BRICKLIN
Status
Production
Format
Series
Genre
Documentary
LOGLINE:
At the height of 1970’s excess, a visionary automotive entrepreneur and an unconventional Canadian premiere attempted to build the Bricklin SV1, “the world’s safest sports car,” in New Brunswick.
SYNOPSIS:
Visionary American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin made his first millions selling hardware in Florida by the time he was 25, giving him the financial means to pursue his true passion – cars. His next business was launching Subaru of North America but after the tiny Subaru 360 he was importing was deemed the least safe car in America, he turned his attention to a more personal pursuit. That was the creation of the world’s safest sports car: The Bricklin Safety Vehicle 1 (SV1).
Even in the early 1970’s Canada’s automative manufacturing prowess was well known on both sides of the border. Bricklin initially considered establishing production in a defunct Renault plant in Quebec but reconsidered upon learning of the province’s challenging union dynamics. That’s when he heard about New Brunswick and its flamboyant premier, Richard “Disco Dick” Hatfield.
Hatfield, while a Progressive Conservative provincial leader, was anything but conservative in his lifestyle choices. It was the worst kept secret in Canadian politics that he was gay. What’s more, rumours spoke of flights on the premier’s private jet to night clubs in Montreal and to New York’s storied Studio 54. Above and beyond his edgy personal life, Hatfield was a political showman of the old school and was a passionate proponent for elevating his beloved home province of New Brunswick.
It was on this point that Bricklin and Hatfield came together. Bricklin needed funding and a motivated jurisdiction to manufacture the car and see his SV1 dream realized. Hatfield sought industrial clout and publicity for New Brunswick, seeking to rebrand the province as a manufacturing hub, as opposed to a backwater replete with fishermen, loggers and potato farmers. A deal was struck, and by 1974, Bricklin Canada Ltd. operated two factories in New Brunswick: a car assembly plant in Saint John and a facility in Minto dedicated to producing the vehicle’s signature acrylic-fiberglass body panels. By 1975, the province had invested approximately $23 million, the equivalent of $134 million today when adjusted for inflation. However, despite the relentless efforts of these two driven men to bootstrap an automotive manufacturing base from scratch, their venture was perhaps inevitably doomed to fail. From supply chain problems, to design flaws with the fibreglass bodies and the gull wing doors (later made famous by AMC’s Delorean) to a local labour force unaccustomed to automotive manufacturing, it took less than 2 years for the entire operation to come crashing down in epic fashion.
Hatfield went on to lead the province until an unforgivable disgrace: being caught with more than an ounce of cannabis while travelling on the Queen’s plane during a royal visit. Bricklin, still afflicted with the car selling bug, went on to import another infamous vehicle—the Yugo—from Eastern Europe in the 1980s.
To this day however, collectors in New Brunswick and across North America remain devoted to maintaining and honouring the legacy of this unique entrant in automotive history.
This three part documentar series chronicles not just the rise and fall of the vehicle, but also the inspired yet flawed visionaries who risked everything to reshape the auto industry—and challenge perceptions of an oft-overlooked province.
PARTNERS:
CREDITS:
Director/Writer: Clem McIntosh
Producer/Writer: Sandy Hunter
Story Consultant: Allan Chambers
Graphics: Benjamin Trouten