. The soft gasket on the rear window was fixed by retainers in 1975, the soft springs was 74's only, most of the cars were converted to air powered doors instead of hydraulic by the head plant engineer after they shut down the plant. The same system can also be used to inflate a low tire. I could go on but the point is the later production cars had a lot less problems than the early production cars because of all the changes they were making due to it being a small car company. I have one and I can actually drive it in the rain with no water leaks it's one of the last ones built. It's also the same car in this video.
@@bricklinhh3481 Canada could have invested in the car to make it viable, but it's just too corrupted by financial interests. Bombardier of Quebec is the only large scale, Canadian manufacturer of Canadian inventions, and it's struggling to survive.
I'm old enough to remember when they came to market. There were a few of them driving around the city back then (Edmonton). Later, you'd see the odd one at local collector auctions and car shows, fairly regularly. Haven't seen one in the flesh in decades though, I live in a small town now (thank gawd).
I'd rather have one of those than a DeLorean for that engine. I know a PRV V6 can be tuned for more power, but that nice Ford has easier parts availability and can make a lot of power with more modern components. They are both weird though, and I dig weird. I'd like a Bradley too. Gullwing doors on a simple VW Beetle chassis!
The 4 speed has a very heavy clutch and the 351W is torque monster. It also sounds better. The 1975 cars were improved with less problems than the 1974. I have driven the 1974 and the 1975 Bricklins. That was my car in the episode and most people that drive it cant believe how much power the 351W has.
@chris xaf12 - You would do well to research each of these engines and you will see that the 351 Windsor engine is far superior to the AMC 360......even with an automatic trans.
Had a chance to buy a low Miles grey t type in my senior year of high school for $6000 but passed it up and bought a tbird super coupe .. i loved the tbird but i should've got the buick
You can roll down the windows or open the hatch. keep in mind if you rollover most cars you might not get the door open anyway and you still have to crawl out the windows. The good thing is it has a roll cage built into the structure.
@@soupisgoodfood42 it's possible to get trapped in any car. Break glass, get the jaws of life out if you have somehow managed to really smash the roll cage.
I was 15 in 75. Ive always loved the body style you can see it in at least 3 or 4 other brands of cars too. The one brand new at the Ford dealership was next to a mustang lets look back at a 1975 mustang they were not that good at that time. Sure you had some special models but a plane Jane 2 door truck versions wasnt anything to look at, the 66 and 67 fastback were much better cars. Nope the Briklin was bad ass. But I think they cost 4 times what a mustang did from that year, just over 10k Your avg family car was around 2k at that time. Shit now look where we are. Do cars really cost that much to make today, let's see. Id say a Ford escape cost 7 to 9k to make. A mustang 15k. An F150 23k A Ford ranger 17k that's off the assembly line. I dont know the true costs its an estimate by what Ford did with the eairly explorer its first few years. Don't kid yourself tooling an automobile plant cost a lot of money fords not making 900% profits off cars and trucks They have overhead to pay. It would cut the cost to build a car if it stayed the same for 5 even 10 years But people wouldn't be buying as many new cars. We need to rethink this to be Green. You should only recycle a car when all its use has been used up.
The rear end could have been right off of a 280 ZX, the front end is just ruined by the ugly bumper protrusion (like the Lamborghini of the time). Other than those two BIG negatives, the looks are OK. An AMC Pacer's rear bumper looked better than this one's - no styling attempt at all, just a black, squared off rectangle. The best part of this car was the 351W power train. Not surprised it lasted but 2 years!
@@OMGWTFLOLSMH - Well as they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! I have a car nut friend who was over to my place looking at my extensive high end die cast car collection, one of which is a pontoon fendered Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. I think it is a stunning looking vehicle and his response was, that car never did anything for me! One man's punch is another man's poison. To me, I always thought the Bricklin had a very appropriate name, because its styling has much in common with a brick! Lol
@@yeefulor9954- Then you had Better plan on buying used cars with man. transmissions for the rest of your life, since the manual trans. is on its way out, for good!
Ha Ha I drove mine in a heavy rain storm two days ago. Not a drop leaked into the car. The 1974's had more water leaks. The Body panels going bad were the ones without the UV protection which was left out by the Acrylic vendor by mistake.
that company was dead before it started. most people identify as lovers of one the big three companies, and not into mixing parts,.. even people who liked AMC, usually only liked them as a second option.
@ NOPE.. they cost 8,995.- USD in 74 - 75s were 9,995 USD (+/- a few hundreds).. if you want a læess than 500 mils original (and if i remember correctly the doorplastic is still there) 100% original.. for less than 20k USD or a silver less than 3k miles and in great shape.. for app the same.. let me know..
@Stoneyburke never sold for 5k.. they went pretty close to the 9k listing in 74 and 75/76 went for app the listing of 10k USD.. only the ones that went to buyers after the banktruptcy would have gone cheaper..
4 года назад
@@kenbg60 Hagerty says the value are about to skyrocket
All new cars have their problems but consider a 79 mustang and a 1985 Camaro had even more problems. 44 years later these cars held up much better. Trying to run a car company ...now there's some problems.
Yes you can get out the window, or the hatch. They are designed to take a 7 tone load and the door still opens. It has a built in roll (bird cage). Try doing that with a Delorean!
I mentioned this in another comment, but what are the odds of that happening? Have you ever been in a rollover that ended up on its roof? I haven't, and I've been driving for almost 50 yrs.
Government involvement in business always goes wrong. They took a chance on this investment then killed it them selves. I guess giving money to Tesla is OK?
