Bricklin

I should be proud of this car, being technically Canada's only car make (and was made rather close to me). But the Bricklin is on the border of fugliness.

The Bricklin is a gull-wing sports car that was manufactured primarily from Detroit parts in 1974 through early 1976 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada for exclusive sale in the United States. There were 2854 cars built before Bricklin went bankrupt.

The single model built was given the designation SV-1, for Safety Vehicle 1. It had a built in roll cage, side guard rails and shock absorbing, 5-mph bumpers that receded into the car. Unfortunetly this bumper sort of resembled a tape being ejected from a tape player (or in the style of the times, and 8-track player).

The second distinguishing design feature of the Bricklin (besides the gull-wing doors) is the acrylic body. A vacuum forming process bonded color-impregnated acrylic to each fiberglass body panel. The Bricklin was delivered to the customer without paint and with 5 choices of colour. Minor scratches would be buffed out. In keeping with the safety theme, there was no ashtray or cigarette lighter.

Overall - the fibreglass body has a very tall look, accentuated by fake louvers. Sadly, the louvers had no holes to make them functional and had very soft edges, so in pictures the car looks like a molded plastic toy car.