This is the ultra-cool ‘Safety Orange’ 1975 Bricklin SV1 (822), and it’s certainly quite a rare car, with only around 2906 automatic examples built for the world, and 156 4-speed manual examples, that makes this car shown here 1 of only 3,062 SV1’s in the entire world. American businessman & entrepreneur, Malcolm N. Bricklin, was the man behind the creation of this vehicle. The idea behind the SV1 was to create a small & affordable sports car that would feature gullwing-style doors, and many other unique design elements and features. For the design work, in the early 70’s, a designer by the name of Marshall Hobart was brought in. By 1972 Bricklin would employ the help of Herb Grasse Design and AVC Engineering to reengineer the design and revitalize the project. AVC engineer Tom Monroe joined Bricklin during this time and was hired as Chief engineer for the project, and simultaneously, a number of prototypes were being constructed by American automobile designer, Dick Dean. After as many as 8 prototypes were built, the production ready SV1 was finally presented at the Riviera Hotel Las Vegas in February of 1974. Bricklin SV1’s were only built from 1974 until 1975, however, cars built in 1974 received a 360 cu in (5.9 L) 220hp AMC V8 from American Motors, and cars built in 1975 received a 351 cu in (5.8 L) 175hp Windsor V8 from Ford. Most SV1’s were ordered in automatic transmission, however, a very small number of the cars were built with a BorgWarner T-10 4-speed manual. This specific example is believed to be 1 of 2100 total built in 1975, and one of only 540 finished in ‘Safety Orange’ for that model year. The designation, ‘SV-1’ stands for ‘Safety Vehicle 1’, thanks to its extensive safety features. Interestingly, the SV-1 is colored using a vacuum forming process that binds colored acrylic to each fiberglass body panel.
How many made? 3,061
Engine: 360 cu in (5.9 L) 220hp AMC V8 from American Motors/351 cu in (5.8 L) 175hp Windsor V8 from Ford.
Debut: n/a
Top Speed: around 111mph
0-60mph: around 9.9 seconds
Photo Credit: @am_media_ny
Research: @rarecarsonly
1975 Bricklin SV1
28.01.2025
Bricklin