let's talk Bricklins

It did have a starring role in the original "Gone in 60 seconds"

mad_machine wrote: it would be arguable they were even assembled. Ladas were the one car that made fiats look put together well

But they did come with enough tools to assemble them...

Keith wrote: Do you mean the Ladas were arguably assembled in the Maritimes?

Yep. Here's a link:

Ladas assembled in Nova Scotia

I think they were knock-down kits -- obviously not a full assembly operation. I am not finding much informaiton on the web, as I am sure its an era many would love to forget.

I sat in one at a dealership. New. The interior was assembled by drunken monkeys. The switches had sharp exposed metal edges. Trash.

My friend has one he bought from the local AMC dealer who was "lucky" enough to have the franchise. They gave him the Bricklin sign with the car, they were so happy to get rid of it. He took it out of storage a few year back and got trapped in it. The engine died because of crap in the fuel line, and the doors wouldn't work because the battery was dead. Good thing he had a cell phone.

We had one for a few years...

Ours was converted to air doors and had electrical problems, we learned to make the difficult crawl through the hatch. (note, the doors are raised and lowered ONLY by push button, one outside the car and one on the center console per each door) When the doors were working the passenger door came down too quickly if you werent careful. One time my brother was reaching into the passenger footwell for something and I slammed the door on him and almost broke his tailbone .

If you want a very different car that isnt fast, has polarizing styling, and needs a loving owner to overlook its quirks, It is a fun car.

If your short, good luck seeing over the hood.

The one we had was a 75 with a 351w, auto trans.. the trans was an FMX 3 speed. pretty lame transmission. IIRC swapping an AOD in was common. You could NOT get one that was Ford powered with a manual trans. Interiors only came in beige (ours was switched to black.. poorly).

With age the corners of the hood/trunklid will curve up.

The original acrylic was rumored to shrug off sledgehammer blows and only require some buffing to return to pristine order. (heh, "it will buff out") The acrylic layer over the fiberglass was added to be a stronger more durable surface. It was a kind of groundbreaking attempt, but the drawbacks kept it from being a really good Idea. The surface does not necessarily age well. As of ~1998 you could get replacement fiberglass panels from one source and back then they had a strong club that kept them alive.

Lotta hate in this thread from a forum that loves yugos

Orphans need love too!

If I wanted a boulevard cruiser or just something interesting to take to a car show I might consider getting another. It was fun having people come up to you thinking it was a lambo or something.