Bricklin SV-1: Gullwing Safety Car, a Seven-Pound Hammer Test and Collapse

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Malcolm Bricklin, who first brought Subaru to the United States in 1968, set out in the early 1970s to build an affordable two-seat gullwing sports car focused on safety. The December 1972 prototype, the Grey Ghost, used a Chrysler Slant Six with Datsun 510 rear suspension and brakes from Opel, Datsun and Toyota. Herb Grasse, who helped George Barris turn the Lincoln Futura into the TV Batmobile, shaped the design, borrowing Carello tail lamps from his own De Tomaso Pantera. Heavy safety gear forced a move to V8 engines. New Brunswick premier Richard Hatfield backed the project with $4.5 million, and plants opened in Saint John and Minto.

To skip a paint shop, Bricklin used color-impregnated acrylic bonded to fiberglass, pressed in cheap epoxy molds that trapped heat. The first resin blistered at 150°F, UV light broke down the adhesive, and early on 60% of acrylic parts were ruined in pressing. The SV-1, for Safety Vehicle One, had a roll cage, 5 mph bumpers, no ashtray and no spare tire, and 90-pound hydraulic gullwing doors taking up to 12 seconds to open, on a single pump with no interlock. A 1975 switch from the AMC 360 to a Ford 351 forced a subframe redesign and cut horsepower to 175. The company folded in early 1976 with fewer than 3,000 cars built.

• Albert Bricklin, Malcolm's father, proposed striking each body panel with a seven-pound hammer as quality control.
• Scottsdale, Arizona police leased three SV-1s for a dollar each, and officers got trapped inside when heat killed the electrical system.
• Car and Driver compared it favorably to the Corvette, while Dan Neil put it among the 50 worst cars of all time.
• The Chairman prototype offered gold trim, a gold-plated toolkit and a matching gold jumpsuit, but never reached production.
• A 1978 Mini Bricklin go-kart with a three-horsepower engine could be ordered with a VIN matching the owner's SV-1.