Bricklin

Bricklin was a sports car manufacturer in New Brunswick, Canada founded by American millionaire Malcom Bricklin, who also founder of Subaru America.  The company released only one model, the Bricklin SV-1, which was designed as a sports car that was both safe and economical.  Due to funding problems however, the Bricklin SV-1 was not produced in high enough quantities to yield a profit, and the factory was shut down.  Consequently, there are only 2,854 Bricklin SV-1s in existence, making it a very rare vehicle indeed.

The SV-1 was designed by Herb Grasse in 1972, who also designed the original Batmobile.  The vehicle features powered gull-wing doors, an integrated roll cage, and an acrylic fiberglass body.  While the acrylic fiberglass bonding process was imperfect at the time, it presented the industry with a groundbreaking technology in auto body design.  It also lacks ashtrays or a cigarette lighter, which reflected Malcom Bricklin’s belief that it is unsafe to smoke and drive at the same time. 

Unfortunately for Bricklin, numerous financial setbacks ran the company into the ground.  The cost of building a SV-1 was estimated at $16,000, yet they were being sold to dealers for only $5000.  The company’s only model has received a reasonable amount of media coverage, including movie appearances in the 1977 film Demon Seed and the 1978 film Corvette Summer.