1974 Bricklin SV-1
1974 Bricklin
AACA Museum
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Unfortunately, my quest to visit Betty White’s Cadillac at the AACA Museum in Hershey fell flat (it was in storage rather than in the museum) … but I did score a few vehicles that weren’t present during my last trip.
When I was a little girl, the boy who lived in the house beside my family gave me a green car from his collection. It had gull-winged doors and he won my heart forever 🙂  This shocking green 1974 Bricklin is like a Matchbox Car come to life!
from the museum placard:
Museum Collection: Joseph “Zeke” Discuillo – Coatesville, Pa)
The Bricklin was the brainchild of millionaire Malcolm Bricklin, best know for founding Subaru of America.This gull-winged sports car was built of fiberglass in a Canadian plant. Bricklin intended the car to be both sporty and safe (SV-1 = Safety Vehicle One), incorporating impact bumpers, side beams and an integrated roll cage. Power came from either Ford 351 cid or AMC 360 cid V8s (as featured in this example).
Much like the later DeLorean, the Bricklin was plagued by financial problems and build quality issues, which resulted in poor sales. The company lost thousands of dollars on every vehicle it sold. A total of 2,854 cars were built (1974 – 1976 models) before the company went into receivership.
Manufacturer: Bricklin (St John, New Brunswick, Canada)
Model: SV-1
Base Price: $5,000 (approximate)
Eight-Cylinder, 220Â hp
To see cars, scooters, and motorcycles from this (and my previous) visit; click the AACA tag at the end of this post!
Did you have Matchbox cars while you were growing-up? Â If so, what was YOUR favorite car?
And, unlike many cars of its era, it had no ashtrays.
That would have been unusual for that era!
I noticed that the entire interior was pretty spare … not a lot of extra doo-dads.
Orange was the more popular colour…I had a friend who worked at the plant after school washing and waxing the cars.
When I was looking at them online … almost every one that I found was kind of a butterscotch-ish orange 🙂
Hello. Request permission to use pictures of this Bricklin on my website. I have a section for Bricklins in museums.
Not a problem Randy and thank you for asking 🙂
The most popular color for these cars was white since over 50% of the 2354 cars porduced were white and this green example is the least porduced color also this is one of 155 4-speeds produced it is one of 12 green 4-speeds.
I definitely remember this particular matchbox car, although, as others have said, I think other colors were more common. You wouldn’t think that shade of green would work, aesthetically, but it kind of does!
Chris, I’m not sure what particular model of Matchbox that he gave me. It was dark green with gull-wing doors and was sorta’ shaped like this. I’m sure if someone would excavate around the Maple tree at my parents’ old house; they would find it (don’t ask) LOL
Cool car and photos!