Canada’s long-forgotten muscle car that was almost a winner

Launched back in the 1970s, Canada’s Bricklin SV-1 is a long-forgotten and often overlooked muscle car, but it could have been a very different story. 

When you think of muscle cars the only real country that springs to mind is the US, right?

Some car enthusiasts would even go so far as to say that a vehicle can’t even be defined as a muscle car unless it hails from the States. 

But back in the 1970s Bricklin Canada Ltd had other ideas. 

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The Bricklin SV-1 was launched back in the mid-1970s

Nowadays, the Bricklin SV-1 is so rare that many car enthusiasts fail to recognize it, but it could have been a very different story for the Canadian-built muscle car. 

The Bricklin SV-1 was the brainchild of American businessman Malcolm Bricklin, who made a name for himself in the industry for being the first person to import Subarus into the USA. 

He wanted to create a small, affordable car with gullwing doors and solid safety features. 

And, in 1974, that is what he got when he introduced his Bricklin SV-1 – short for Safety Vehicle 1. 

The car was built out of the Bricklin Canada assembly plant in Saint John, New Brunswick.

True to Bricklin’s vision – came with safety features way ahead of its time, including energy-absorbing bumpers and an integrated roll-over structure. 

Bricklin also wanted the car to be appealing to car-lovers so he fitted it with a 5.9 liter V8 that could produce 220 horsepower, which was later replaced by 175hp 5.7 liter V8. 

It had an unusual composite bodywork made up of colored acrylic resin bonded to fiberglass and bore more than a passing resemblance to the iconic DeLorean from Back to the Future. 

The muscle car wasn’t exactly a roaring success

Despite the car’s safety features and bold look being quite ahead of its time, the poor old Bricklin SV-1 wasn’t destined to become a real muscle car contender. 

Although it was given a slightly favorable review from Car and Driver, being described as having more ‘character and panache’ than the Chevy Corvette, the Bricklin had its fair share of problems. 

Its unusual construction caused several headaches for Bricklin.

Firstly when it came to finding an acrylic resin that could withstand high temperatures, and then later discovering issues getting the acrylic layer to stick to the fiberglass one. 

Alongside this, the price of the car had more than doubled since it was unveiled, meaning it was no longer the affordable option its creator had hoped for. 

After just two years in production, the Bricklin SV-1 was scrapped with numerous reasons given for its demise, including the rising cost of the car, quality control, and supplier shortages. 

In total, just under 3,000 Bricklin SV-1s were created between 1974 and 1975 – today fewer than 1,700 have survived.

A sad ending for what could have been a promising car.