In Spring '75 I graduated from college in Washington, DC, and was looking for a cheap way home to Seattle. At that time dealerships would hire college students to drive cars to new owners outside the dealership's region. I found a help wanted ad on campus for someone to drive a car to Seattle. They paid only $50, and I was responsible for buying gas, but it was still cheaper than plane fare. When I got to the dealership, I was given the keys to a white Bricklin, which I'd never heard of. I drove it off the dealer's lot and the next day started a five day trek across the midwest and north through Colorado and Wyoming. I had no money for motels, so slept on roadsides and bathed in creeks. The car drew a crowd everywhere I stopped, especially when I opened the gull-wing doors. But the supreme moment of ecstasy behind the wheel came when I drove through Yellowstone Nat'l Park the day after they'd opened the main north-south roads for the summer season. The park was absolutely empty. The Bricklin had a Ford 351ci engine, and it BOOGIED! Soon after entering the park a late-model Chevy Malibu joined me on a game of high-speed follow the leader until we descended into Montana and parted ways. That was 45 years ago, and to this day stands as the best road trip I've ever driven. The car performed flawlessly for me.
@@deathlarsen7502 No, not made up. I left out a lot trying for brevity, but you could make a movie about it, as one kind person emailed me to suggest. Thanks and sorry for the late reply.
@@kayEnt3rtainm3nt Hey I'm not used to gmail and youtube comment ins and outs, sorry this is so late in response. You're right, it should be a movie. They already made "Vanishing Point", but there needs to be a movie about a cross-country trip in a '75 Bricklin. I guess I should set it all down in writing.
@@juanandresbasartdecaballer4486 No worries about the delayed response. I've gotten replies on this platform years apart. Good luck with the idea jotting! The story of the Bricklin SV-1 alone is fascinating and I wonder if having it as an incidental detail in the background of your story could be an interesting framing device. After the success of Ford v. Ferrari there'd probably be a market for a screenplay like this. Still, I already know the SV-1 story so it's your story that I find interesting. I used to work in the film industry but I retired years ago. Even still if you ever want a collaborator or just some tips on how to put some stuff together I'd be happy to try and find a way to work that out with you. Break a leg!
I used to run around the car plant when I was 12 or 13. I got the autographs of all the workers before the plant finally closed. My Dad was the plant manager in Saint John. Quite a thrill to see them being made first hand. To wander around the offices and the plant as a wide-eyed kid was pretty amazing :)
I had to laugh so hard. AMF Harley vs Car that is worth more today. Then 3 Harley's... As the Harley you need one hand on the throttle. The other full of tools..
My father gave me a Bricklin catalog when I was 8 or 9. I probably looked at that thing 1,000 times. It was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen. I still have that catalog.
"Quality control? What's THAT? Design? Engineering? Technology? Mass-production? Cash-flow? Expertise? Production efficiency? We'll do all that once we get the car built."
Interesting that the end spotlights the Yugo, a car so bad that it was said that it had a heated rear windscreen so that owners could keep their hands warm while pushing it. Malcolm Bricklin is a man on a mission and he won't rest until he makes everyone walk to work.
Tamer. About 30 years ago my neighbor had a Yugo and every morning when she started it she floored it for a good ten minutes until it warmed up. I would always tell my wife "she's going to blow it up ". But surprisingly it never did in 1&1/2 years. When she moved she was still doing that.
You bought a 75 model, they may have titled it as a 1976. 2897 was the last one off the assembly line and it was a 1975. Yours should have dual exhaust with no convertors (factory). Have any questions email bighenterprises@charter.net. We restore them. See Greg Drives the Bricklin on You Tube
Depends on your point of view I suppose. Was the '75 Corvette a great car? Not really. Do people still buy them and enjoy them? Sure do! Same with the Bricklin. If he'd had a little more money and better planning, the Bricklin might have been around a bit longer.
When Malcolm Bricklin wore sunglasses in early photos and video clips, he physically had a slight resemblance of the late Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple
I'm from New Brunswick, and like everyone else, was overjoyed at the idea of pumping out these beauties. Despite its many flaws, collectors and others gobbled up every last one of them. A low millage original sells for about 30k u.s.
Thanks very much to whomever posted this clip. I truly have never heard of the BRICKLIN previously, but this produced special from THE HISTORY CHANNEL was a great background into this short lived car company in Canada.
Bricklin himself seems really humble and likable. He is the first one to admit his faults or his failures. I can tell why he was able to talk so many people into following him into business deals for better or worse.
The narration is very aggressive against him, so don't let that make up your mind. For example, he is in Japan and wants to import that first little Subaru. They agree if he pays the 1.5 million to get "te4hr government regulations satisfied", and they had a deal, a good deal. The narration chimes in, "And not taking no for an answer,---blah blah blah." Be careful. If you get a sense that the "business man is bad", it probably comes for communism, of course. We should have a good court system, of course. That is all that is needed to keep people from screwing each other. I am only 11 min in,---and all I see so far is a guy trying to do good business, and the narration makes him "seem" like some kind of criminal. Well, in the ideology of communism, he is a criminal. He did not have permission, you see, and the government has a stake in the current cars produced.
My parents had a friend from school and he was a Bricklin guy. I used to really get a kick out of them. I looked at them like a super car of sorts. The doors were really cool!
It’s surprising Bricklin is in this video doing interviews with a smile on when he was a scam artist all along - and this documentary makes it very clear.
Fun fact - the doors on a Bricklin are powered by a hydraulic pump. There are switches for 'open' and 'close'. If one passenger pushes 'open', and the other pushes 'close' at the same time, the pump motor burns out. Then the doors can not be moved until you fit a new pump motor
THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE ON MANAWAGONISH ROAD THAT HAD ONE IN EVERY COL,OUR IN THE BACKYARD BACK IN THE MID 80s..GREAT TO SEE ANOTHER NATIVE LOYALIST IN THE COMMENT SECTION BE SAFE AND WELL CHRIS
hribc78 loooooooooooooool u think its mean if we put in a safe bet that it ll fail again????yugo and by the looks of it they had the roof chopped as if you ll make a yugo look exotic or sophisticated by chopping the roof! bythe looks of itwith the glue and the eight pound hammer test I won t be surprised that engineering wise there was no consideration of what loosing the roof on an already flimsy car will mean!! anyways GOODLUCK MR BRICKLIN MAY YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE (try not at others e,pense though ;:-)
I am going to be buying a 74 here soon for 800. Ran a few years back, all panels in good shape, gonna body fill it and wrap it and just have an interesting cruiser.
I worked on one of these cars back in 1980. yes the car was slow, but it had a 351 Windsor ford engine in it. So I beefed up the engine and put headers on it and this car was really fast after that. it was a lot of fun to drive. it handled the turns like a slot car. I felt very safe in this car. it had a steel beam that protected you from a side impact. it really was built for safety. The first bricklins came out with a AMC engine which was rated at a much higher horsepower rating than the Ford engine. it didn't take much to modify the Ford engine. it was a stroked 302. so a lot of high performance parts for the mustang worked on the Bricklin.
I love the looks of both the Bricklin and the DeLorean. Even today they look futuristic. And they are sports cars with 2 doors. Not just 2 doors, but gullwing doors. I think they are both gorgeous. I wish both had been designed and built right, and had been successful. Back in 1988, I bought a brand new red Pontiac Fiero GT. The closest car I could find to these cars. It was beautiful, it was well engineered (better than most of todays cars) and very well built. It was a blast to drive. Sadly, it was to be the last year of this great car. Roger B Smith, CEO of GM at the time, didn't like the car and killed it, even though it sold well with no advertising.
The Fiero with a V6 would outperform the Corvette, and do it for a lot less money, that was one reason the top brass felt it threatened their flagship vehicle and had to go.
Bricklin should be doing this show from prison! Gullwing doors are stupid and impractical, which is why so few vehicles ever used them. The ones that did, really stand out.
You certainly can't argue the $$$, with the Fiero Formula/GT being like 40-50% of the price of a base Corvette. But the Corvette had the edge on horsepower 245 to 135 and more than double the torque 345 to 165. The Corvette was heavier by over 500 pounds, but still destroyed it in power to weight and such. We're talking 6.0 vs 7.5 0-60 times and at least an extra 30 MPH on the top speed. Good value? Absolutely. Faster and/or quicker? No way. I think if you want to argue a car that GM killed so that it wouldn't embarrass the Corvette, that would be the Grand National/GNX/T-Type...
I like the Bricklin It just needed more time to develop and manufacture If Malcolm would not have rushed it this could be a success . It is a good looking car I think.
My uncle always had one in his garage. He passed away & it still sits in his garage and probably always will. Weird looking car for the most part. The only thing I can really remember about the few times I’ve seen him drive it was the doors leaked air. The lines or something were bad. Only reason I watched this video was to remember my uncle & my father laughing at him when he bought this orange turd.
A friend of mine owned one and I had a chance to drive one. They were an impressive car to drive. And the looks you got. Wow. Still, it was no where near as nice a car or as well built as my other friends Pantera. I absolutely loved the De Thomaso Pantera. That car was just plain a dream to drive. It had it all. The sound, the feel, the looks. Other then the Lambo Muira, I think I would love to have a Pantera. But the Bricklin was still a cool car and is always on my list of dream cars.
Their first mistake was trusting a guy who wears sunglasses at an indoor press conference. Glaring early warning signs aside, even if that car had been totally successful from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint, it was at best a niche vehicle, completely impractical for the vast majority of potential customers. After the initial excitement has worn off, where do you go from there to grow the business, foster repeat business (customer loyalty), and increase your customer base? As so many other automotive start-ups have found over the years, once you exhaust the initial energy behind the project and the people who bought into the hype and had to have The Next New Thing have made their purchase, then what? You can't survive on building just a quirky two-seater niche car. Would there have been a Bricklin sedan, station wagon/SUV, entry level hatchback, mini van, or pickup truck? Of course not. Even under the best of circumstances it was a vanity project that was doomed to failure. As the old joke goes, how do you make a small fortune in the auto industry? Start with a large fortune.
Morgan Motors have survived on building quirky two-seater niche cars, which have been hand-crafted since the 1930's, and customers can wait for many months before receiving their new vehicle. Their order books are also still healthier than those of some much bigger manufacturers.
I had a transportation design teacher in Detroit that worked for Ford. He told us on the first day his favorite car in the world was a Bricklin. Half of the kids were like "What the hell is a Bricklin?" while the rest of us looked at each other like "A Bricklin? Really???". A V8 powered car made of Play Skool furniture. Interesting concept i guess...
Should have used a steel body with ordinary hinged doors. Probably would have been a success if they hadn't tried to incorporate so many innovations at once.
Mix a crooked street urchin with a crooked politician and you get Bricklin Canada LTD. Too damned bad that Bricklin managed to make it through life without making it through the prison system, as well. Yes siree Bob. That's the real shame of it all.
Really cool upload Gary B! I've never heard of Bricklin, and I'm only half way through the film, but what an interesting character. His moral compass off, but I can't wait to see how his car turns out.
The sad thing is that he took a whole bunch of people for a ride and their lives were negatively impacted but he always managed to disappear and show up later as if nothing happened. He is the definition of the word charlatan and I am truly sorry for the ones who were conned along the way.
I occasionally babysat for a family in Ontario in the 70's & in one of their barns I stumbled on 6 brand new Bricklins. Don't remember the family's name but they were odd & I never forgot finding those beauties.
elcgmail ... sounds like some smart person in that family recognized a good investment. Wether the car succeeded or failed it would be a legend in one way or another.
Fascinating documentary but it's so obvious to me that this Bricklin character was a delusional sociopath, fake charm, manipulative, narcissism, smooth... not a person you ever want to trust or take seriously.
Those Subaru's were junk, they didn't mention they were two stroke two cylinder engines. In 1971 Bricklin had two rail cars full of them sitting in California but they couldn't sell them there because they didn't met Cali emission standards. The Cohen group out of Peoria Illinois bought all the cars & brought them to Peoria where they could sell them. They were sold for $300.00 apiece and you were advised to buy two because you couldn't buy spare parts for them. Most were not running within two years.
The foreshadowing of the DeLoreon is stunning. At least John DeLoreon had the previous engineering chops and success in Detroit to give investors hope.
This Bricklin guy is a criminal mastermind. He should have been arrested for scamming the Canadians. When he talks it appears that the world revolves around Brinklin, and then he places the blame for everything on the people of Canada. People get worried about low level street crime, how about white collar crime? This guy probably stole more than all of the low level crime in the area put together, and he merely gets away with it. So frustrating.
Okay, some of what you say is correct. But if I was in Hatfield's position I would've hired a third party to do a feasibility analysis at the very least. You can't put it all on Bricklin. As they say, "It takes two to tango."
That is definitely a possibility. I mean he gets millions of dollars to build up his company. However he actually ends up using it to buy; Apartments, Bodyguards, a Rolls-Royce, and a Private Jet. That's hardly free from suspicion.
bangers & mash ..absolutely. Getting a car co off the ground and first thing he does is move thousands of miles away to pretend to be a cowboy..lol....instead of working. What a dick.
Gary B *THANK YOU* *I came across a guy that was trying to fix one that was left sitting for 40 years* *They say it Matched the Corvette in them days* *CATER*
*I was kind of set back when it read Munsters, And a few others that I thought George Barris Built.So a little checking and He was the Ghost builder.Must have been the behind the scene guy? George was the HolyWood Builder NAME...
If someone remade this car today with modern egineering, practical body paneling, a decent engine, fix up the looks a little bit, it could be an awesome car.
A neighbor, a few blocks over owns the prototypes. Message me if someone thinks those cars should be saved. They are just withering away in a 2 car garage. Junk piles on top of them
Christopher Ovrebo christ all mighty of course they should be saved the car is a good looking car and regardless of success or failure it still is part of the automotive history now! plus by the looks of it the car didn t have sales issues the public loved it it had production and engineering issues and wasn t produced in big numbers which means RARE AND DESIRABLE
This and the Delorean are reasons why politicians should NEVER be in a position to make business decisions. They make poor ones and the taxpayer has to pay for their mistakes. That's not what business is all about. It's about a private person taking a risk and paying for his own mistakes. It's about personal responsibility not the taxpayer holding the bag.
My dad had a white one I believe it was #424. It was a super fun car to drive and it got lots of looks. The only real reliability problem it had was the alignment of the doors. The drive train was solid.
My step dad bought a white one too, #653. He wanted red or orange. I can't remember exactly when we got it, but the dealer said we either take that one or else we would have to take a '75, which had much less performance . I got to drive the car to high school a few times... it was great.
It seems to me that Bricklin just wanted to make money at whatever cost. Had he really cared about it, he wouldn't have put his name on such a piece of junk. There just seems to have been a lack of pride on Malcolm Bricklins part. Richard Hatfield seems like he really cared and just put some good money after bad, at the expense of the residents. This is why you don't hire family to run things. You have to become partners with people that actually know what they are doing, not that know how to be flashy and smooth. There is a lesson to be learned by everyone with this story. Good luck and God bless.
I remember when it was being promoted. I wanted one. Saw one about 25 years ago sitting in a field. It was ahead of it's time. With today's tech, and materials, I wonder how it would be built and produced. I drive a diesel and get GREAT mileage. My top speed is 160 MPH. If I drive 80 and set the cruise control I get 39.8 miles per gallon. If I go 60 I get 57 miles per gallon. Still love the doors. The steel beam protected you from a side impact. Had radial tires and no spare (they said you didn't need a spar if you had radials). Oh what we could do with that car design today with the materials and tech we have.
well it sounds like you would make it a diesel to start and then go on to tell us all about fuel mileage at different speeds but life is too short to listen.
TO CALL MARITIMERS LAZY IS JUST LUDICROUS..WE WOULD ALL HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND STABLE EMPLOYMENT IN OUR BELOVED PROVINCES BUT IN THE 70s/80s WERE DIFFERENT TIMES...MY FIRST JOB WAS FOR THE IRVINGS AND IT LASTED 16 YRS,THEN THE EXXON VALDEZ HAPPENED AND M,Y LIFE CHANGED,AND I WAS ONLY A COUPLE YEARS YOUNGER THAN THE WORK FORCE AT THIS TIME
Considering he had No clue what he was doing, Had it designed and engineered on a 90 day deadline and put into Real Production. This "TwoBit" ConMan. We All could achieve similar outcomes at that level of success, had we had the balls to follow our dream. He atleast has something to show for
A real entrepreneur would have lived in the factory until he got it right. Jake Burton is a success story. Malcolm Bricklin is a con man. There also is a thing that you lead from the front, Malcolm Bricklin lead from Arizona.
If due diligence had been done Bricklin would not have been able to take advantage of anyone, including the New Brunswick taxpayers. The New Brunswick Premier & his staff should have consulted with manufacturing and automotive experts to find out what it really would take to build a mass production automobile.
Great video. DId you notice how good the interior fared in the crash tests? The only thing left out was the fact that the Bricklin was touted as the first "safety sports car". Perhaps this was because Bricklin's previous business was importing the Subaru 360, known as the most dangerous car one could buy. I remember an interview with Bricklin touting the safety of the Bricklin and the interviewer asked how safe the car would be in a roll over where the car settled on it's roof. The question was, how was the driver supposed to open the doors in order to get out of the car? Bricklin's answer was that the driver would have to have his adrenalin going pretty good in that situation!
it's remarkable that they never touched on the huge emphasis of vehicle safety on the design. they even named this model Bricklin SV-1, SV standing for Safety Vehicle. there were some significant advancements in passenger protection that Malcolm was apparently really into.
well, why would he refrain from doing so ? It worked all his life. "They" brought scamming to perfection, it's not like if we didn't give "them" the time to do so... Now "they" even managed to get worldwide unconditionnal protection, go figure.
They're not lemons they had a few bugs like any first-year production car the second-year cars were much better they didn't mention that on the History channel. You need to watch the MotorWeek Bricklin Segment on RUclips, this car didn't seem to have any problems. It made a 1,300 mi round trip for them to drive it with no problems.
![Chicken P - People's Favorite (Remix) [Feat. 42 Dugg] (Official Video)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/a6Bn8FEtxmY/mqdefault.jpg)
Just another Bricklin the wall
Love that !!!
In Spring '75 I graduated from college in Washington, DC, and was looking for a cheap way home to Seattle. At that time dealerships would hire college students to drive cars to new owners outside the dealership's region. I found a help wanted ad on campus for someone to drive a car to Seattle. They paid only $50, and I was responsible for buying gas, but it was still cheaper than plane fare.
When I got to the dealership, I was given the keys to a white Bricklin, which I'd never heard of. I drove it off the dealer's lot and the next day started a five day trek across the midwest and north through Colorado and Wyoming. I had no money for motels, so slept on roadsides and bathed in creeks.
The car drew a crowd everywhere I stopped, especially when I opened the gull-wing doors. But the supreme moment of ecstasy behind the wheel came when I drove through Yellowstone Nat'l Park the day after they'd opened the main north-south roads for the summer season. The park was absolutely empty. The Bricklin had a Ford 351ci engine, and it BOOGIED! Soon after entering the park a late-model Chevy Malibu joined me on a game of high-speed follow the leader until we descended into Montana and parted ways. That was 45 years ago, and to this day stands as the best road trip I've ever driven. The car performed flawlessly for me.
wow I guess you can't make that story up. amazing
Wow, really great story! Feels like a prestige movie Gus Van Sant would direct if he was a car enthusiast.
@@deathlarsen7502 No, not made up. I left out a lot trying for brevity, but you could make a movie about it, as one kind person emailed me to suggest. Thanks and sorry for the late reply.
@@kayEnt3rtainm3nt Hey I'm not used to gmail and youtube comment ins and outs, sorry this is so late in response. You're right, it should be a movie. They already made "Vanishing Point", but there needs to be a movie about a cross-country trip in a '75 Bricklin. I guess I should set it all down in writing.
@@juanandresbasartdecaballer4486 No worries about the delayed response. I've gotten replies on this platform years apart. Good luck with the idea jotting! The story of the Bricklin SV-1 alone is fascinating and I wonder if having it as an incidental detail in the background of your story could be an interesting framing device. After the success of Ford v. Ferrari there'd probably be a market for a screenplay like this. Still, I already know the SV-1 story so it's your story that I find interesting. I used to work in the film industry but I retired years ago. Even still if you ever want a collaborator or just some tips on how to put some stuff together I'd be happy to try and find a way to work that out with you. Break a leg!
I used to run around the car plant when I was 12 or 13. I got the autographs of all the workers before the plant finally closed. My Dad was the plant manager in Saint John. Quite a thrill to see them being made first hand. To wander around the offices and the plant as a wide-eyed kid was pretty amazing :)
In 1976 I graduated from high school and m parents offered me a car, a Brickland, or a motorcycle. I got a 1965 Harley, best decision I ever made.
They were probably banking on that a Bricklin wouldn't be delivered and you wisely chose a motorcycle.
Maybe not, watch this MotorWeek video: ruclips.net/video/UKZcahGRhrU/видео.html
Dont you wish you still had the panhead.
I had to laugh so hard. AMF Harley vs Car that is worth more today. Then 3 Harley's... As the Harley you need one hand on the throttle. The other full of tools..
Fascinating history!
My father gave me a Bricklin catalog when I was 8 or 9. I probably looked at that thing 1,000 times. It was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen. I still have that catalog.
It's a good looking car.
Robert Swift It's a beautiful machine, no question.
The film ended with him bringing the Yugo....conman to the end
DMC De Lorean: okay concept, bad time
Bricklin SV-1: ideal time, bad concept
"Quality control? What's THAT? Design? Engineering? Technology? Mass-production? Cash-flow? Expertise? Production efficiency? We'll do all that once we get the car built."
We have to pass the bill to see what's in it.
.... You forget safety standards... Very important....
Interesting that the end spotlights the Yugo, a car so bad that it was said that it had a heated rear windscreen so that owners could keep their hands warm while pushing it. Malcolm Bricklin is a man on a mission and he won't rest until he makes everyone walk to work.
Haaaa! comment of the minute. Made me laff :D
Tamer. About 30 years ago my neighbor had a Yugo and every morning when she started it she floored it for a good ten minutes until it warmed up. I would always tell my wife "she's going to blow it up ". But surprisingly it never did in 1&1/2 years. When she moved she was still doing that.
still a good looking car in my opinion.
Thanks! You might want to add this documentary is from 2003.
I just bought Bricklin #2882 the last white one and the only white 1976.
You bought a 75 model, they may have titled it as a 1976. 2897 was the last one off the assembly line and it was a 1975. Yours should have dual exhaust with no convertors (factory). Have any questions email bighenterprises@charter.net. We restore them. See Greg Drives the Bricklin on You Tube
Great Documentary and a Great car!
I thought the point of the documentary was that is wasn't a great car.
Depends on your point of view I suppose. Was the '75 Corvette a great car? Not really. Do people still buy them and enjoy them? Sure do! Same with the Bricklin. If he'd had a little more money and better planning, the Bricklin might have been around a bit longer.
I'd say that as built it's in the embryonic stages of being a great car. :)
When Malcolm Bricklin wore sunglasses in early photos and video clips, he physically had a slight resemblance of the late Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple
YEAH YEAH ... He does 😊!!!! Look like JJ 👺💀☠️👹😺💀☠️And just much of a and more grifter ask Jim Jones!!!...
I'm from New Brunswick, and like everyone else, was overjoyed at the idea of pumping out these beauties. Despite its many flaws, collectors and others gobbled up every last one of them. A low millage original sells for about 30k u.s.
The Similarities to the Delorean Disaster are stunning.
It looks like A RX7 FB and a DeLorean combination so much
Lemzzz I was talking about the circumstances surrounding the production and demise of the car. It looks nothing like a Delorean.
"Return New Brunswick to its glory days." I never knew New Brunswick ever glory days to begin with.
It did, when the British Empire was fueled by whale oil and dried codfish.
@@perfectallycromulent lmao!
By Canadian standards maybe. What part of Canada has ever had glory days?
@@marcodevries4481 Vancouver?
:(
Thanks very much to whomever posted this clip. I truly have never heard of the BRICKLIN previously, but this produced special from THE HISTORY CHANNEL was a great background into this short lived car company in Canada.
David-Michael Young it was a huge disaster, since Bricklin was a shister.
Watch MotorWeek Bricklin segment on RUclips.
So Bricklin moves to AZ and takes on the life of a millionaire cowboy who hasn't produced a single car. A legend in his own mind. What a BS'ing fool.
I believe the more correct term is " Flim Flam man " ?
@@comradeyuri8492 "Confidence man"
I loved the style and power but Bricklin was a con man of the first order !
The best because he’s still roaming.. even madoff is in jail.. bricklin to slick
it's kind of a shame this car failed. it looks really cool for it's time! like a skittle colored Delorean!
Bricklin himself seems really humble and likable. He is the first one to admit his faults or his failures. I can tell why he was able to talk so many people into following him into business deals for better or worse.
The narration is very aggressive against him, so don't let that make up your mind. For example, he is in Japan and wants to import that first little Subaru. They agree if he pays the 1.5 million to get "te4hr government regulations satisfied", and they had a deal, a good deal. The narration chimes in, "And not taking no for an answer,---blah blah blah."
Be careful. If you get a sense that the "business man is bad", it probably comes for communism, of course.
We should have a good court system, of course. That is all that is needed to keep people from screwing each other.
I am only 11 min in,---and all I see so far is a guy trying to do good business, and the narration makes him "seem" like some kind of criminal. Well, in the ideology of communism, he is a criminal. He did not have permission, you see, and the government has a stake in the current cars produced.
That means,---"No beginners allowed."
My parents had a friend from school and he was a Bricklin guy. I used to really get a kick out of them. I looked at them like a super car of sorts. The doors were really cool!
It’s surprising Bricklin is in this video doing interviews with a smile on when he was a scam artist all along - and this documentary makes it very clear.
Fun fact - the doors on a Bricklin are powered by a hydraulic pump. There are switches for 'open' and 'close'. If one passenger pushes 'open', and the other pushes 'close' at the same time, the pump motor burns out. Then the doors can not be moved until you fit a new pump motor
Great video. I'm from Saint John, N.B and have always loved this car and the history behind it. Thank you.
THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE ON MANAWAGONISH ROAD THAT HAD ONE IN EVERY COL,OUR IN THE BACKYARD BACK IN THE MID 80s..GREAT TO SEE ANOTHER NATIVE LOYALIST IN THE COMMENT SECTION BE SAFE AND WELL CHRIS
It won't be long before enterprising car enthusiasts will be able to 3D Print their won unique cars.
Now there is a dream I can get on!
Yugo, now that´s a guaranteed success!
Is/was that the Yugo? I thought it might be.
hribc78 loooooooooooooool u think its mean if we put in a safe bet that it ll fail again????yugo and by the looks of it they had the roof chopped as if you ll make a yugo look exotic or sophisticated by chopping the roof! bythe looks of itwith the glue and the eight pound hammer test I won t be surprised that engineering wise there was no consideration of what loosing the roof on an already flimsy car will mean!! anyways GOODLUCK MR BRICKLIN MAY YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE (try not at others e,pense though ;:-)
I am going to be buying a 74 here soon for 800. Ran a few years back, all panels in good shape, gonna body fill it and wrap it and just have an interesting cruiser.
I worked on one of these cars back in 1980. yes the car was slow, but it had a 351 Windsor ford engine in it. So I beefed up the engine and put headers on it and this car was really fast after that. it was a lot of fun to drive. it handled the turns like a slot car. I felt very safe in this car. it had a steel beam that protected you from a side impact. it really was built for safety. The first bricklins came out with a AMC engine which was rated at a much higher horsepower rating than the Ford engine. it didn't take much to modify the Ford engine. it was a stroked 302. so a lot of high performance parts for the mustang worked on the Bricklin.
The typical story of a totally INCOMPETENT and UNSKILLED entrepreneur that has a dream to make a fortune regardless of what it may cost to others.
The Subaru 360, then the Bricklin, then the Yugo.
Malcolm Bricklin wasn't going to be satisfied until he had forced every American to take the bus.
Judd Kramer im laughing myself out of my seat.....
Man I wondered if he was talking about the Yugo, hahahaha 😂! Stay away from cars Malcolm!!!
I love the looks of both the Bricklin and the DeLorean. Even today they look futuristic. And they are sports cars with 2 doors. Not just 2 doors, but gullwing doors. I think they are both gorgeous. I wish both had been designed and built right, and had been successful. Back in 1988, I bought a brand new red Pontiac Fiero GT. The closest car I could find to these cars. It was beautiful, it was well engineered (better than most of todays cars) and very well built. It was a blast to drive. Sadly, it was to be the last year of this great car. Roger B Smith, CEO of GM at the time, didn't like the car and killed it, even though it sold well with no advertising.
The Fiero with a V6 would outperform the Corvette, and do it for a lot less money, that was one reason the top brass felt it threatened their flagship vehicle and had to go.
Bricklin should be doing this show from prison! Gullwing doors are stupid and impractical, which is why so few vehicles ever used them. The ones that did, really stand out.
You certainly can't argue the $$$, with the Fiero Formula/GT being like 40-50% of the price of a base Corvette.
But the Corvette had the edge on horsepower 245 to 135 and more than double the torque 345 to 165. The Corvette was heavier by over 500 pounds, but still destroyed it in power to weight and such.
We're talking 6.0 vs 7.5 0-60 times and at least an extra 30 MPH on the top speed.
Good value? Absolutely. Faster and/or quicker? No way.
I think if you want to argue a car that GM killed so that it wouldn't embarrass the Corvette, that would be the Grand National/GNX/T-Type...
I like the Bricklin It just needed more time to develop and manufacture If Malcolm would not have rushed it this could be a success . It is a good looking car I think.
I really enjoyed the music in this documentary.
My uncle always had one in his garage. He passed away & it still sits in his garage and probably always will. Weird looking car for the most part. The only thing I can really remember about the few times I’ve seen him drive it was the doors leaked air. The lines or something were bad. Only reason I watched this video was to remember my uncle & my father laughing at him when he bought this orange turd.
A friend of mine owned one and I had a chance to drive one. They were an impressive
car to drive. And the looks you got. Wow. Still, it was no where near as nice a car or as
well built as my other friends Pantera. I absolutely loved the De Thomaso Pantera.
That car was just plain a dream to drive. It had it all. The sound, the feel, the looks.
Other then the Lambo Muira, I think I would love to have a Pantera. But the Bricklin
was still a cool car and is always on my list of dream cars.
archangele1 are you on meds to?
...after watching this all i have to say the Malcolm Bricklin was an incredibly good conman....
Growing up our neighbor had one and every day for years I looked at it with awe...then one day I got a ride.... :o[
You need to ride in this Bricklin ruclips.net/video/8q86f5KES9Q/видео.html
Malcolm Bricklin - The Poor Man's John DeLorean.
Michael Burke I laughed way harder than I should have.😂😂😂
Why isn't this a Movie yet? Woody Harrelson as Bricklin.
Watch MotorWeek Bricklin segment on RUclips.
I would watch that!
Their first mistake was trusting a guy who wears sunglasses at an indoor press conference.
Glaring early warning signs aside, even if that car had been totally successful from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint, it was at best a niche vehicle, completely impractical for the vast majority of potential customers. After the initial excitement has worn off, where do you go from there to grow the business, foster repeat business (customer loyalty), and increase your customer base? As so many other automotive start-ups have found over the years, once you exhaust the initial energy behind the project and the people who bought into the hype and had to have The Next New Thing have made their purchase, then what? You can't survive on building just a quirky two-seater niche car. Would there have been a Bricklin sedan, station wagon/SUV, entry level hatchback, mini van, or pickup truck? Of course not. Even under the best of circumstances it was a vanity project that was doomed to failure.
As the old joke goes, how do you make a small fortune in the auto industry? Start with a large fortune.
Morgan Motors have survived on building quirky two-seater niche cars, which have been hand-crafted since the 1930's, and customers can wait for many months before receiving their new vehicle. Their order books are also still healthier than those of some much bigger manufacturers.
Wait, his next project was the Yugo? Wow, just wow.
Yea... that Yugo worked out just nice too.
I had a transportation design teacher in Detroit that worked for Ford. He told us on the first day his favorite car in the world was a Bricklin. Half of the kids were like "What the hell is a Bricklin?" while the rest of us looked at each other like "A Bricklin? Really???". A V8 powered car made of Play Skool furniture. Interesting concept i guess...
Another lesson on why politicians should never ever be allowed to create businesses or handle money.
Great looking car, shame it didn't work out
If Back to the Future was made in 1975 instead of 1985, they probably would've used a Bricklin for a time machine.
Good thing it wasn't! DeLorean was much more iconic.
Should have used a steel body with ordinary hinged doors. Probably would have been a success if they hadn't tried to incorporate so many innovations at once.
Mix a crooked street urchin with a crooked politician and you get Bricklin Canada LTD. Too damned bad that Bricklin managed to make it through life without making it through the prison system, as well. Yes siree Bob. That's the real shame of it all.
Malcom Briklin was the man whose mission in life was to make everyone walk to work!
Its so normal being in Canada in the year 2020 but still living day to day as if its still the1960's
Really cool upload Gary B! I've never heard of Bricklin, and I'm only half way through the film, but what an interesting character. His moral compass off, but I can't wait to see how his car turns out.
It is pathetic how Malcolm Bricklin takes no responsibility for the failure and blames it on everyone but himself.
Ryan Hodges I was just thinking the exact same thing as I was listening to him speak. Lazy Canadians! JK.
The sad thing is that he took a whole bunch of people for a ride and their lives were negatively impacted but he always managed to disappear and show up later as if nothing happened. He is the definition of the word charlatan and I am truly sorry for the ones who were conned along the way.
What a bullshitter! Before John DeLorean and,,,,,,,Donald Trump! LOL!
can be probably be found selling asset flips on Steam now.
Kaptain Komrade
I occasionally babysat for a family in Ontario in the 70's & in one of their barns I stumbled on 6 brand new Bricklins.
Don't remember the family's name but they were odd & I never forgot finding those beauties.
elcgmail ... sounds like some smart person in that family recognized a good investment. Wether the car succeeded or failed it would be a legend in one way or another.
mercoid Agreed! Wish they were in my family but they were just in my neighbourhood though & I often wonder what happened to them.
Did they drive them, or just wrap them in cosmoline?
Fascinating documentary but it's so obvious to me that this Bricklin character was a delusional sociopath, fake charm, manipulative, narcissism, smooth... not a person you ever want to trust or take seriously.
Sounds like Trump😅😅😅
Those Subaru's were junk, they didn't mention they were two stroke two cylinder engines. In 1971 Bricklin had two rail cars full of them sitting in California but they couldn't sell them there because they didn't met Cali emission standards. The Cohen group out of Peoria Illinois bought all the cars & brought them to Peoria where they could sell them. They were sold for $300.00 apiece and you were advised to buy two because you couldn't buy spare parts for them. Most were not running within two years.
Well I just saw one in Melbourne Australia today. Had us stumped, had to ask owner what it was.
"The cohen group" more jews
So, now I know. Thanks for posting.
The foreshadowing of the DeLoreon is stunning. At least John DeLoreon had the previous engineering chops and success in Detroit to give investors hope.
...and he was married to Cristina Ferrare.
Turned out to be false hope though, sadly
This Bricklin guy is a criminal mastermind. He should have been arrested for scamming the Canadians. When he talks it appears that the world revolves around Brinklin, and then he places the blame for everything on the people of Canada. People get worried about low level street crime, how about white collar crime? This guy probably stole more than all of the low level crime in the area put together, and he merely gets away with it. So frustrating.
Matthew Mathews--- Well spoken and yes your right, but he never could have pulled it off without a helper Richard Hatfield.
Okay, some of what you say is correct. But if I was in Hatfield's position I would've hired a third party to do a feasibility analysis at the very least. You can't put it all on Bricklin. As they say, "It takes two to tango."
That is definitely a possibility. I mean he gets millions of dollars to build up his company. However he actually ends up using it to buy; Apartments, Bodyguards, a Rolls-Royce, and a Private Jet.
That's hardly free from suspicion.
300k in 70's is roughly 2m today. Off w/ his head.
thatallredheadude t
The name of this documentary should have been "When con men meet politicians"!
A con man if there ever was one.
bangers & mash ..absolutely. Getting a car co off the ground and first thing he does is move thousands of miles away to pretend to be a cowboy..lol....instead of working. What a dick.
And then blames it on the workers yeah that was all Malcolm
I said the same
Bricklin conned many and managed to slither away unscathed :/
He jewed many before jewing New brunswick!
The same person that bought us the YUGO.
7:30 That was a Ford Mustang, not a Cadillac...
I love this car, I want one!! As a filmmaker I would use this car in an Action film. Awesome Car!!
Did Bricklin wear one shirt the entire 1970s?
MY FATHER USED TO HAVE A 76 BRICKLIN IT WAS FUN TO DRIVE
Gary B *THANK YOU* *I came across a guy that was trying to fix one that was left sitting for 40 years* *They say it Matched the Corvette in them days* *CATER*
*I was kind of set back when it read Munsters, And a few others that I thought George Barris Built.So a little checking and He was the Ghost builder.Must have been the behind the scene guy? George was the HolyWood Builder NAME...
Great man and a great car.
If someone remade this car today with modern egineering, practical body paneling, a decent engine, fix up the looks a little bit, it could be an awesome car.
Imagine a Ford Pinto if given the same chance!
So, basically change everything.
Pretty much 10072018
A neighbor, a few blocks over owns the prototypes. Message me if someone thinks those cars should be saved. They are just withering away in a 2 car garage. Junk piles on top of them
Christopher Ovrebo man some pictures would be nice
if you dont already know if they should be saved, you arnt the one who should save them.
Christopher Ovrebo christ all mighty of course they should be saved the car is a good looking car and regardless of success or failure it still is part of the automotive history now! plus by the looks of it the car didn t have sales issues the public loved it it had production and engineering issues and wasn t produced in big numbers which means RARE AND DESIRABLE
This and the Delorean are reasons why politicians should NEVER be in a position to make business decisions. They make poor ones and the taxpayer has to pay for their mistakes. That's not what business is all about. It's about a private person taking a risk and paying for his own mistakes. It's about personal responsibility not the taxpayer holding the bag.
Bricklin should have gone into politics, he’s perfect for that world of lies and thievery.😎
My dad had a white one I believe it was #424. It was a super fun car to drive and it got lots of looks. The only real reliability problem it had was the alignment of the doors. The drive train was solid.
My step dad bought a white one too, #653. He wanted red or orange. I can't remember exactly when we got it, but the dealer said we either take that one or else we would have to take a '75, which had much less performance . I got to drive the car to high school a few times... it was great.
It seems to me that Bricklin just wanted to make money at whatever cost. Had he really cared about it, he wouldn't have put his name on such a piece of junk. There just seems to have been a lack of pride on Malcolm Bricklins part. Richard Hatfield seems like he really cared and just put some good money after bad, at the expense of the residents. This is why you don't hire family to run things. You have to become partners with people that actually know what they are doing, not that know how to be flashy and smooth. There is a lesson to be learned by everyone with this story. Good luck and God bless.
I remember when it was being promoted. I wanted one. Saw one about 25 years ago sitting in a field. It was ahead of it's time. With today's tech, and materials, I wonder how it would be built and produced. I drive a diesel and get GREAT mileage. My top speed is 160 MPH. If I drive 80 and set the cruise control I get 39.8 miles per gallon. If I go 60 I get 57 miles per gallon. Still love the doors. The steel beam protected you from a side impact. Had radial tires and no spare (they said you didn't need a spar if you had radials). Oh what we could do with that car design today with the materials and tech we have.
well it sounds like you would make it a diesel to start and then go on to tell us all about fuel mileage at different speeds but life is too short to listen.
TO CALL MARITIMERS LAZY IS JUST LUDICROUS..WE WOULD ALL HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND STABLE EMPLOYMENT IN OUR BELOVED PROVINCES BUT IN THE 70s/80s WERE DIFFERENT TIMES...MY FIRST JOB WAS FOR THE IRVINGS AND IT LASTED 16 YRS,THEN THE EXXON VALDEZ HAPPENED AND M,Y LIFE CHANGED,AND I WAS ONLY A COUPLE YEARS YOUNGER THAN THE WORK FORCE AT THIS TIME
WHY ARE YOU YELLING ?
Always wanted to be a cowboy - this documentary shows he already achieved that dream long before he got the hat, horse & saddle 🤣
Considering he had No clue what he was doing, Had it designed and engineered on a 90 day deadline and put into Real Production. This "TwoBit" ConMan. We All could achieve similar outcomes at that level of success, had we had the balls to follow our dream. He atleast has something to show for
Yeah, dreaming with other people having to pay the bills...
I saw one once [having never heard of it before] and I really liked the styling, but the Lotus Esprit in the same parking lot was more impressive.
A real entrepreneur would have lived in the factory until he got it right. Jake Burton is a success story. Malcolm Bricklin is a con man. There also is a thing that you lead from the front, Malcolm Bricklin lead from Arizona.
Pump up the volume though, sheesh. I can't wait to watch this.
Watch MotorWeek Bricklin segment on RUclips.
Frustrating as both Bricklin and De Lorean were both great looking car designs ahead of their time, and brave efforts to try to pull it off.
It looks like a car of the 70s. I don't see anything wrong with the appearance.
Looks pretty good compared to a late model Camaro.
That Theranos chick must have idolized Bricklin.
The ending is hysterical. Serbian cars that are exactly Yugos. That worked out wonderfully
that guy's name was herb grasse lmao 420 blaze it
I remember this car in the 70's.
If due diligence had been done Bricklin would not have been able to take advantage of anyone, including the New Brunswick taxpayers. The New Brunswick Premier & his staff should have consulted with manufacturing and automotive experts to find out what it really would take to build a mass production automobile.
Great video. DId you notice how good the interior fared in the crash tests? The only thing left out was the fact that the Bricklin was touted as the first "safety sports car". Perhaps this was because Bricklin's previous business was importing the Subaru 360, known as the most dangerous car one could buy. I remember an interview with Bricklin touting the safety of the Bricklin and the interviewer asked how safe the car would be in a roll over where the car settled on it's roof. The question was, how was the driver supposed to open the doors in order to get out of the car? Bricklin's answer was that the driver would have to have his adrenalin going pretty good in that situation!
He was like the Jim Jones of cars. Jonestown.
When these came out they were considered cool cars. Glad I didn't have enough spare cash back in the day to buy one!
When we punch the button and the door jumps up we are acknowledged and we are envied, said the saddest person ever.
poppiesrule My brothers have fast cars and motorcycles. I have a cube truck with a lift gate. Guess who they call when they need to move something!
What about when they don't need to move something?
what a great video I always wondered about this
honestly...this makes DeLorean look like a massive success..
Have you driven a Bricklin? Drive mine, see what you think then.
My first cousin, had one light green bake in 74
It's like Delorean & Datsun 240Z having a baby
it's remarkable that they never touched on the huge emphasis of vehicle safety on the design. they even named this model Bricklin SV-1, SV standing for Safety Vehicle. there were some significant advancements in passenger protection that Malcolm was apparently really into.
This was a cynical, calculated bastard who intentionally put a lemon car on the market. And he did the very same thing with the Yugo once again.
well, why would he refrain from doing so ? It worked all his life. "They" brought scamming to perfection, it's not like if we didn't give "them" the time to do so... Now "they" even managed to get worldwide unconditionnal protection, go figure.
They're not lemons they had a few bugs like any first-year production car the second-year cars were much better they didn't mention that on the History channel. You need to watch the MotorWeek Bricklin Segment on RUclips, this car didn't seem to have any problems. It made a 1,300 mi round trip for them to drive it with no problems.