Before the age of 25, Malcolm Bricklin had made his first million in
franchising his Florida based plumbing and hardware supply stores.
He later became the Subaru importer for North America, his first
automotive related endeavor. He later - created his own automotive
company, and produced a revolutionary sports car named the SV1.
The
SV1 was not only a sports car, it was a safety car; thus named the
Safety Vehicle 1 (SV-1). With it's built in roll cage, shock absorbing
5-mph bumpers, and side guard rails, it greatly exceeded the safety
requirements of its day.
It featured Gullwing doors,
fiberglass body, tubular frame, and an AMC engine. 780 vehicles were
produced with the AMC V8. The 360 cubic-inch engine was capable of
producing 220 horsepower. AMC was unable to meet the demand for the
engine so Bricklin began using a Ford power-plant. The Ford V8 engine
produced 175 horsepower.
The SV-1 was plagued with
build-problems. Most of the parts came from Detroit while the assemble
transpired in Saint John, New
Brunswick, Canada. The
electro-hydraulic door system, made famous 20 years earlier by the
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, were not reliable. The weather-stripping leaked.
The
goal was to build an inexpensive sports/safety car. When the vehicle
was finally ready for sale, the price had skipped from an initial $4000
to $7490. In 1975 it increased again to $9980. There were many reasons
for this spike. Since the vehicle was plagued with poor quality and
high scrap count body panels, production was lower than expected. There
were problems with the suppliers of the drive-train, suspension, and
other components. Bricklin requested financial support from the New
Brunswick government, but due to the lack of production, they were
unwilling to help. So the cost of the car continued to rise.
In the end, the high cost to build, rising fuel prices, and low production drove Bricklin into a debt of $23 million.
During
its production life span with ended in 1976, 2854 examples were
produced, far from its goal of 50,000 units. Just like the DeLorean, a
vehicle that had similar styling and features and was produced a few
years after the Bricklin, it was a popular and revolutionary vehicle.
Unfortunately, neither was able to be produced in large enough
quantities to be profitable.
