Bricklin SV-1


The Bricklin SV-1 is a two-seat sports car that was built from 1974 to late 1975. The car was noteworthy for its gull-wing doors and composite bodywork of color-impregnated acrylic resin bonded to fiberglass. Assembly took place in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. To promote the SV-1 as a car designed with an emphasis on safety, the company touted such features as its integrated roll-over structure and energy-absorbing bumpers. The car's name is an abbreviation for "safety vehicle one".
The SV-1 was the creation of American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin.
Among the factors blamed for the car's ultimate demise were ongoing quality control problems, supplier shortages, worker absenteeism and a series of price increases that more than doubled the price of the car in two years.
Production of the SV-1 ended with just under 3,000 cars built. An estimated 1,700 Bricklins were surviving as of 2012.

Company history

The Bricklin Canada assembly plant was located in the Grandview Industrial Park in Saint John, New Brunswick, at 150 Industrial Drive. A separate facility to produce the bodywork was in Minto, New Brunswick.
With the support of New Brunswick premier, Richard Hatfield, the provincial government provided financing of $4.5 million for Bricklin's car. The government believed that this money was to cover expenses incurred to begin the production of cars, when in fact the money was used for the engineering and development of the car as well as salaries and operations of the Phoenix-headquartered company.

Model history

Prototypes, design

Malcolm Bricklin wanted to build a small, affordable sports car with gullwing doors. Power was to come from a four-cylinder engine from Opel. Bricklin entrusted design of a road-going proof-of-concept car to Bruce Meyers, but responsibility for the design soon transferred to Marshall Hobart. Dick Dean built the car, which was complete by December 1972. This car became known as the Grey Ghost. When completed the car had a six-cylinder Chrysler Slant-6 engine instead of a four. Other features included a rear suspension from a Datsun 510, a braking system that drew parts from Opel, Datsun and Toyota, and a tilting steering wheel from a Chevrolet.
In 1972 the Bricklin Vehicle Corporation began working with Herb Grasse Design and AVC Engineering to redesign and re-engineer the car. Three prototypes were built with assistance from AVC. AVC engineer Tom Monroe would later join Bricklin as Chief Engineer.
Design of the production SV-1 was done by Herb Grasse, a graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design who had earlier been employed by both Chrysler and Ford. Grasse had also worked with George Barris on the conversion of the 1955 Lincoln Futura show car into the original Batmobile.
It is claimed that Grasse opted to use the same taillamp units fitted to his personal DeTomaso Pantera for the Bricklin. These Carello units were also used on cars from Maserati and Lamborghini, but originally appeared on the Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina.
The first of the original three prototypes became known as the Red Car. While some references say that it, like the Grey Ghost, had a Chrysler slant-6 engine, pictures exist of a Bricklin identified as the Red Car with an Argentine-sourced version of the Kaiser/Jeep Tornado inline six-cylinder engine from an IKA-Renault Torino installed. All subsequent prototypes had V8 engines. As many as 8 prototypes were eventually built.

Manufacturing

The E.M.C. Company consulted on the plastic bodywork and built some trial parts. Toolmaker Visioneering Inc. would produce the master patterns for the molds using their new CNC equipment. E.M.C. expected to supply both the large panel press as well as a complete set of water-cooled cast aluminum molds for the 22 body-parts required for the Bricklin. Ultimately Bricklin only bought the press from E.M.C., opting to use epoxy molds for their bodywork.
Bricklin experienced persistent problems with the composite acrylic/fiberglass body panel technology. The acrylic resin first selected would blister at temperatures as low as. A substitute resin able to withstand higher temperatures was thinner than the original product, requiring an extra layer of fiberglass in the panel and increasing weight, so Bricklin reverted to the original resin. It was also discovered that ultraviolet light could pass through the acrylic layer, potentially degrading the polyester resins that were used to bond the acrylic to the fiberglass below.
To address these issues the company brought in polymer expert Archie Hamielec from McMaster University in Hamilton. A significant problem was lack of adhesion between the acrylic layer and the fiberglass. According to sources inside the company, as much as 60% of the acrylic used in the first few months of production was lost due to failures during the pressing and bonding stage, and another 10% was lost to damage during shipment of the parts from the Minto plant to Saint John. The only test for the integrity of the parts was a test suggested by Albert Bricklin, Malcolm's father, who proposed striking each part that came out of the presses with a seven pound hammer; if the part did not delaminate it passed. Even after an acceptable bonding method was found, in 1975 losses due to poor bonding continued to be 15% to 25% of the parts produced.

Release

The SV-1 was presented to a gathering of celebrities and potential dealers at the Riviera Hotel Las Vegas in February 1974. The official unveiling of the car took place at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York in June 1974.

1976 models

Among the inventory acquired by Consolidated Motors were several partially assembled cars which were completed by Consolidated and sold as 1976 models. Consolidated also built a small number SV-1s up from a bare chassis, and these were also sold as 1976 models. Bricklin had incorporated some minor body changes in the car for 1976.

Reviews and driving impressions

In a test done by Car and Driver magazine in May 1975 the performance of the Bricklin was found to be comparable to the contemporary Corvette, the only other V8-powered 2-seat plastic-bodied American sports car at the time.

Commemorations

The SV-1 was a two-door, two-seat hatchback with gull-wing doors, hidden headlamps and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Its bodywork was a composite material made up of acrylic resin bonded to a fibreglass substrate. The acrylic was impregnated with the body's colour, which had the potential to reduce costs, as it eliminated the need for the factory to paint the cars in a separate step. The five "Safety" colours offered were one of the few options buyers had.
The doors, which weighed each, were raised by hydraulic cylinders controlled by switches in the interior, and took up to 12 seconds to open or close. The system was sensitive to the condition of the car's battery, as well as being prone to breakdown. The system used a single pump and had no door interlock, so opening one door at the same time as closing the other had the potential to burn out the pump motor.
The Bricklin's chassis was a steel perimeter frame with an integrated roll-over structure. The front and rear bumpers were designed to absorb the force of a impact.
The front suspension used A-arms and coil springs and was made up of parts shared with a variety of existing AMC models. At the rear was a Hotchkiss system of leaf springs on a live axle.
Braking was by power-assisted disks in front and drums in back. Kelsey-Hayes provided the brake components for Bricklins built from 1974 to early 1975, after which the car used parts from Bendix.
Production Bricklins were powered by one of two OHV V8 engines, depending on the year of manufacture. Cars built in 1974 received a AMC V8 from American Motors. With a single four-barrel carburetor this engine produced and of torque. Transmission options for the year were a 3-speed Torque Command automatic or a BorgWarner T-10 4-speed manual. Of the 772 cars built in 1974, 137 received the manual. Cars built in 1975 mounted a Windsor V8 from Ford, a change which required an extensive redesign of the car's subframe. With a single two-barrel carburetor this later engine produced and of torque. As Ford had no manual transmission EPA certified for the 351W engine, transmission options were limited to the Ford FMX 3-speed automatic.
The cars had no cigarette lighters or ashtrays. There was also no provision for a spare tire.

Special models

Police cars

In November 1974 Bricklin announced that they would supply five SV-1s to the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona. The cars were leased to the city for $1 each. The Bricklins had the same paint scheme as the department's regular cruisers and a single beacon on the roof. The cars were used primarily for public relations events. Officers found them too difficult to get in and out of, and the Arizona heat caused battery issues that would prevent the electrically operated doors from opening.

The "Chairman"

In 1975 development began on a more exclusive model to be called the "Chairman". While mechanically similar to the existing car, Chairman cars were to have a larger engine than the stock SV-1. Visually they would be distinguished by black interior and a black body with gold stripes, gold coloured wheels and trim, and a gold-plated toolkit. The buyer was to be flown to the assembly plant to watch their car being built and receive a gold jumpsuit along with the car on delivery.
Two existing SV-1s were used to prototype the Chairman. Prototype #3 was used for the car's exterior appearance, and SV-1 VIN #1339 was used for interior development. Work on the car began in Arizona in June 1975 and moved to Livonia by July. The Chairman did not reach production.
The unfinished interior model VIN #1339 was bought by former Bricklin Manufacturing Engineering manager Terry Tanner and completed in the style of a Chairman.

Mini Bricklin

In 1978 mini-car builder F.W. & Associates offered a miniature version of the SV-1 to existing Bricklin owners through the pages of the Bricklin International quarterly magazine. The cars were powered by a Briggs & Stratton gasoline engine and could be ordered in any of the Bricklin factory colours. List price was $550.00. The serial number of each mini-Bricklin was the same as that of the buyer's full-size car.

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